FOOTBALL.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 April 1927, Page 6

FOOTBALL.

RUGGER AT HOME. HOW SCOTLAND BEAT WALES. (From Our Own Correspondent.) London, Feb. 10. The Prince of Wales met with a rousing ovation at Cardiff on Saturday from a characteristic Welsh Rugger crowd, whose enthusiasm could neither be suppressed by sardine-tinned congestion or damped by a steady downpour of rain throughout the match. The glad occasion was the meeting between Wales and Scotland, which obviously was bound to play an important part in the grim struggle for the triple crown. Mr. Ramsay Macdonald was another distinguished visitor. Last time the Prince was at Cardiff was to see England meet the Welshmen on their native heath; and then, as now, “native heath” might more accurately be rendered as “native morass.” On that occasion not only was Mr. Ramsay Macdonald present, but Mr. J. H. Thomas, too. Mr. Thomas in his youth was a Rugger man, and played, I believe, for a second string of Newport. When passing through the town Mr. Thomas, the railwaymen’s M.P. and now a Right Honourable Privy Councillor, elately pointed out to the Prince of Wales the small shop where he started his career as an errand-boy. Saturday's match was, in a way, Hamlet without either the Prinee or Laertes. Because the influenza epidemic is no respecter of persons, and it claimed as a temporary victim, with nice precision, the star player on each side. While Wales took the field without young Windsor-Lewis, the brilliant stand-off half who promises to revive the ancient glories of Cymric Rugger behind the scrum, the stern and wild Caledonians, who incidentally live well up to that tradition, were without lan Smith, the very spearhead of their attack and the fastest sprinter now wearing football boots in the United Kingdom. The crowd had worked itself up to a fever of excitement by chanting patriotic war-songs before the match started and when the ball was kicked off and the battle joined, for a moment or two there was “silence deep as death.” The conditions of play were deplorable. The ground was soft enough to begin with; but the combined effects of a continuous rainstorm and the furious scrummaging of thirty hefty heavyweights soon churned it into a strongly adhesive liquid plaster. Long before half-time it was simply impossible to identify which side the forwards belonged to, for the red jerseys of Wales and the blue ones of Scotland had been harmonised to a common colour scheme. For the first twenty minutes some attempts were made on both sides to • play real Rugger; and considering the conditions, with a fair amount of success. But Gwyn Richards and W. Delahay, the Welsh halves, were closely watched by their vis-a-vis, Waddell and Nelson. The Scottish forwards broke up quickly and were on the ball like lightning, and all their backs collared and went down to the ball like heroes. In the tight there was not much between the two packs, and if anything the Welshmen seemed rather the smarter; but in the loose the Scottish forwards proved themselves real mosstroopers, and even more at home at a genuine mudlark than the native Welshmen themselves. GRIM STRUGGLE IN THE ?'UD. It was a terrific ding-dong fight, with the forwards making fierce dribbling rushes, now one way now the other, and the backs confining themselves mostly to stopping these rushes and trying to ease dangerous situations by long-dis-tance kicking into touch. Both sides had chances suddenly presented to them, of which they failed to take advantage; either because they found it impossible to handle neatly a ball that must have : been slippery as soap, because they could not keep their feet accurately on the treacherous ground, or because some berserk defender managed to intervene at the psychological moment by some miracle of devoted frenzy. But we saw enough of the game to realise that the weakness some critics detected in the Scottish forwards when they played France at Murrayfield was the purest illusion. Wales were again unlucky to lose a player about midway in the match, but this hardly affected the result. There was only one score. A formidable Scottish rush put the left wing of the Welsh defence in sore straits and somewhat rattled. And then D. S. Kerr, included in Scotland’s pack at the last moment, hurtled over the line on top of the ball. It was a difficult place-kick; but A. C. Gillies, the stalwart Watsonian, as a place kicker includes in his bright lexicon no such word as fail. He planted the congested mass of mud and leather fairlv and squarely between the posts; and an exultant chorus with a distinctly Scottish accent acclaimed a Scottish victory.

Thereafter the Welshmen worked like demons to pull the match out of the fire. Time sad again they rushed the ball near to tile Scottish line, but there Was always some watchful and reckless Scot to hurl himself into the breach, and Drysdale was as cool, unfaltering, and invincible at full-back as ever. Yet there was one occasion when a Welshman was actually falling on the ball over the Scottish line when B. C. Male, the Cardiff full-back, managed somehow to kick it away. At the end of the game the two teams might have walked on, as they stood, as a nigger minstrel troupe; and most of the forwards would have been accused of overdoing things in the role of Othello. The Welsh crowd took their defeat in excellent spirit. But, of course, such is the penalty of being the predominant partner, neither Wales, Scotland, nor Ireland really take a defeat to heart—so long as they ean beat the Sassenachs. THE "SOCCER" GAME. ANOTHER £lO.OOO OFFER FOR FOOTBALLERS. S (From Our Own Correspondent.) London, Feb. 10. A short time ago the Everton Association football club, in making a request for the transfer of a Scottish player, were- asked a fee of £lO,OOO. They did not pay it, but they have since been prepared to pay this huge sura for two men. Everton are in a perilous position in the League. They are bottom but one in the table, and there Is a serious threat of their losing their place in the senior competition. Such a fate has never befallen them in their long career as a first-class club, and, inasmuch as

they are one of the richest in the country, they will not forfeit their status if they can prevent such a calamity, no matter what the cost. For two months they have searched every corner for new men, but their demands remained unsatisfied. In these circumstances, they approached Sunderland, and offered £lO,OOO for the transfer of Cresswell, the international back, and Kelly, the star forward. After long negotiations they have secured Cresswell at a cost of over £6,000. But there is still a need for more men, and they are hopeful of obtaining one from Scotland. This is McPhail, of the Airdrieonians. It is literally true that Everton have been sitting on the doorsteps of the latter club for some weeks, but the Scottish officials would not agree to let McPhail go as long as they had an interest in the cup competition. They were knocked out last weekend, and the English club now find that they are not the only one who want the player. As a matter of fact, there are several bidders, and Everton are likely to get McPhail only if they pay the top price.