RUGBY FOOTBALL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22058, 14 September 1933, Page 4

RUGBY FOOTBALL

By Full-back. r» ■ FIXTURES July 29.;——Otago Sub-unions v. Southland Sub-unions, at Dunedin, lost 12 ■ points -to 9 points. August 6—y. Southland, at Invercargill, '/lost 23 points, to 8 points, August-5.—v.. Marlborough, at Dunedin, . won 21 points to 6 points. August Southland, at Dunedin, -dost 13 ,points to 12 points. August ,26. —v; ; Canterbury, at Christ■dmrch,: lost 8 points to 5 points. August SO.—y. Wairarapa, at Wairarapa, lost 19 points to 17 points. September . ,2.—v. Hawke’s Bay, at Napier, lost 19 points to 8 points. September 2.—v. South Canterbury, at Dunedin, won by 17 points to 12 points. , 1 v' :. September 6,. —v. Wanganui,. at Wanganui, won 13'points to 8 points. September .9.—v. Wellington, at Wellington; lost 20 points to 17 points. September 13:—v. Taranaki, at Dunedin, Host 15 points to 14 points. September 16.—v; North Otago, at Dunedin. September 23.—South y. North Island. NOTES Three Otago players have been selected to play for the South Island against the North Island at Wellington on September 23—H. Smith (centre three-quarter), W, T. Dunnei,(wing three-quarter), and J. Hore (centre hooker). Oliver, who is a very fine centre, three-quarter, will play at second five-eighths, and he can be reliedpir to "make play for Smith. Granger, the North'.Otago full-back, who has been selected for this position in the South Island-team, has been playing for some years /now* and should certainly have a good knowledge of the requirements of this responsible position. Granger, however, does not always maintain his standard of play. He will no doubt be seen at Carisbrook next Saturday in the match between Otago and North Otago. “The South Island team was selected on Saturday with one eye on the tour of Britain in 1936,” stated Mr S. S. Dean, president of the New Zealand Rugby Union,,, at a dinner at Wellington on Saturday night. It is rather difficult to understand what Mr Dean means. J. Granger, : ‘the, full-back selected for the South, Island, played for Otago as far back as 1925—that was when North Otago was affiliated with the Otago Rugby Union. C, Oliver, the centre threequarter, is certainly the best player in that position in the South Island to-day, but he is also in. the veteran stage, and three years hence G. F. Hart, L. George, G. Purdue, G. Metcalf, J. Hore, A. I. Cottrell, and several others will be qualifying for that distinction. I suppose that Kilby will be the half-back selected to play for the North Island. He, too, is well into the veteran stage, and there will no doubt be others in' the North Island team who wall also come under this definition. Mr J. Mitchell, president of the Otago Rugby Union, who was one of the managers of the Otago touring team, informed me that Taylor, the youthful Otago fullback, would haVe been a certainty for that position in the South Island team, after his game against Wellington, had the team not been selected beforehand. It seems to me that the South Island selectors—Messrs Alan Adams and Peter Harvey—-could, in the circumstances, have selected either Nolan (Canterbury) or Taylor. They are both young players, with all their football in front of them. Says the Wanganui Chronicle in referring to the match between Otago and Wanganui:—ln the close there was not much to choose between them. One of the outstanding men for the visitors was Hamilton, who. played really well. Otago’s backs ■ showed Wanganui some pretty' passing movements in which the ball went from man to man with a crispness that was delightful, but somehow or .other they seemed to lack that ability to finish a movement and to supply a touch of brilliancy. A certain amount of latitude yras' allowed the Otago inside backs at times, and Bathgate had no difficulty in combining with rapid passes to Fookes, who showed great ability on attack. But, with all the amount of ball the Blue backs had, they produced few scoring movements. Rae and H. M'Skimniing were responsible for both •Otago’s tries, the little half opening up for the big winger to finish off. Both played well. ■No fewer than seven past Southland captains were met by the 1933 Maroons on their northern tour ■ (writes “Onlooker” in the. Southland Times)., They were:—P. Cuff (1893)' and W. Lindsay (1918), at Dunedin; R. Galbraith (1888), at Timaru and Christchurch; F. Ivimey (1913), at Christchurch; F. Glasgow (1909), at Wellington; and G. Burgess (1906‘, 1907) and E. Kavanagh (1914), at Hastings. E. Kavanagh is a resident of Napier, but came down to see the Hawke’s Bay game at Hastings, and R. Galbraith, who lives in Stratford, was on a visit to the South Island. Yet another Southland captain resident in the north is Charlie Diack, but none of the party happened to see him in Wellington. Mr J. Mitchell informed me that the Otago forwards could not hook the ball from the Wellington pack, otherwise the result might have been different. Wellington pack 34 —1, and their forwards secured the ball from nearly every scrum. Nevertheless, the Otago team, which packs the 32 —3 scrum, beat the heavy Southland forwards for the ball in the match at Invercargill, and they secured an equal .share of the ball from the scrums in the game against Canterbury for the Ranfurly Shield. It has been suggested to me that the manner in which the ball is put into the scrum has some bearing on the direction in which, it will be hooked. Fifty years ago the first official match between Otago and Wellington, under the auspices of the Wellington Rugby Union, was played ’in Wellington, and then, as on Saturday, Wellington won narrowly, a try to nil being the score in 1883. There had been a couple of Otago-Wellington matches prior to the formation of the local union, the first in 1877. Bathgate was played on the wing on Saturday against Wellington, and H. M'Skimming went to first five-eighths. The Maniototo player made a fine success in his new position, otherwise the intention was to change him out to the wing and bring: Bathgate into the fiveeighths line. It was really an experiment; and as it turned out it was highly successful. There will be plenty to combat Mr Dean’s statement that minor union teams should be allowed to challenge for the Ranfurly Shield. Mr Dean contends that these teams would have their play improved by meeting’ high-class teams. I am afraid that I cannot agree with this contention. The standard of play of the high-class teams might, on the other hand, be lowered. No team should be allowed to challenge for the shield unless its standard of play is such that it can claim to be amongst the best teams playing in the Dominion. The shield, it should be remembered, was given for the beat team playing in each year in the Dominion. Of course, it is not always held by the best team. OVERSEAS TOURS The matter of a New Zealand Rugby team being sent to Australia next season was discussed at a meeting of the Auckland Rugby Union. When a circular from the New Zealand Rugby Football Union was read, requesting the approval of arrangements for such a project, Mr A. A. Baker expressed the opinion that the Dominion parent body, looked after the Australian Rugby Union better , than it did its own unions. “These Australia-New Zealand tours are becoming too frequent,” he continued, “and are rapidly becoming an annual affair.” . An alternative suggested by Mr EWright, that an All Black team would do an amount of good to New Zealand football by touring throughout the Dominion, did not , meet with much support, and, after a further brief discussion, it was resolved to advise'the New Zealand Union of the committee’s approval of the suggested Australian programme.

