IRELAND BEATS ENGLAND

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21304, 25 March 1939, Page 16

IRELAND BEATS ENGLAND

Success at Twickenham POLICE GUARD GROUND To the exuberant delight of all the pretty colleens with their emerald jumpers and admiring escorts, and the utter consternation of ■ the - English selectors, Ireland beat England at Twickenham by a goaled try to nil. It was a rare afternoon, with almost a clouldless blue sky and a bright sunshine. But the going was extremely sticky, and militated against good open Rugby, if there was any chance of such entertainment. An additional attraction on this occasion, by the way, was the statement that the ground had been guarded night and day by special police, writes a London correspondent. This naturally raised hopes that the I.R.A. might try to blow up something or somebody on such an inviting festival. But beyond slowing up entry to the ground, in order that anybody with a parcel .might show that it was not an explosive milk bottle, there was really no Excitement. Ireland kicked off with the wind behind them, and play settled at once in English territory. It was early apparent that Ireland’s pack was not going to take England’s forward prowess against Wales as proof of anything out of the way. The green jerseys swept the ball well into England’s twenty-five, and England’s quickly-muddied AU Whites were hard pressed to repel the grim onslaught. Finally Guest managed to get the ball, slipped a clever pass to Heaton, and the latter raised the first English cheer by landing it, with a prodigious kick, right on the Irish comer flag Freakes in Trouble It was then Ireland’s turn to fight back-to-the-wall, and Teden flung himself on the ball as it rolled over the goal-line, only to be whistled back for some earlier infringement. Heaton tried to break through the green

cordon, but the Irish centres’ tackling was sound. To their devoted tackling Ireland owe their victory—to that and the much smarter and clever play of their halves, Morgan and Cromey. Morgan, who captained the side, was cool all through, and full of tricks. The English defenders never seemed to tire of buying his adroit dummies. Twice or thrice his dummy pass, followed by a swift crisscross run through, nearly yielded a try. About a third through the first half England’s stalwart full-back, Freakes, in going down to an Irish forward rush, was badly stunned. He lay there, motionless on the grass, despite all attention. Two doctors came over at the double from the west stand, but their ministration was vain. It was only when two R.A.M.C. (or St. John Ambulance) men doubled up with a stretcher that Freakes began to recover consciousness. He gallantly refused to be carried off, and, after a few minutes with the two M.O.’s in touch, shook himself, felt his head, and stepped bravely back to his place on the battlefield. Judging by his kicking and tackling afterwards, the heavy shaking had not injured his rugger. Ireland’s Try After a fierce struggle for 40 minutes, half-time found no score. It was fairly early in the second half, however, that Ireland scored their solitary try. Just before, after Guest had made a grand dash down the wing after Heaton had cut out an opening for him, Ireland were forced to touch down. Then Ryan tried a penalty kick for Ireland, causing the crowd, whose nerves were tingling with impatience, to groan a little by taking an infinite time to adjust the ball to his liking and count his backward strides. Then he took the kick, which, went fairly wide of the goal-posts. Heaton, also, with rather less palaver, tried two penalty kicks, both from long range, but both narrowly missing their objective. Then there was a spirited dribble by the Irish pack. Somebody kicked well ahead over Freakes’ back, and the mad dash for a touch-down was won by Irwin for Ireland. McKibbin made no mistake about planting the ball from a fairly easy position right between the uprights. Nothing more was scored by either side. But the forward melee grew fiercer and fiercer; almost too fierce at times in fact, for two hefty righthand punches were plainly seen from the Press box, both by excited wearers

of the green. These lapses were a Pity. Try as they did, strenuously and persistently, even desperately, England could not force a score. But they came very near it. Heaton made one grand thrust, dodging clear away, and racing down the touch-line. But there was no supporting white jersey to take his pass when he was pulled up by the Irish full-back. But the Irishmen were on top, and meant to stay there. Better defence has never been seen at Twickenham. Some people say our forwards flattered themselves against a weak Welsh pack. I do not agree as it is a very fine English pack. The Irish pack, however, is superb. They have terrific speed, can dribble like soccer stars, and their tackling is immense. Having said so much, one must admit that England was outclassed at half. Morgan was an artist compared with Cooke, good methodical, hard-working scrum half though the latter is, and little Walker at stand-off, was far too small and “obvious” to shine against that Irish back defence. Mainly a Terrific Scramble It must be added that, as in all the other big matches in recent years, the play was mainly a terrific scramble. Its vigour and speed gave it some excitement, but compared with the open three-quarter-passing Rugger of pre-wing-forward days it was tedious and undramatic. One could see the whole purpose of Rugger being atrophied before one’s eyes. Rugger used

to be the biggest thrill in outdoor sport. Frankly, as it is now played, I personally grudge having to make the weary pilgrimage to Twickenham to watch it.

The teams were (new international players being denoted with an asterisk):—

England.—H. D. Freakes (Harlequins), back; R. H. Guest (Liverpool University and Waterloo), J. Heaton (Waterloo), G. E. Hancock (Birkenhead Park), and R. S. L. Carr (Old Cranleighans and Manchester), threequarter backs; G. A. Walker (R.A.F. and Blackheath) and P. Cooke (Richmond), half-backs; J. T. W. Berry (Leicester), R. M. Marshall (Oxford University and Harlequins), J. K. Watkins (Royal Navy and United Services), T. F. Huskisson (Old Merchant Taylors), H. F. Wheatley (Coventry), R. E. Prescott (Harlequins), H. B. Toft (Waterloo), and W. E. Teden (Richmond), forwards.

Ireland.—*C. Murphy (Lansdowne), back; F. C. Moran (Clontarf), H. R. McKibben (Instonians), J. D. Torrens (Bohemians) and V. J. Little (Collegians and Bedford), three-quarter backs; G. E. Cromey (Collegians) and G. J. Morgan (Old Belvedere), halfbacks; R. Alexandex- (Royal Ulster Constabulary), J. w. S. Irwin (North of Ireland), H. J. M. Sayers (Army and Aidershot Services), R. B. Mayne (Malone), D. O'Laughlin (Garryowen), *J. G. Ryan (University College, Dublin), *C. Teehan (University College, Cork) and D. Tierney (University College, Cork), forwards.

As expected, Ireland chose precisely the same side that beat England at Twickenham for their match against Scotland at Lansdowne Road, Dublin, on February 25, when they won by 12 points to three . (Ireland met Wales at Belfast on March 11 and was beaten 7 to nil.) Following are the position of the

Scotland 0 2 6 23 0 Since the International series was commenced in 1883-84, England and Scotland have won the championship outright on 12 occasions, Wales on 10 and Ireland twice. England, Ireland and Scotland have figured in five ties, and Wales in three. France entered the championship in *909-10, but has not competed since 1930-31.

teams:— W. Points, L. For Ag. Tl. Wales 2 1 18 6 4 Ireland 2 1 17 10 4 England 1 1 3 2