Rugby is Popular

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 143, 7 September 1927, Page 11

Rugby is Popular

Ci *owds at Rep. Matches Season Nearing Its Close AN entertaining .series of rep matches lias lately swung * popular lavour the way of Rugby, ancl there have been < stonishmg crowds at the last two representative matches, bames against Otago and Wellington are to follow, but otherwise the season is approaching its close.

middle of September is late nough for the average club ! Player. By tliat time- he has had enough of his strenuous pastime, but | this season the active period is to be I ur usually protracted. The prospective j series of All Black trial matches will j keep the players engaged in them, on ! t,IG k*' :t * Ve or anot^ler five or six OTAGO ON THE WAY _ The ugh tlie Otago team is coming -North without two crack players in R. Callender and Wise, it. yet managed to oxi end Wellington, and the score at one stage was Hi all. Otago forwards lately have not maintained tradition, but I lie backs are usually accurate, though orthodox, and the province has a wonderful pace merchant in Webb, the "Varsity flier. HAWKE’S BAY HEADED Playing ILiwke’s Bay in 1925, Otago took the load from the shield, holders in the first spell, ancl was ahead at half-time—the lirst occasion since the Bay 1 ad won the trophy that such had been allowed to happen The lead of the Southerners was mainly brought about by two magnificent tries by Webb, who streaked across from his own wing to complete passing movements on the other flank. But after the spell the Hawke’s Bay forwards battered the Otago pack to bits, and the Bay’s tally mounted to an impressive total, while Otago’s stayed where it was. *- * * HER RIDGE OUT OF LUCK Judging by his subsequent performances Berridge was cither phenomenally lucky to raise 17 points in goals in the first representative match against Thames or else has been distinctly unlucky since. On Saturday his deplorable- kicking almost gave Auckland supporters heart failure, but a redeeming feature was his magnificent penalty goal from the sideline. Sheen held the ball for Berridga when he took kicks at goal in the Hawke’s Bay match, but on Saturday another filled the office. The fault was evidently not there.

FREE KICKS AT GOAL For attempts from tries thej'e is some excuse for the failure of local goal-kiek€‘rs, as the rules- applied here give them no familiarity with the art of kicking a held ball. In club matches all kicks are free, and it is only the conservative spirit of Rugby elsewhere that retains the absurd ‘ rushing” principle. McManus, a very reliable short-dis-tance kick, might be tried in future when the range is easy. His goal from a mark, making the score 9-all in the match against Hawke’s Bay in 1925, is still remembered. Fot* long kicks Butler should get preference when lie returns to. the.side. * * . * AFTER THE MUMPS ■ Wei; muffled, Vic Butler was a „rd-. luctant onlooker at. the Wairarapa match last Saturday. His attack of mumps did not last long, but kept him out of two of the best games of the season. On Saturday Butler was able to watch his substitute, Paewai, play brilliant Rugby. , „ _ The suggestion that when Butler is again available Paewai should be advanceil to tlie five-eighth line is unlikely to appeal to Mr. Meredith. Paewi has been so safe and accurate that l e hardly deserves relegation to the siieline. As a five-eighth lie is capable of sensational Rugby. HAWKE’S BAY PACK AGAIN How far the Hawke’s Bay pack which appeared here was short of the Bay’s real strength forward may be —auged from Wairarapa’s standard. On Julv 9 the IVairarapa pack, exactly the same n composition, crumpled before the K iwke’s Bay forwards. Hence one is not surprised to learn that it was the Bay forwards which clinched the argument in the match against Canterbury last Saturday- ‘‘As great as ,-vor ” is the verdict of a. Christchurch writer. But it was a drab game, all the same. t UNDER THE SPELL When it meets Hawke’s Bay, Canterbury must pass under a spell, ancl an unlucky spell at that. Consider the Bay’s wins:—l923, »-», 1925, 2-,-18; 1926, 17-15; 1927, 11-8; and the last game was apparently lost for Canterbury, through a. mistake by the referee Meeting Manawhenua today. Canterbury may throw oft the mantle of ill-luck, anil earn the just reward of perseverance by winning the shield —at long last- t SHATTERED HOPES Wanganui's illusions were severely knockei about bv Manawhenua s easy victory over last Saturday’s challengers from the riverside city. The game Was nc table for tlie fact that ‘Moke Beilis turned out at rover for the vanquished, bu; his presence could not stave ctT a 22-6 defeat. Better than Beilis, br Wanganui, were Leahey E.nd Johnson, either of whom, and particularlv the former, may catch the eye Of the -big six” during the now imminent trial matches. OUT OF THE PICTURE Once a power in big Rugby, Wanganui appears lately to have faded tiom The picture. Auckland still remembers the desperate challenge of Wanganui in 1907. when the home side retained the shield by the narrow margin of one point—6 to 5 was the suoie. Near tlie close of the game a Wanganui College boy named Hitchmgs had an easy chance at goal, from a penalty, but he was paralysed by nervousness, and tin: ball along the ground. WE -LINGTON’S CLOSE CALL Otago’s match against Wellington last Sa urdav recalls a close call Wellington. then holding the shield, had in , nfij Sending a powerful team Noith, Otago Was U lokding by 13 to nil at the spell, but the match was a parallel to tlio later Hawke's Bay game, foi In the second spell Wellington scored 15 points and Otago none. A scorer for Ota so was C. M. Gilray, now principal of the John McGlaslian College, Dunedin, who was not only Tie fli.t

All Black Rhodes scholar, but also the ! first New Zealander to represent Scot- j land, a triple honour later won .by! G. G. Aitken. In the sensational match referred to, ! W. Johnstone, who went Home with j the All Blacks the following year, was j ordered off early in the second spell. J ODDS AND ENDS ‘‘To Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Lucas, a daughter.’ The foregoing newspaper notice has suggested to football followers that Freddie Lucas might have earned their congratulations. But it is another couple, of the same name and initials, that has been blessed on this occasion. Selector V. R. Meredith was leaving nothing to chance last Saturday. Among the spare backs on hand were Mathieson and Jenkin. The team was not announced before it walked on to the field, and it is not unlikely that the reticence prevented Wairarapa from developing counter-moves based on an authentic knowledge of how the Auckland backs would line out. Meyer, by the way, may have missed the chance of a lifetime on Saturday. The chief All Black selector is not here every day of the week. A MATTER OF SCORING A correspondent writes from Duneclin to point out that Auckland’s defeat of Hawke's Bay by 26 to nil is not the heaviest the Bay has suffered in receipt years. Last year Otago beat the weak Hawke’s Bay touring team by 29 to nil, just after the Bay, reinforced by some of its stars, had scraped home by 17—15 in a Shield match against Canterbury. Great goal kicking by Heazlewood put on several points for Otago, and among the southern forwards Burt and Jackman, neither of whom is touring this year, played wonderful games. MR. ME-REDITH FOR SAMOA Mr. V. R. Meredith’s departure for Samoa on Saturday will remove the power behind the representative team, and it is fortunate that the Royal Commission on Samoa was not appointed earlier, before Mr. Meredith has raised his team to its present standard. His thoroughness, and his sound tactical principles, have been the guiding features in the selector’s success. Last season many different players were chosen for, representative teams —it was largely a year of experiment, but this year, with much the same material at his disposal, the selector has evolved a much more successful side.