RUGBY NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11729, 20 June 1916, Page 5

RUGBY NOTES.

NEWS AND JOTTINGS. The opening games of the Bnghy6eason gave promise of good football later iu the winter, and that promise is being fulfilled more and more every Saturday. The public are beginning to realise it slowly, also, and the east stand, now a free institution, » more like its old self on Saturdays. NoQoify suggests that Rugby is played tor the gate, but Lancaster Park is not quite but of deep water yet, and for this reason every effort should be made to play a really good game on the oval. And this leads to the suggestion that a redrawing should take place in the Senior competition (not; at once, of course, but when the round is a bit further advanced), and when Christ's College have had' a chance to show their exact strength. The teams are settling down into combination and more Bcientiiic methods as the season progresses, and a test on their best form would be a great encouragement to them individually, and a Rugby spectacle of no mean standard. While Merivale A and Old Boys were fighting out their game on the oval on Saturday one could not help feeling that it would be a pity if either team should be eliminated' by the " sudden death" process, and it seems quite,likely that they will be given a chance later in the season to try it out again. _ Meanwhile there is quite a pleasure in looking forward to the meeting of Marists and Merival* and other good matches, not to mention High School and College. This year College appear to bo stronger than High School, and should win, on form, although temperament has still a lot to do with that particular match, and if Collego win, their meeting with Old Boys will bo an even more exciting match. Altogether the prospects for the season are brighter every Saturday, and' there may be some notablo crowds at Lancaster Park before the season closes. . ■• • Reputation in a football team is a very useful asset. It frequently sets the other team playing a tight defensive game, disregarding the wise old saw that the best form of defence lies in attack. This remark applies particularly to the ante bellum period, when so-call-ed Seniors hugged and tussled in tight grips and spoiling tactics from one twenty-five flag to the other. But in the flower of youth reputations are scorned. If A has a reputation for goal-kick-ing, B goes out to show A just how goals should be kicked; and it is this simple little fact that in a very great degree- is making the season's Rugby so sparklingly attractive. The point was exemplified on Saturday, when Merivale A lined out on the oval. The cognoscenti all seemed to have Penberthy on their minds. "Which is he? Ah, yes, with the tapes oh his boots. Hot stuff?" " Well, pretty fast, but a very dangerous drop kick." Now, that looked like a damper for Old Boys, because dropped goals are abominably chancy things that always come out of the sky, and count moro than hard-earned tries or penalty goals—why, nobody knows. But, curiously enough, the first and only dropped goal in tho match went to Old Boys, and, although they could I have done without it at the finish, it happened to come at the good old '•' psychological moment " when they were two' points down. Merivale A a in fact, were very con- ] considerable favourites for the match against Old Boys, because they had come through five games without a loss, and undoubtedly numbered somo clever players back and forward. But a very sapient remark was r>assed by a follower of this game who _ said' that >lerivale were individualistic. Old Boys, on the other hand, were cohesive in the j scrum, and moro co-ordinate in the i back ranlcs. In the very early part of tho game Old Boys showed a slight supe- | riority in the pack, which developed strongly towards the end of the game. Thev wore cleverer in tho front rank and' hooked the ball .about _ twice in three times, and here the individualism of the Merivale scrummers. caused them to step on thcmsolves, in a manner of speaking. They were too intent on breaking up to "give their hookers a chance, and they, were also lucky to had an unmusical referee in charge of the garao, for others would have blown the pea out of their whistle for some of the off-side scrambles that occurred. There might have boon an impression that Merivale were better in the loose, but apart from the fact that they had n reallv brilliant loose Jforward m Henry, tliey would liavo been better •ldvised in'scrumming harder. The Cime was sparkling from start to finish. The see-saw of tho score kept the interest at a high pitch. If there wis one little disappointment in tho cranio it was the failure of the Menv'de backs to push home the attack when they had the.hall. There was no such hesitancy with Old Boys, who threw the ball about very cleverly. The strona; man for Old Boys, on the day. was Livingstone, who ran straight,'fast and right_up to his man. Tench was the brains of the team, and after him it was a toss-up whether to admire Carrick most for his sang froid at full-back or Thompson for his grim determination to let the ball out to Tench. Merivale had a pretty good tiiroe-quarter line, but not too good a full-back. Ford, also, was dashy, but an individualist, not altogether his owu fault. It was tlio best game seen on tho Oval this season, both teams taking chances and putting their best into it*