RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VII, Issue 2029, 16 August 1920, Page 2

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

CANTERBURY TEAM'S TOUR, j SOME STRAY NOTES. Onlv once has a Canterbury Rugby football touring team which has played against South Canterbury. Otago and Southland in one tour won all tluee matches. That happened in 190/. It was the hope of the Canterbury team which has just visited the south that it would equal that record But the final match of the tour knocked out tlw j hope. The tour was a very interesting one, and all three matches were good.one*. They were played on three diffeient kinds of wet grounds. That at Tirnoru ■had on it rather long grass, which paiUy concealed sheets of water. Ball .and ground soon became slippery but for half of the game the Canterbury men handled the ball well, and outplayed the South Canterbury team. After halttime the Canterbury fifteen eased down -a little, while South Canterbury adopted spoiling tactics, and made the. play very even. South Canterbury has good liar. - playing, but comparatively untutored Wards. Its .back division is not oi high quality. The Defeat of Otago. The Dunediu match was the most sensational of the tour. Otago considered its team to be a first-class one certain to beat Wellington for the Ranfu.lv Shield. The team proved to be a good one, but not up to what the Dunedin people said about it. Rain fell stead.h throughout the morning and for the ereater part of the afternoon, and the Carisbrook ground, on which the game was played, was very muddy and slippery. Canterbury's forwards were the better in the loose work, in wh'.h they showed excellent control of the ball. In the- tight, work, though, they generally were beaten bv the heavier Otago forwards. Its greater weight gave, the Otago pack au advantage in the scrums When the Canterbury hookers did get the ball, they usually hooked it. so quickly that it rose and hit the lock or a back row forward, and therefore "hung" in the scrum, giving the Blue forwards a chance to push Canterbury off the ball. Thus the Otago backs were fed with the ball regularly. Their handling of the heavy, greasy ball, however, was not as good as that ot the Canterbury backs. Playing dose up, the Canterbury backs checked the passing of the Blue rearguard with good spoiling and sound tackling. The tackling of the Canterbury forwards aiso was good in the early part of the first half and throughout the second half. ■ With its command of the ball, the Otago side was able to do most, of the attacking, but it was unable to penetrate the Canterbury defence sharply enough to score. On the other hand, Canterbury's fewer attacks were carried out better, and thus it came about that the side* which did the most defending won the game, because it made the better use of scoring opportunities. I think that with a dry ground and ball. Canterbury would have won by a largei margin. Its forwards would have had more scope for their superior speed am greater cleverness in loose play, and tin -Jbacks would have been able to mak< better use of their skill and speed u handling the ball in co-ordinated at tacks.

Excellent Counter-rushes. One feature of the Dunedin game •was the splendid manner in which the Canterbury forwards came away - from their own goal-line time and again. Otago would press heavily, and suddenly the Red and Black forwards woul.l make an extra effort and sweep away to well up the field. Another feature was the brilliant display which C. E. Evans gave as full-back for Canterbury. He fielded the wet ball surely, kicked with fine judgment, and tackled soundly. "When Evans was hard pressed, W. A. Fold, ■who was showing fine form as a wing three-quarter, would get back and asBist his comrade. It is noteworthy that three wing three-quarters played for Canterbury in that game—Ford shifted in to centre when W. L. Henry was injured, J. McCormack going up front centre to Henry's place at second fiveeighth, and A. McLeod going on as a dinger—aid each of them scored a try. Another point of interest was that in the second halt two brothers played on

opposite sides. P. McCleary played in V the Canterbury forwards throughout the game, [n the second half, his younger brother, .1. McCleary, went out as second five eighth for Otago, replacing A. I*. Perry, who had been injured. The Otago backs were the best met by Canterbury in the tour, but they did not display the combination and resourcefulness expected of them. VV. R. Tea, the first five-eighth, was the best of them. Fea played excellently in both attack and defence, and disproved an idea that he would not go well on a slippery ground. However, he was watched very closely by the Canterbury men, ami was tackled vigorously. A. T. Begg, South Island half-back last year, who bad*been kept out of Rugby for some' time this season by an injury, was back in his old place behind the Otago scrum. He played a solid game, doing. a lot of rush-stopping, but lie fed his backs rather too much when the backs •were not making good enuugh use of the ball.

