COLLEGE RUGBY.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 170, 24 August 1914, Page 2

COLLEGE RUGBY.

LAST WEEK'S TOURNAMENT. ' In the past, the standard of Rugby reached by the teams of the more important secondary schools —the great public schools, as they are known at Home —of New Zealand has been so high that their matches were always expected to provide the best and brightest of Rugby. Possibly we have come to expect a little too much from the Rugby players at bur colleges and high schools. However, since the schools of the Dominion themselves have set that standard, the Rugby enthusiasts who watched the inter-college tournament in Christchurch last week had good reason for their disappointment with the play. Not one of the three matches even approached the standard. Of course, the three schools engaged—Wellington College, Wanganui Gollegiate School, and Christ's College—do not really represent the secondary schools' football of New Zealand. But each of them lias provided' ni'ueh better football in the past. r To the present writer, the most disappointing teams were those from Wanganui and Wellington. Both fell' much below the standard of their schools. A suggestion that each has met with a "lean year" is scarcely tenable, for they possessed material of which better teams should have been made. Particularly is this the case with the Wanganui boys. They are of splendid physique, and much heavier than the other boys, but they have little idea of the best means of applying their weight, and their team play last week was remarkable for its lack of skill, initiative, and dash. "With" good coaching, the team could be developed into a fine combination. The Wellington team was much lighter, but the same defects were noticeable in its play. ■ • the- Best; team.

Of the three teams, engaged in the tournament, ' the- winning fifteen, Christ's College, was undoubtedly the best. Its forwards are the source of its strength. Since they were beaten by the Bt>ys* High School team, the College forwards have improved so much that, on their play, they can scarcely be recognised as the same pack. "Devil" —the quality they did not have against Boys' High School —has . permeated them, and they have acquired -more combination. All of them are real grafters, and so they have become a very good pack. And they have a fine •,ving forward, Loudon. The College hack division has improved also, but its improvement has not kept pace with that of the forwards. The best of tlie College backs are Parson and Robinson (three-quarters) and Helmore (fiveeighths). i It was in the play of the backs that th.e inter-college tournament chiefly failed to come up to expectations. The crisp, clean passing anil handling, the straight running and' resourcefulness which have distinguished the teams from these schools in past years were seen . only in infrequent patches. A few of the backs did play very well, but they were only a few- The principal weaknesses of the back divisions were to be found* in the five-eighths line. Unless a team has sound fiveeighths, brilliant three-quarters are of little use to it. And that was the case in this tournament, for each team was stronger in the three-quarters line than it was in the connecting links between the half-back and the "flying squadron. " In not one of the teams did the five-eighths work together well. The selfishness and lack of initiative of the first five-eighths were the principal factors in this drawback in the Wellington and Wanganui teams. With the Christ's College five-eighths the two men seemed to be simply unsuited to one another. A. L. C.