RUGBY PENALTIES ARE THEY TOO LENIENT? CRITICISM AND REPLY. Some criticism of the penalties inflicted by the Wellington Rugby Union on offending players was made by Mr A. C. Kitto in proposing the toast of “ The Union ” at the annual smoke concert of the, Wellington Rugby Referees’ Association held on Saturday. Mr Kitto stated that no man was ordered off the field without just cause. The player always received the benefit of the doubt, and he considered that when an offender appeared before'the Management Committee, a more lasting punishment than a few weeks’ suspension should be inflicted. • He considered that the proceedings of the committee were held too much in committee. The name of the offender should be published in the press, which would constitute a much more severe and lasting punishment. The result would he of direct benefit to the game. COACHES AND SPORTSMANSHIP. Mr Kitto said he thought that a meeting should be arranged between the union, the referees, and the coaches of local teams, and that they should endeavour to instil into some coaches the principles of sportsmanship. ‘ There were some coaches who made the referee’s task a particularly hard one. Rough play was definitely on the increase, judging by the number of casualties. Hard football was all right, but a rule-evading spirit was not to be encouraged. Concerning penalties, Mr Kitto said, “If a man cannot control his temper, he must suffer some penalty. He must not be allowed to get away with it.” In reply, Mr W. J. Prendeville stated that the council was composed of 11 exE layers, all of whom, he had no doubt, ad had episodes in their playing career where a penalty might have been incurred. Ordering off was a hard enough punishment, and, besides, was very often resorted to by the referee more as a deterrent to the teams playing than to the player in particular. There had been more than one defaulter who had broken down completely before the committee. REASONS FOR SECRECY. Proceedings were taken in committee for many reasons. Many of the players were engaged in various occupations where a public report of suspension would react unfavourably; on the employer. In many cases, publicity would mean ruination of the player’s whole career. If the case were a particularly bad one, it would get into the papers without any effort on the part of the union. _ The coach question was a matter for the clubs themselves. The Rugby Union had plenty to do without inspecting all the clubs, which would themselves take the necessary action if the matter were mentioned to them by the Referees’ Association. SOUTH ISLAND TEAM SELECTION OF PLAYERS. The following particulars regarding the players selected for the South Island team should prove of interest; — Full-back.

