NOTES BY FULL BACK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2861, 13 January 1909, Page 62

NOTES BY FULL BACK.

I am pleased to rectify the statement made that the injuries received by the recently-retired "All Black" footballer W. J. Wallace are such as to effect his constitution. Wallace is in the best possible health, but the New Zealand utility player has definitely retired from the field. The international match against England on Saturday, which the Australian amateur team won "by 9 points to 3, concluded the programme of matches of the "Wallabies' in Great Britain. No visit will be paid! by a New boutn Wales team .o New Zealand until 1910, this arrangement being made owing to the unusual call on the time of the players now in England. Colin Gilray, the ox-Otago three-quarter and present Rhodes scholar, played in the three-quarter line for Oxford against the Australians in that historic match in which one Australian "was ordered off for striking an opponent and 15 penalties given against the Wallabies for illegal play. The great Oxford three-quarter line, which included, amongs others, Vassall, the English threequarter, who was co" much discussed on tae New Zealand tour of the British team last season, never got going, and the "outsides" were degTees below form. Gilray is said to have lacked pace on the wing, and to have missed two good chances by failing to take his pass-e6. . A writer in the London Morning Post, ii.ite at the coloniai invasion, has allowed patriotism to outrun his judgment. "The Rugby game required no 'boom' ; it was a great and nourishing sport before the >J«w Zealand invasion. These recurring tours are morely a highway to exhibition and professional football. The football dictum laid down at ths Exeter Church Congress long \ears ago was that in Kugby 'we want players, not spectators.' The South Africans learned their Rugby well from Mr W. E. Maclagan's side. New Zealand and Australia easily acquired the arts of the game ; but they forgot the foundation on which all games of recreation are built: the instincts of sport." It is certainly news to us in the Dominion to know that "the Rugby game in England was a great and flourishing sport before the New Zealand invasion.'' The English Rugby Union Committee will (says an English newspaper) "shortly bft called upon to discuss an important matter of discipline. It affect© a well-known player who toured with the English Rujjby team in New Zealand. Many rumours, principally unfounded, as to members of the original "All Black" joining English profeesionai clubs have been given publicity in the English press. The latest appears in fhe Sporting Chronicle: "Oldham, it is said, are negotiating with Roberts, the scrum worker of the original •'All Blaiks," with a view to t.^ colonial ioininq- their rank 3 . Trie Lamoaihiro Club have found the inside half po&ition difficult to fill this -ea-on, and there can be no doubt but that Roberts'., assistance would be uKvt valuable, for he was clfvrr at getting the ball away and a rare glutton for work." Theie aie some players of "Rugg<u" whom ono never forgets. The S^nrs roll on, yet «om° peci'har trait of a man has become firmly impressed upon the memory of the enthiua^tie iootballer, and whenever a process of comparison is n^ees-.ary the skill of that p'ajer comes to mind. Boyish recollections of the kicking of such heroes of the long ago as Stokes and Malcolm Cro's and Ninian Finlay are not to be altered (says an Athletic News writer), even by the kicking of Messenger, the Australian professional of to-day. The tackling of W E. Maclagan, the fine judgment of R. L. Aston, of H. J. Stevenson, of A. J. Gould, and tlie brilliancy — to come to modern times — of Gwvn Nicholh, of W. J. Trew, of R. T. Gabe, and above even these of Kcnn«th Grant MacLeod, are not likely to suffer monlal obliteration ; nor for that matter are {he deeds of the New Zealanders of 1905. I had promised a Walthamstow correspondent to deal with the matter of the ! strength of our colonial invaders t.hie week, a.nd whijc refreshing my memory with a gfaree at qiy reference book of remits of that trip. I came across a note from R. G. Dean?, written from the Quaen's Hotel at Cardiff, and m&intaJnina the righteousness of a try he declared he had made on the Cardiff Arms Ground against Walefi. The colonial exchanges had that very j day brought to this country tidings of th© { death, a.=> rho result of an operation for apoendicit •-, of that younor ciant, whom, I had last seen on that Welsh battle- ;

