Rugby

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 687, 12 June 1929, Page 13

Rugby

The Game and its 1 Plae/err.

College Rifled. # # Lostralian Universities L Aussie footballers Bushed. The third varsity test—a Goodwin for j < jsetv Zealand. Manukau showed a Technical point I or two. ... Promising It would be hard to find in Auckland j Rugby an ‘inside back who gets through i more hard work in a day than Allen. | City second five-eighth. He is a j bundle of energy from beginning to end of a game, and, if he would curb some of his superfluous efforts. he would be one of the best men in Auckland In his position. Ho is blessed with the knack of getting off the mark quickly, and has plenty of determination. On defence, too. he is sound, but the main fault in his play is that tendency to run too far. He gets a certain distance with the ball—as far zs~ a good five-eighth should go, unless a try is presented to him on a silver salver —and then tries to go a bit farther. It doesn’t work. Handling Probably the main cause of the failure of the Grammar backs to get o o mg this season is bad handling, allied with a tendency of the inside backs to run across the field. Too often Corner has tossed the hall out to set his moving, and the ball has not gone farther than the second fivcrighth before it is on the turf for the forwards to boot and follow. Dangerous When two members of the Australian Universities threequarter line ! were carried off last Saturday with j injured ankles the coincidence caused j a little comment, but not to the same extent as when the second man was replaced by one named Danger, strangely enough. Danger, shortly after taking the field, was seen limping back from a melee near the line. Crowding the Field In the Manukau-Technical Old Boys match at Onehunga on Saturday play was marred to a large extent by the spectators crowding on to the field. They persisted despite the fact that the referee stopped the game on several occasions and ordered them back. The point that arises is who is responsible for the ground arrangements, the Manukau Club or the Rugby Union. In the event of a protest on the grounds of interference this point would probably be raised. Will Be Missed When the New Zealand team sets sail for Australia on June 21 it will take with it three members of the Ponronby team. Although the club will bo the last to regret their inclusion in the team it will greatly miss the services of McWilliams, Palmer and L. Hook, particularly as the more interesting stages of the senior competition will then be reached. Ponsonby has the distinction this year of being the only club in New Zealand to contribute three men to the New Zealand team. No Shiners Need Apply Before the trial match in Wellington the selectors of the New Zealand Rugby team for Australia let it be known that they were looking for honest-working forwards, not for shiners. As a result both packs buried themselves in their work and “shiners” were not in the picture. It certainly had the desired effect, and incidentally, made it harder for the selectors to sort out their men. Australian Rugby When New South Wales defeated Queensland on the Sydney Cricket Ground recently by 47 to 16 it was the first time in 19 years that an interstate union Rugby match had been played on that famous ground, and the first time in 10 years that New South Wales had played the Northern State under Union rules. Queensland, which has just recently taken the game up again, was. of course, no match for th# tall, speedy New South Wales men who are at present New Zealand’s principal concern. Despite the margin against them, however, the Queenslanders gave a good display, a number n f promising men being discovered in their ranks. Manukau'a Win The home team was considered lucky to defeat Technical at Onehunga on Saturday. The greens adopted bustling tactics from the outset and kept the blacks on the jump. Kaliu and Turei were outstanding where weight and speed were concerned, but Albert Falwasser was not playing his usual brilliant game. For Technical the brothers Couper were prominent. No Offer for Cup Indications are that the Moascar Cup has not yet closed its unhappy career, writes The Sun’s "Wellington reporter. At the annual meeting of the New Zealand Rugby Union a recommendation was made that the cup should be offered to the New Zealand University Colleges for annual competition and it was hoped that a home had been found for the trophy at last. But though the offer has not yet been officially roade three of the eight members of the new University Football Council have expressed their doubt that they can do anything with the cup. They consider it impossible to induce all the colleges to travel sufficiently to play even two matches for the cup (if the contest were played on the knock-out system) unless the games are added to fhe already overweighted Easter interv c-rslty tournament. In addition, the council is not empowered to deal with matters such as this. It was constituted to control university tours in New Zealand and Australia and considers that it has authority to do no more than pass the offer on to the various university colleges. So it is apparent that the cup will still seek a home for some time to come. A Man Short Technical Old Boys were labouring under difficulties in the final half of *h« game at Onehunga on Saturday. Harris retired hurt ard Turbott took Place at halfback, leaving his own PP*ition vacant. Despite the handicap the visitors fought hard right up to the final whistle. Will Keep All Blacks Busy There are approximately 40 new "ugby teams in Sydney this season according to Mr. M. Morey, manager °* the Australian University team. now in Auckland. New South Wales l% Particularly strong this year and he considers that the State will turn out a fifteen that will keep the All Blacks tu ry bus >’ on June 29. He considers bat it is quite likely that the State , * a,r n may be a stronger combination 'ban the Australian side, as a result a desire to give good representation ° *be other States which have re'*ntly taken up the game.

