RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIV, Issue 14523, 19 August 1911, Page 6

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

TOUCKT.TNE TOPICS, - (By C.E.H.) | Schools seven-a-sido to-day. luaaro. and AsHburton High Schools E?rt io^lay. v. Otago, and Canterbury v. jticris to-day. School rep. game, North v< South Canterlrary, nest Saturday. St ax-Pirates aud High School play their second round game nest -week. A. Takavanci, one of the best known Waiiganui players, did not take part .in Tiurscnv-'s match, being on tour with i\i ? Jiaoris. A point- that- does not seem to be r=ahs-r-d by strong forward teams; is tiiat it is lawful t-o work the ball over " 10 Jr}? a scrum, and score a try by falling an jt. Hirli School _ easily accounted for and their game should hearten there fsr their second meeting with Star-Pirates, who now lead them by ens point for the president's trophy.

The Waiigamii uam included at k'.,;,t . three dangerous plac* kicks, l.ut mi Thursday the visitant wcro within range long enough t« get' much opportunity of turning thsir free kicks to scoring" account. A trirj to Oimaru apparently electrifies tKo South Canterbury forwards. Two years ago, a week after their visit to North Otego, they (save Canterbury the surprise of their, lives and incidentally a sound beating. This year, after a very mediocre display across the Waitaki, the Green, pack opened out and more than held their own with a Btrong forward division like TVanganui's. A movement is on foot in New Plymouth to give tangible recognition of the services of 11. J. Mynott to Taranitki football. No doubt funds will : bo freely subscribed in. the butter pro I vince, whero " Simon" is something of a football god, and if it eventuates another professional will havo been made with the countonanco of bodies which fulminate against the Northern Union. It is more than probable that the Maori match will bo abandoned, in the meantime at any rate. The Natives have a largo casualty list, and have a bare fifteen sound men to play Canterbury. Efforts are being made to induce them to continue their engagement with South Canterbury, but'. unless reinforcements can bo obtained no game is likely next week. 'Which is deeidelv unfortunate. The - Athletic Ground has been South Canterbury's lucky held for some time. Many years back, in seasons when country teams failed the Union, scores of 44 and 39 were run up by Canterbury, but during tho last five years victories over Auckland and Canterbury havo punctuated a string of minor successes there. Tho spell was not broken on Thursday, another win against a reputable province being recorded. < Tho game between AVangahui' and South Canterbury played at Cook's Gardeus in 1908* was the roughest in which our local men havo takon part for many years, and' a little uneasiness was felt that memories of~~that conflict might bo carried on to the field on Thursday. Since the fatal accident in Timaru last month," play , here has been exceptionally mild, and the Ashbnrton and North Otago gameß probably constituted a record in clean ■„ play for the Soutli Cauterbnry team. Except for a rather warm five minutes i at the commencement of the second

spell, the match on Thursday was .quite respectable, and then the locals showed that they were quite capable of taking care of themselves if need be—ras they did at "Wanganui in 1003. ■ The "Wanganui men had heard things before arriving in Timaru, and had formed an exalted opinion of the South Canterbury rearguard. The opening flash of the game strengthened this impression, and thereafter tho visiting five-eighths appeared to move closer np with the object of smothering tho opposing back play, and incidentally spoiled their own formation for effective combined work. Their apparent determination >to rely on their forwards turned ont wroijgly, as the Greens surprised their most ardent supporters and beat a. good pack. There is some reason to believe that the opening burst by Spillane, Lynch and Maze went a long way towards South Canterbury's success and "Wanganui's comparatively poor showing. Two of the Wanganui party which visited Timaru tins week had played in local football. Signall was in the Timaru three-quarter line a couple of years back, and Percival occupied a similar position with Pirates for two seasons. R. Ueahy, one of the hookers, is a member of an athletic family hailing from Taihape, and last year represented "Wellington and North Island. Mart-is, the dusky scrummer who is not a Maori as popularly' sapposed, is a cousin of " Runji" ."Wilson, and Cunningham, a spare front-row man. is a relative of Auckland's Cunningham. "W. Dustin. the skipper, is well-known outside football as a crack amateur oarsman. Soutor, one of-the busiest men in the last strenuous game with Sonth Canterbury, stood out this time to Test a knee which he strained sin the Maori match last week. Athletic and Temuka fought another strenuous battle in their play-off for the junior flag, and Athletic managed to secure possession for a year and to score their first victory in this grade over Temuka. Tho winning points, two tries awarded for obstruction", have been the' subject of considerable argument, and a section of Temuka's supporters talk of appealing against the decisions. There is not very much likelihood of an appeal being sustained unless a point of law is involved. The roles provide that in case of deliberate obstruction a try should be allowed if the referee is of opinion that a iry would undoubtedly have been scored but for the obstruction. This ■is accounted a question of " fact," on which a referee's ruling is final, and if tho ground for the suggested appeal concerns a matter of fact, the referee's decision, right or wrong, cannot bevery well upset. Green and Black was in the ascendant this week, Marist carrying the rep. colours to victory over Main after a closely contested game, and securing possession of the primary school banner for the year. The play was not as spectacular as in some of the runaway games in which Main haveshown pretty combination, good following by Marist rendering their attempts at back play abortive, bnt still the game was pretty fast, and aroused considerable enthusiasm among spectators .who seldom see school contests. The sys-

