Rugby’s Last Budget

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 173, 12 October 1927, Page 15

Rugby’s Last Budget

CLOSE OF 1927 SEASON Ponsonby and Auckland Champions HEREWITH THE SUN presents its last topical Rugby budget for 1927. The regular series of Wednesday notes will be resumed next winter. The selection of four ■ Aucklanders for international honours completes a great record. Auckland is the only unbeaten team among the representative fifteens of major unions, and Ponsonby is indisputably the champion club side.

IT Is unfortunate that a match between the champion club of Auckland and the champion club of Christciurch or Wellington cannot be made a regular fixture. Next year it Is district!}’ probable that the Auckland l nion will endeavour to arrange such an encounter, which would be a very attractive match. The writer has seen no club team with backs of the Ponaonby calibre. There are undoubtedly club teams in Taranaki and Hawke’s Bay with better forwards, but they do not work so well with the tacks, and, apart from that, th€< surpassing skill of the Ponsonby backs undoubtedly places them on a plane by themselves.

A Rude Awakening Who was the big All Black forward,

ivho, by way of giving vent to hie

exuberance over his selection, emptied a bucket of cold water over Robilliard and Scrimshaw as they lay sleeping sido by side at 1.30 o’clock in the morning? It was a rude awakening but the two are the essence of srood temper. Thev

warn good temper. They discarded their nighties. dried

nignties, aneci ithemseives, and trotted off to find arother bed. * • • McLeod’s Promise

Footballers will wish the best of iluck to G. G. McLeod, the Varsity wing-threequarter. who has been selected as one of the two Auckland nominees for the Rhodes scholarship. Playing for the Rest last Saturday, McLeod was full of dash, and his speed and: tricky footwork were very serviceab>e. Hi should curb his constant inclination to turn infield, where g nest of forwards is sure to be found sooner or later, and should also forget his habit of obstructing opponents when they are in pursuit of the bal!..

Strange Ruling One incident in which McLeod wa.s concerned led to a strange ruling toy the referee, Mr. G. Peace, who otherwise was entirely sound, and kept up with the game in most commendable style. Paewai kicked deep from his owr territory, and McLeod, following fast, tred to push Hook, the opposing fulltoack, away from the rolling ball. As was only to be expected, the referee blew his whistle, but awarded Porisontov a free kick at the spot from which Pa©wai kicked the ball. The caSMi seemed to present an instance of perhaps pardonable confusion with the rule that allows a referee to award a free kick at the place where the ball If the kicker is tackled after he gebfTid o l the ball. latti* of Programme* If the Rugby Union will accept advice tendered in all humility, it will endeavour to improve its system of* issuing programmes. At sixpence api?ce the official programme, a worthwh.le and interesting souvenir, is very goed value—the first time it is bought. Ft: l of accurate information and historical photographs, it reflects credit on its compilers, but its unvarying sameness leads regular followers to begrudge their coin when they practically knew the contents by heart. Moreover, it is apparent that club secretaries do not always furnish the correct dompositon of their teams. On occasions, such as last Saturday, the programme is very much astray. * * * Waratah Cricketers

The Waratahs, who arrived in England toward the end of last month, would be rather late for the cricket season, but some of them were hopeful of indulging in a few games. They have 11 really good players in A. W. Ross, the varsity fullback, who has hi-, a century or two, Syd. King, Mann, Storey. Ben Egan, the King’s School ehamoion, Charlie Fore, Sheehan, M?agier, Towers, Judd, Duncan, and Tancred. This combination would gi/e some of the English counties a good run, states an English critic.

Odds and Ends McManus suffered such severe abrasions on the hard ground of the tr ial matches that he could not turn out for Ponsonby last Saturday. His substitute, Has»an, showed a good conception of the halfback game.

T. Keegan, the Varsity hooker, is /I* limping badly as a result of the piKle injury suffered in one of the oilard Cup matches. Olsen was hurt the same game.

f • Lucas will have to have new iootwear for South Africa. The sole * one of bis boots was ripped almost inatch etely off during last Saturday’s

The Right Man Thti Auckland Rugby side (says the miitchurch “Sun”) did not owe its n ° f 10 victories and no losses to H ® J a ft that it was composed- of brillndividualists* Jt was a team, Y 1 * 1 the credit of building up the side j*»t go to V. R. Meredith, coach and u°y . se . lec, or. Mr. Meredith built into 2 brilliant side a collection of indiviuais, who, with a couple of excepens, were of no outstanding merit, rus seems to be a fine argument for tf 1 ® sole selector scheme. Of course, right man has to be found, and uckland was fortunate in ha.ving Mr. -leredith, who is one of the finest poaches in the Dominion. Really it , n °t come amiss if the New* Zeaund Rugby Union appointed him minager and coach of the New ZeaV, Bide for South Africa next year. . has all the qualifications, both the football and the social point °f view. The only question would be

that of his profession. Could he take the necessary time off? • * • “Friends of Mine” It was in the lounge of the Grand Hotel Wellington. An elderly man, who had been In the bar, approached his wife, who was sitting with some friends. “Excuse me for being away so long,’* he said, “but I have just been having a chat with Maurice and Cyril Brownlie; they are great friends of mine.” Two young fellows who had been sitting alor e in the corner looked up at hearing this remark. “Who are those young chaps” said the husband

to one of the friends who was with his wife; “are they footballers?” “Yes,” was the reply, “they are Maurice and Cyril Brownlie.”

A Handy Man To the player who sees the open hand of Maurice Brownlie coming toward his face in the All Balcks’ famous fend, the hand must seem the largest in Christendom. But it is not the largest. The palm—no pun intended — is given to R. G. McWilliams, raking Auckland forward. . He took a pass in Wednesday’s trial game, and sprinted for the line, holding the ball before him with the fingers of one hand, which closed over an end. Holding the ball thus, he touched down for a try.

He Has Speed Credited with: doing 10 1-5 sec over the 100 yards in a race last season. C. Stringfellow, the 22-years-old centre threequarter from Wairarapa, was a good snapper-up of the considered chances ma.de by A. E. Cooke in the New Zealand Possibles v. Probables test. He showed how requisite it is that a man who plays next to Cooke should have speed. Stringfellow played for Waitaki Boys’ High School several years ago. Many people fancied him as a centre-threequarter for the New Zealand team, but a certain degree of weakness in defence told against him.