A Very Sticky Ground. After two days of heavy rain in Duuedin, the team was glad to reach Jnvereargill, where the weather was fine—clear but cold days and frosty night-;. The only drawback to the visit to luveivargil! was the fact that the ground on wlii.di the match with Southland was played was the most difficult played on by any Canterbury teams fur several years. Southland's' frosts are very penetrating, and a siiccession of them had made the Rugby Pnvk Ground very heavy. 1* is a "made-up"' ground, and is plugdrairie.il, and therefore is peculiarly susceptil.lt> to the action of frosK Its condition had hem made worse bv :i •nati-li having been playe.l on it en'the. Saturday previous In the .lav of the

I'llliterbiirv game. An attempt to roll it | in the interval ha I to be abandone.l because earth -hing to the roller. The mrd into which Hie surface was ■•liinnc.) was most tenacious, and in thai bevy going the Canterbury forwards lost their speed and agilit'v. Southland put into the field a pack of excellent, heavv. thriisting forwards.] hard-phiying and fairly last, and good 1 in dose drii'bliuj! and in heavy charge.*. Tin Southland forwards. Bccti'slomcd to | such grounds as has just been de I scribed, adapted their [day well to the. heavv going. As the game wore on, and the lighter tenm I aim- tired, the ' hits Sonlldai.il fm-wards did better and better. Of the backs. Canterlmi v had •mh the better act—although they were HCarecly up to their besl forin, even when the nature of the ground is taken into' consideration. But the ground made it essentially a forward game, and in that the bigger pack had the better of the play. Southland

gained its points chiefly from forward rushes. Canterbury's three tries were scored by backs. Two of them —those! gained bv Wilson—were scored from j good passing rushes. The other was scored by Fitzgerald, but it was E. H. (".lack"') Kllis who "made" the try. Kllis also started one of the two passing j rushes, previously mentioned, which! ended in scores. Unsatisfactory Refereeing. The Canterbury team took its defeat well; if it ha.l to lose, it would rather that it lost to Southland than to Otago. But the result, of the Invercargill match I would have been much more satisfae!for\ to everyone concerned if Southland's points'had all been gained in a manner not open to question. One of Southland's tries was a really good one, but the two other tries should not have been allowed. In each of these, two cases the ball went over Ihe goal line under a knot of players of both sides. The referee (Dr Ritchie Crawford), who was not. in a position to see who had the ball when it went over the line, ran up to the heap of humanity lying on the ground, walked round it, called some of the topmost, players off the ball, and then awarded a try. That was the procedure in each case. C. E. Evans, the Canterbury full back, says that on each of those two occasions he had one hand

under the ball when it was touched j down. And "Scrum" Evans's word is J good. In each instance a scrum five yards out, not a try, should have been awarded. Apart from the fact that Dr Crawford seemed to forget Rule 14, the fact that he awarded two tries when he obiously could hot bo certain that tries had been scored was amazing. In other respects, too, Dr Crawford was not in accordance with the practice of northern referees. Six of Southland's points came from" goals kicked from "frees" awarded for alleged off-side play by Canterbury players. In one of these two incidents Dr Crawford adjudged W. A. Ford off-si.le, although that player was decidedly on side. Tn the other case the off-side play was unintentional, and arose through (Jammings and McClearv overshooting the ball, but making no attempt to interfere with the play until they had been put on-side again." jVlost referees would have given a scrum in that case, or else ignored the merely technical "off-side." TTowever. let us allow Dr Crawford the right to give a free-kick for that, ami still the fact remains that he presented nine points to Southland. It is to the credit of the. Canterbury players that they said little about Dr Crawford's refereeing, after the game, though what little they said was expressive. For everybody else whom they met in Southland they had nothing but, kindly and grateful thoughts. Members of the Southland Rugby Union and other people in Invercargill and Bluff went to much trouble to make the team's visit a thoroughly enjoyable one. The functions arranged in connection with the team's visit included a launch trip round Bluff Harbour, with a sack of fresh oysters on the launch on the Tuesday, and a dinner for the two teams and an excellent smoke con cert, in the Southland Commercial Travellers' and Warehousemen's Asso ciation's club rooms on Wednesday evening. There were other function' too. In short, the team was glad t< reach Invercargill and sorry to leave it

Individual Players. The play of the Canterbury team suggested thitt on a dry ground it would make a very creditable showing. All the forwards worked well, though Ellis was perhaps the most consistent —he played excellently in each match —and L. Peterson was-always very prominent in the line-out work and loose play. 11. G. Munro went particularly well at Invercargill. E. Cummings battled well in the hard stuff all through. K. Henderson. A. Henry and B. McOleary played well up to form —McOleary played excellently in Dunedin—and all three thoroughly justified their inclusion. It was unfortunate for the forwards, however, that they met heavier packs on slippery or heavy grounds. N. Carnegie, wing-forward, played good football all through. The backs showed up well in attack when they got opportunities, but at times some of the centre backs did not

go down to the ball as often as they should have done. E. Fitzgerald worked well as half-back, but at Invercargill he was troubled by an injured leg. D. MeCormick, first five-eighth, made good openings when opportunities came his way. \V. L. Henry, second five eighth, played well at times, but was not, as consistently good in attack as McCormick was.' Henry was unfortunate in being hurt in both the Tiinaru and Dunediu matches, just when he was settling down to a better combination with McCormick. .1. McCormack shaped well at centre three-quarter and also at second five-eighth after W. L. Henry's retirement ill the two matches mentioned. McCovmack has still something to learn, but there can be no doubt that he should develop into a fine centre. He was unlucky in receiving, in the Southland game', an injury to his left knee, which was hurt in the CanterburyWellington match on June 3, and so he will not be available for the game against Waiiarapa next .Saturday. W. A. Ford did not play particularly well against South Canterbury, but he was in fine form at Dunedin, and he did well whatever work came his way at Invercargill. In the second half of each game, he had to play at centre. 0. It. Wilson, wing three-quarter, opened un certainly in each match, but improved as the game wore on, and his tries were scored in excellent style. A. McLeod, who played in a part of each match as an emergeiicv. showed that he was well worthv of a'place in the team. Evans was brilliant as full-back in Dunedin. In hivercargill, however, he was troubled bv the stick v ground. A.L.C.