ftem of allotting points for the banner is somewhat complicated, double points fj| being allowed for wins hy or against jg country schools "(who play only half gj the number of matches arranged for g town teams), and the victory of Mnrist §| .over Ternukn f-.vlin beat Main) entitles S them to four points, which places them I 0 on the IP noint mark, Temuka follow- \ g ing with 16. Main 14. | § 'J'iie Smith Canterbury team was g asked a much bigger question on j Rs Thursday than in cither of their pro- | gj rious games this season, but a surprises ingly good display by the pack which || had performed so poorly against North j§ landed them comfortable win--8? ners. although the difference in the H scores rather nattered South Canter- •% bury. The backs won the Oamaru 2g match almost unaided, but the vau|9 ! jrnnrd asserted themselves again this S j v.eek", and were- hardly recognisable as i[ the spineless seven of a week before. The !'me-our work showed remarkable 'improvement, and the following and tackling were of quite a different order. Instead of fading away at the finish tliey stayed the journey well, the trniii- ; ing" done in the interval telling its j osii ■ story. As the result of a night's ! coaching in forward tactics by W. ! Carlton they had some method in their H 'i>liiv. and though thev are not likelv fj ! to 'excel the 190S or 1909 packs they ! are St to be classed nn Thursday's form as a. typical South Canterbury scrumming brigade. The Zingari pair, Ktating and Aloore, who were least | conspicuous nt- Oamaru, appeared- to i much greater advantage, and Horgau j played his best game of this year. The other pack men gave a good account of themselves, and Dalton, a comparative novice at the wing business, easily outplayed his opponent, besides being the star performer of the game at line work. That this was igi quickly recognised was evident from 11 iho attention paid him. The backs || \v**i-o something of n. disappointment. S Xber did not show the same finish as JH at Pamaru. their passing being slower <3 and ftiueli loss frequent, but perhaps it gj was a ti p vSO of playing as well a.-; the fjj other feffixr would iet them. _Tbeir fj catching and .kicking wss all round If , infinitelv superior -Jo Wanganui's,' even ,*■ though' manv of ths--kicks were too

.-■traiuht U|i tiol.l to s-uve the forwards. LyneTi was inclined to individualist, too niueli, and found this did not pny too | well against the tackling of Campion and Phillips. Occasionally when they got under way the backs were good to watch, but the wings were not kept as busy, as they might have been, and it is certain that with a pack liko Thursday's before them tho rearguard can play a showier game. As it was they were much better than tho opposing set, who were not so clever as those opposed, to South Canterbury in 1903, though it may be that the Green forwards swamped them and put them off their gamo. Dustin, tho full, kicked very poorly, and tho threequarters woro not striking. Stewart 13 a line cut of a back, hut does not use his apparent speed to advantage; his kicking was his masterpiece, and was tho best on his side. Coutts, the centre, looks the making of a fine fullback. Signall shone out brightly on two occasions, but is neither better nor worso than tho player we used to know. Tho Eve-eighths, Campion and Phillips, are splendid tacklers, and the former—tho best back on the side—mado two Or three fino dashes, but bis passing was erratic. Atkins, the half, is a plucky little handful, hut is hardly seasoned enough for big football. The wing forward. Green, is a fine placekick and has iieaps of pace, but- is not in the same class as Souter. l)ustin is n real top-notch forward, and" Leahy is another, though he appears to be less proficient as a hooker than ho onoe_ was, perhaps on account of' playing in other positions lately. Martis is a worker from Workville, and Batley.is no slouch either. But as a combination they Were inferior to the Green pack. This win should put South Canterbury on good terms with themselves—it is to be trusted not too good. Wanganui in the back division at least are riot up to their highest previous standard, but tho team has two or three good performances to its credit this year—Taraiiaki were run to throe points on Juno 3rd, and tho Amber arid Black side is accounted a warm one again. The results «f the' games in the south, however, will cive a better line to the merits of the Soutli Canterbury win.