Vlill Moves Hawke's Hay was horrified the other i lay to learn that Mill had left Hast- l n»s with the object of inquiring about < i possible position open to him else- < where. And the source of this offer, 1 )f all places, was—Wairarapa. Apparently it is not certain whether Mill 1 will remain in Wairarapa, where he is * thinking of taking up sheepfarming, or will return to Hawke’s Bay, but from the tone of Hawke’s Bay reports of his departure it is evident that the Bay would rather see him go to Tim- 1 buctoo. or the Bay of Whales, than to ' Wairarapa, where with Cooke outside he would complete a dangerous backline. Suburbs is a team with a hard row to hoe. In four games the club has tried out 30 players and combination is, of course, decidedly lacking. Last Saturday a new back division took the field, but was completely overshadowed by the University combina.tion. Suburbs has a good pack, however, and once the backs have settled down the team may easily upset the calculations of some of ‘the leading teams in the grade. * v A clever line of backs is keeping University well up in the honours list. Moorhouse particularly is on form this season, but against Suburbs on Saturday it was obvious that the team had ode bad fault. Dropped passes robbed the backs of more tlian one easy try and the inside backs were slinging the ball round wildly. Mark Nicholls’s Experiment Considerable success is attending the experiment in scrum formation which is being made by Mark Nicholls with the Petone Club forwards, j writes The Sun's Wellington reporter. The Petone team has been packing a 3-3-2 scrum this year and has now met some of the finest sets of forwards in the competition. including University (last year’s champions) and the Oriental team, considered to bo the* best set of forwards in W’ellington. Always, Petone have gained more than their share of the ball. Development was slow at first, owing to the fact that the new centre man in the front row had to learn to hook with both feet. Soon, however, improvement came rapidly and Nicholls claims that the scrum work of Petone has improved by 50 per cent, over last year. In addition, he points out, the Petone forwards are now chosen for their pushing powers and work irt the rucks, and i by the fact that everyone of them is working all the time they are forcing the opposing teams to do more graftI ing arid thus raising the standard of ; forward play.

A Little Previous Under the heading of ‘Footbrawl” the following appears in the Sydney ’ ••Bulletin” of May 29: ; Athletic Reserve: The Sydney Unir versity XV. opened their M.L. tour in ‘ great stvle by beating Victoria College, 3 the M.L. University champions, by 6 ' to 3 at Wellington. The visitors 1 played the free, open game which the 1 WaVatahs have made famous, and 1 greatly impressed the knowledgable r Maorilanders. An indication of the f wealth of fine players in N.S.W. just 1 now is seen in the praise bestowed on r D. Kennedy, of Sydney University, as / one of the best centres seen in Maori- ; land for years, and one worthy to rank with A. E. Cooke, the famous All-Black. ? In Sydney he is a reserve grade player, t AUCKLAND’S REP. TEAM ’ j J.H. writes: Allow me to add the following to that already long list of [.'unofficial representative teams: Butler Minns, Bush, Abbott Weir, Lucas Rae ? Solomon. Finlayson, Hadley L. Knight, Wanoa. Anderson Fletcher, W. Batty Mr. V. R. Meredith is no doubt find- - ing u»fficulty in the selection of reliable } five-eighths. The writer places Weir as first, and why he was passed over ‘ in the selection of the first team is a v puzzle, for he is the only five-eighths 1 that has given sound displays, both on * attack and defence —the type required 5 if the shield is to be brought back to Auckland. The placing of Lucas at second and Bush at centre may be experimental, but should prove more worthy than the Berridge-Falwasser f try-out—at least we would have sound i defence, with every possibility of brilr liant attack and team work. Rae. at half, should considerably 3 strengthen the attack, and his undera standing with Weir would also be an I a «=set His defence will not. I think, , be questioned. Playing behind the lightest set of forwards in the compe--5 tition he gets more than his fair share ? of defensive work, and always goes 1 down to it without hesitation. At every t opportunity he is there to set lus i backs in motion, and time and again - is to be seen coming round to pick up a missed pass. Playing behind for-

l wards -that would give him more pro- ! tection he should shine. 1 In the forwards, McWilliams is hard to replace, but the above selection should prove a good set.

WAIPA SUB-UNION (From Our Own Correspondent) TE AWAMUTU, Tuesday. Mr. F. Quin presided over the weekly 1 meeting of the Waipu 1-iugby Sub- i Union Management Committee, held j on Monday evening. There were present: H. C. Mabbitt, J. Haines, F. Tickelpenny, W. Whitton. G. Reynolds. A. A. Reese, G. Jeffs, M. \Y. Winter, J. Williams, A. J. Shepherd and. the secretary, Mr. H. P. Haselden. The Maniapoto Union wrote regretting their inability to arrange a match with Waipa this season. A junior player was suspended for one playing Saturday, and severely cautioned for striking an opponent. The offender attended and stated that he had been kicked, and in the heat of the moment he retaliated with a punch. It was reported there was a possibility of the King Country v. Waikato match on Wednesday, June 26, being played at To Awamutu. Waipa is last on the list in the draw for Finlay Cup matches, and no date was allotted, owing to the fact that the W aipa representative team is to tour this season. , , The Eden Club, Auckland, offered to send its first grade junior team to Te Awamutu on July 6. It was decided to meet it with a junior representative An offer was received of a match for the senior representatives at Taupiri, the Waikato Union contributing part of the touring team’s expenses. It was decided not to accept the offer, members being of the opinion that Morrinsville and Cambridge Unions are better able to assist Taupiri, being in a better financial position. A challenge was received from the i Cambridge Sub-Union for the Boyce i Cup. Challenges must be lodged by July 31. MATAMATA REP. TEAM (From Our Own Correspondent) MATAMATA, Tuesday. Mr. L. W. Mehrtens has selected the following to represent Matamata in the Finlay Cup match on Saturday: Backs, Stewart; Brown, Vosper, Fausett; Egan, Davies; Ake: forwards, Ensor, Stevenson; D. Simpson; Flutey, Malligan; Martin, Syme; Story. Emergencies: Back, Bluck; forwards, Fraser, Hammond. A MATCH FORFEITED (From Our Own Correspondent) MORRINSVILLE, Tuesday. At this week’s meeting of the Morrinsville Rugby Sub-Union it was decided to uphold the protest of the Kiwitahi Club against Springdale for playing a man not legally a member of the latter club. The match between the two clubs was awarded to Kiwitahi. *