MATCH WITH WAIRARAPA. THE CANTERBURY TEAM. The following team has been selected bv Messrs S. F. Wilson, 11. M. Taylor niid Claude Kvans to represent Canterburv agninst SVairarapn at Lancaster Park next Sat lay:--I nil hack: C E. Kvans. Thrcc-c|imrlrrs: \. Mel.coil, W. A. l-'ord, .1. 11. i'nrkcr. rivc-cif-hths: \V. 1.. Henry. I). McCornii'd;. Ilidl-l.ack: 1.. I'ilztfciald. i Wii.«-Jar«nrd: V Canute. I'.irwucils: \. Henry. It. McC.lrary, 1,. | |r.unimini!s, K. Henderson, 1.. IM.is.hi. K. I I 11. KIIK, li- '•■ Monro. I Kinci-ciicies: I tack. I".. It. Wilson; l'<.r----wai-d, T' llolisoii. | Kxecpl for Ihe three M ,iaiter line, ihe i 1t,,,,, U that selected as Ihe i.esi lli'ii-.ti : ! for Ihe southern tour. ■- vie

Corniaek is unable to play, owing to an injury, and ho W. A. Ford is to play as centre three-quarter, instead of wing, and A. McLeod goes into the iifteen. J. H. Parker replaces G. I?. Wilson on the | other wing of the three-quarter line. j The following players are also required to attend practices with the re-1 preventative team:— | E. Brosnalian, J. C. Mullins, M. O'Malley, H. Davis (Sydenham), B. E. Boag, C. IS. (iuincy, F. BlHCkmore, F. Smyth, 0. furpin, J. Lattimorc, S. Craven, J. B. Jackson, 3. Bannister, \Y. Minehon, D. Varney, CHRIST'S COLLEGE v. OLD BOYS. The Christ's College first Rugby fifteen defeated a team from the Christ's College Old Boys' Association by 33 points to nil, on Saturday. Tries were scored by Richmond (3), Cocks (2), Thompson, Reeves, Birch and Talbot. Richmond converted two tries and Talbot converted one. INTER-UNIVERSITY MATCH. Vreu Antociation. AUCKLAND, August li. The inter-University Rugby match, Auckland v. Wellington, resulted in a draw. Clark scored a. try'for the northern team, and Nicol tor Wellington. DUNEDIN GAMES. rress Association. DUNEDIN, August 14. In the Rugby competitions, Alhambra beat Kaikorai by-eight points to six, ami University defeated Pirates by 22 to eight. Alhambra is thus practically assured of winning the senior competition, by one point, from University. WAIRARAPA BEATS TARANAKI. Press Association' CARTERTON, August 16. Wairarapa and Taranaki met at Carterton to-day, the ground being fairly soft after the heavy rain. The game opened briskly. Wairarapa rushed the ball up to the Taranaki line, and from a scrum Irvin (half-back) passed to Carson, who scored at the corner. The try was not converted. Wairarapa was again pressing in the Taranaki twenty-five, when Croube (Wairarapa) gave a blind pass, which was accepted by a Taranaki man, who passed to Wilkinson. The last-named put in a great run, was tackled in the corner, but fell over the line. Wairarapa again pressed, and from a free kick Gronbo goaled. Wairarapa 0 Taranaki 3. In the second half the Wairarapa forwards opened with greal ■ vim, but Taranaki . beat them back 1 making things particularly warm. Fol ' lowing a Wairarapa forward rush, tin '■ ball came from a ruck near the Tara ' naki line, and was marked, Groube goal ' ing. Wairarapa 9, Taranaki 3. Fron 1 this out Taranaki w r as continually oi 1 the attack, and only by good luck am > hard defence did Wairarapa avert (lis ' aster. They accepted four forces ii ' quick succession. Two shots at goa 1 also failed. When time was called they was no further score.

-SEDDON SHIELD MATCH. Prrti Asioniation. WESTPORT, August 34. The Scddon Shield match, played at Westport to-day between Buller (holders) and Marlborough (challengers) was won by Marlborough after a strenuous gamo by 21 points to 13. The Marlborough* pack was rather better than Buller \ but otherwise there was no great difference between the teams. WELLINGTON PREMIERSHIP. [Special to The Sun.] WELLINGTON, August 14. The Wellington Rugby Union's first grade championship was decided today in wet weather and on a sodden ground. After a good game Petone defeated Poneke by 12 points to three.