OTAGO v. WELLINGTON NEWSPAPER COMMENT. The Dominion has the following comment on the match between Otago and Wellington:— Wellington apparently underestimated the ability of the opposing vanguard when they commenced to open up play from the kick-off, and the sheer speed of the Otago eight and their tenacious tackling threw the home side out of gear. Time and again Otago swept the field with brilliant foot rushes in which Anderson, Hore, Lucy, and Abel figured prominently, and these rushes took their toll of Wellington’s vitality. In addition the brilliance of Taylor, the Otago full-back, had a lot to do with Otago’s leading position at half-time. His excellent line-kicking sent the home pack scurrying for their own goal line too often for their good, and the effect of his excellent field goal from about 50 yards out in addition to a penalty goal kicked as only Fuller would kick it. must have made the Wellington forwards feel their position. Taylor was the outstanding figure on the ground. He never made a real mistake all day, though he was caught out of position when Lilburne shot through for a try. Taylor’s kicking was sure and had grand length in it, while his fielding of the ball never once got him into trouble. Allen, who captained Waikato against the 1930 English team, played a dashing left wing game and was well fed by H. Smith, the new' South Island centre. Smith himself did not shine, but his defence was very sound. He found Killeen rather a handful. The two M'Skimmings, R. and H., combined well in the . fiveeighth line and gave the Wellington inside men no room in which to move. They were caught only once, and that, was when Lilburne shot through for his try. Rae was useful behind the scrum. In the Otago forwards, Slyfield played brilliantly in the line-out and countered a lot of Wellington’s effectiveness in this phase of play. Anderson, Macfarlane, Lucy, and Abel all showed ability to control the ball on the ground to advantage, while Gibson, Hore, and Chapman worked hard in all phases of forward play. The Otago pack had a great advantage in its speed, and the speed was exploited in a manner which made Wellington’s task easily the most difficult of the season. M'Lean w'as again the best forward on the ground. He worked hard all day in tight and loose and figured prominently in more than one loose movement. His defence, 100, was powerful; in fact, he tackled better than any other Wellington forward. _* The following comment is from the Wellington Post: — Penalties were frequent in the match. All told, there were 28 penalty kicks, of which Wellington were awarded 17 and Otago 11. Of those within range of the goal Wellington had five and Otago six. Otago brought to light a full-pack in J. Taylor who took the crowd’s fancy greatly. He is one of the most powerful kicks seen on the Park for some time, and his general performance was such that it will come as a great surprise to those who were at the Park on Saturday to learn that he is not in the South Island team. H. M'Skimming, usually a wing-three-quarter, played as first five-eighth for Otago, and in that position he was full of business. In the course of his activities, part of which was the difficult job of keeping Page in check, he met with injuries, and in the end had to retire—five minutes before the finish. He played a great game, and on that form he, too, must be regarded as decidedly unlucky in

not being chosen as a South Island representative.

Smith, the Otago centre, did not come into the picture a great deal, but it was he who started M'Skimming off on the great run which ended in Allen scoring Otago’s only try. In the Otago pack there was also an ex-North Island player, C. Anderson, who played for Athletic in Wellington some years ago, and later played in Canterbury and Hawke’s Bay. As a Hawke’s Bay representative he won a place in the North Island team and was an emergency for New Zealand. He was undoubtedly one of Otago’s best forwards on Saturday, and the surprising thing is that he was not amongst Otago’s nominees for the South Island team. In a good, even pack Slyfield was always a live wire, and Gibson was frequently conspicuous. J. Hore, the Otago captain, should not have been playing, as he was suffering from a poisoned leg. As usual, he undertook the hooking duties, but otherwise he played a winging type of game. Although Saturday’s match had many spectacular features, much of the play was of the hard, slogging type with the Otago forwards working like a pack inspired. Every man in that pack did his bit, and it meant that Wellington’s forwards had to get into the thick of things more than has been necessary in most other matches this season. The result was that those local forwards who usually supply some of the sparkle in Wellington’s play w r ere to some extent buried. They had a tough job on hand, and they did not shirk it.

Age, J. Granger (North Hght. Wght. Otago) .. •■ .. 27 Three-quarters. G. F. Hart (Can5 8 11 5 terbury .. .. 25 5 9 11 8 H. Smith (Otago) 22 W. T. Dunne 5 8 11 7 (Otago) .. .. 20 Five-eighths. R. Hazlehurst (Can5 9 12 7 terbury) .. ., 23 C. J. Oliver (Can5 10 11 7 terbury) .. .. 27 Half-back. R. B. Scandrett 5 11 12 2 (West Coast) .. 25 5 6 Back Row Forward. T. Metcalf (South11 3 land) .. .. 25 Side Supports. J. Manchester 5 11 13, 10 (Canterbury) .. 24 J. T. • Andrews. 6 1 14 0 (Canterbury) .. — Lock Forwards. • 6 0 13 5 D. Max (Nelson) 27 G.' B. Purdue 6 24 16 0 (Southland) .. 24 6 2 Front Row Forwards. A. I. Cottrell 14 10 (Canterbury) ,. 26 5 11 13 3 J. Hore (Otago) 24 L. George (South5 7 13 9 land) .. .. 23 Reserve Back. E. C. Holder 5 10 13 10 • (Duller) ., .. 23 Reserve Forward. R. K. King (Can6 0 13 8 terbury) .. .. 22 6 0 13 10