ground, but whom I had often looked forward to seeing with us again. For Deans was the "baby*^ of the party, having bi*b attained his majority when he came to this country. For a three-quarter back he was a big fellow, for he stood 6ft high and weighed, even when fit, \Zst 41b, so that when he got going he required a. deal of stopping. If I remember rightly it was against the Hartlepools that he went into the central position on the tour, George Smith, nowadays at Oldha-m, having played in the middle, but then, going on the wing, and though once or twice he acted as five-eighth he was the centre three-quarter back in. the international engagements. Not apparently so speedy as either Smith or Wallace, he got across a lot of ground with that long, raking stride of his, and he well knew when to heave the ball to profit. One of the poorest games he did play was against Wales, in the match to which I have referred. The side had by that time wrought themselves stale, and Deans was far from his best, knocking on repeatedly, and rarely gettinig the ball away, well. Yet he declared he crossed that ingoal margin. And who Among th& folk on the press bemohes or the main stands can say whether or not the old Scots international, Mr J. D. Dallas, who refereed the match could tell wkat had happened before he got up to the spot amd found Deans and the ball a short distance outside 'of the 6ame ? But the colonial argument was Deans and the ball had been hauled back, just as it wa3 declared that the Scots had scored at Swansea last February, though by the taroe Mr Williams had reached the scene man and oval were outside, and a scrummage was ordered. I often wonder what the Welsh touch-Judge at St. Helens meant when he said of the try in the Scots gam© — "If Mr Williams had given a try I should not have protested !" Wallace was the man at Cardiff who thrilled us. He was playing wing threequarter back, and picking up from a dribble he dashed off on his own account. He went right up to Winfield. who collared him ; but by the time «of the tackle ha had passed to Deans. What happened thereafter the players themselves know best. Deans maintained ha grounded the ball 6in over ths line, and he swore some of hie opponents admitted that Re had crossed before being dragged back. But the Fats 3 decreed aeainst \the Canterbury player; the one defeat of 'the tour was the result. Not one who met Deans but will regret the news of his death; for a big man he was a wonderfully clean footballer, who played the game. And now I come to my correspond'ant's note. His request is that I should give my grounds for concluding that the " All Blacks " were so much superior to the " Springboks," and proceeds to point out | that the" latter decisively beat Wales, where--las the '"All Blacks " lcet to them. "Of course," he proceeds, " I know Cardiff badly defieatod the ' Springboks,' but the New Zealand e re were very lucky to beat Cardiff and Swansea. The 'Springboks' played their Welsh internsibianal match without their best scorim»g three-querf-er, Stegmann." I am afraid if I were to argue by results I cou<ld! easily prove my case, for did not Scotland, after having be«n beaten on their merits by the New Zea-land-ex3 — all Caledonians do net admit this, yet it ie a fact — m««t the South Africans at Hampden Park and well beat tbara? What also were the results of England's matches with the two sides? Did net Duncan. MacGregor score four or five tries against England ; and did not the latter country draw with Souith Africa? A little more confidence at Balmoral, and Ireland, instead of losing by three points, would have won that e-nigagemen't. The surprise packet was assuredly Walea, and, let ma tell my correspondent, the surprieing thing was not the form of the South Africans, grand though that was; it was rather the fearful showing of the Principality. That is now explicable, but I do not intend to give the reason here. ! However, lam not de-irous of taking the figures aa mere proof of my argument. I wish to contrast the merit of the men. I do not think that forward Paul Roos's m-en were nearly so effective as the eight of whom David Galla,ghsr vrae the leader. Raaf, tbe Morkek, Burger, and Co. we.r© fine fellows, but they lacked the skill of G-°orgis Tyler, of Seeding, of Cunningham; these men were not mere pushers or 1 dribblers — ithere was rather in their work ' a science of which we bad 1 previously bean ignorant in this country. In young Jackeon, as well as in Carolin and Dobbin, the South Africans showed us three fine halfbacks; but they were not so good as ; Roberts, Hunter, and Stead, accepting the two last-named five-eighths as half-backs. Wo have all pleasant memorie3 of Lonbser, Krige, De "Viiliers, and St-cgrnami. ' Well, Smith, poor Deans, and Wallace were i quite as good, and the ores position wherein ; the South Africans were superior to the New Z" a landers — save when Wallace occupied it, and thfn it na 1 ? well filed — was a 1 ; full-back, where Mar-burg- was a champion. My correspondent says :— " Were ihe 'Spi 'ngbrks ' to meet the '-All Biarlb.' at any rate en a dry ground, they v.ould have the full confidence of South Africa. Possibly thoj would stand no chance on a wet pitch, a'> they very ra.rely play on thorn in South Africa." Well, the two colonies will meet soon: then we sliall have practical demount rat ion of their excellencies. Death and t.he Northern Union have interfered with the " ALI Blacks;" tho retirement of crack play-ers has interfered to some extent with the game in South Africa. We can thus only deal svith what. we have seen, and my psisonal opinion if that of the two forces the South Africans \v»re the less skilled and less effecthe.