RUGBY BEGINS IN EGYPT

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21596, 6 March 1940, Page 6

RUGBY BEGINS IN EGYPT

Inter-Unit Competition Cup Given By General Freyberg By Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON, March 5. New Zealand Expeditionary Force Rugby has begun in Egypt. Last Saturday the first matches were played in the inter-unit competition for a cup presented by Major-General B. C. Freyberg. Names prominent in New Zealand Rugby figure among the officials and players, giving every indication that the reputation of the New Zealand Army teams of the World War will be worthily upheld. These competition matches will be played twice weekly and will culminate in a trial game and the selection of a New Zealand Army team to play in a triangular tournament at Easter. The selectors for the New Zealand team are Lieut.-Colonel T. J. King, a member of last year’s Management Committee of the New Zealand Rugby Union, Major J. T. Burrows, a 1928 All Black and an All Black selector in 1937, and Private J. L. Griffiths, the well-known Wellington representative and All Black. Saturday’s results were:— Wellington Battalion 12, Engineers and Signals 3. Auckland Battalion 8. Cavalry and Ambulance 0. Canterbury-Otago Battalion 5, Mechanised Transport Company 3. Artillery 9, Divisional and Brigade 0. Machine-Gun Company 9, -irmy Service Corps 0. The games were well attended and the form was very good for opening matches. The following New Zealand players represented British troops in Cairo against British troops in Alexandria on February 25—Sergeant Coull, Corporal Morrison, Corporal Wales and Private Griffiths. Cairo won 9-0. The form of the New Zealanders excited favourable comment. Morrison and Griffiths are All Blacks. Coull was one of Taranaki’s best forwards last year and took part in the All Black trials last September at Athletic Park. He won a place in The Rest which defeated the New Zealand side in the final game. Wales, an Athletic and Wellington representative, has also participated in All Black trials.

Several games have been played between New Zealand and British units, the New Zealand teams performing well. New Zealand Artillery defeated the previously unbeaten Air Force Heliopolis team 18-3. New Zealand units are very keen and a good side should be available to meet the British Army and Air Force teams in the projected triangular tournament at Easter, the proceeds of which will go to charity.