RUGBY IN BRITAIN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19893, 22 March 1939, Page 10

RUGBY IN BRITAIN

INTERNATIONAL TRIPLE TIE LOW SCORING THE RULE By beating Scotland on Saturday by the narrow margin of 9 points to 6, England drew level with Ireland and Wales in the international Rugby championship at Home for the 19R839 season, the result thus being a triple tie. The final positions of the teams umro I —~

The results were: Wales beat Ireland, 7—o; beat Scotland, 11 —3; lost .o England, o—3. Ireland beat England, s—o; bent Scotland, 12—3; lost to Wales, o—7; England beat Wales, 3—o; beat Scotland, 9—o; lest to *reland o—s.0 —5. Scotland lost to Wales, —11; lost to Ireland, 3 —12; lost to England, 6 —9. The scoring is among the smallest chat has been recorded in the series for many seasons. In the six games played the winning teams scored 5 points and the losing teams 43 points, the average being 9—7 a game. The results, generally speaking, are accepted as a fair test of the strength of Rugby at Home. There was little between Wales, Ireland and England, and but for illness among its leading players and surprising lack of its usual dash, Scotland would probably have proved capable of lowering the •olours of their opponents. A feature of the games was th non-success of the 3-4-1 scrum. This was adopted by Wales and Ireland on recommendations from experienced players after the tour of South Africa. Whether this formation has not yet been sufficiently exploited a'. Home to gain the greatest advantages is still in doubt, but in the matches in which it was tried it proved ineffective, and the traditional British 3-2-3 formation was persevered with.

were;— Wales .. W. .. 2 Points L For. 1 18 Ag. (i Tl. 4 Ireland .. .. 2 1 17 10 4 England .. .. 2 1 12 11 4 Scotland .. 0 3 12 32 0