RUGBY FOOTBALL

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12406, 26 August 1918, Page 4

RUGBY FOOTBALL

THE WELLINGTON MATCH. The meeting of Wellington and Canterbury on Saturday had on inter-island touch about it, for Wellington had beaten Auckland, and Canterbury had beaten Otago. Therefore the two unbeaten teams were meeting, certainly with Wellington strong favourites, but on terms that wore sure to produce a fine exhibition of Rugbyln this the public were not disappointed, for the game was full of short, sharp bursts of brilliant football, and tho rapidity with which the play ebbed and flowed showed that both sides were very quick to snap up an opening. The result, a win for Wellington by 9 points to nil, was a fair indication of the state of the teams, for it must be admitted that the visiting backs were a nine points better team on tho day. As for the forwards, Canterbury had a heavy task, which necessitated much defensive work by individual forwards when the backs broke down, and on the whole they acquitted themselves well. This fact may have induced the selectors to decide to make no change in the home pack for the return match next Saturday, but ou that point one or two observations will be made later.

The game, unlike the Otago match, opened very evenly, and the spectators were pleasurably encouraged when Canterbury started to hook the ball, and some nice, orthodox passing rushes were attempted. These broke down a couple of times at Hirst, who was playing too close in to Guiney, and was simply pounced on by Morris, whose pace throughout was admirable. Thereafter Guiney kicked in preference to passing, and while he picked up ground once or twice, ho rather overdid the kicking. It was about this stage that Fitzgerald, the Canterbury half, was incontinently “dumped” by a Wellington forward, whose number was instantly taken by dozens of spectators, and he got a dressing down that was not unmerited. Tlie ‘‘ strafe ” must have put Fitzgerald off his game, but bo was never lacking, and fed the ball out regularly. Taking the Canterbury back play .as a whole, it was feeble in defence, with a lot of silly tackling that let the Wellington man get the ball away nine times out of ten. The passing, however, was good on .the whole, but the defence was too light to count against, the class of player that’ Wellington pul in the field.

Tlie best point about the Wellington backs was their absolute certainty in taking tlie ball on tlie full, and moving rapidly off the mark. It would be hard to find four faster rne.n working in company than Morris, Corner, Thomas and Porter, and _ Canterbury should have been readier in defence to claim marks rather than try to beat their man. Through this miscalculation M Lcod was brought down once or twice with the ball. Then again Wellington threw the ball about more quickly, and the half-back was also very quick in slinging the ball back when the Canterbury forwards were breaking through, thus cutting off many a loose rush. The Wellington wing-forward, although a fine player, was frequently off-side, while all hands were too fond of hanging on to the leather when tackled.

it would be idle to deny that what the crowd discussed most after the match wds the rough play of some of the Wellington forwards, and the most .creditable remark that can bo made about it is that it is not the sort of thing that the Canterbury public look for, winning or losing. But the case deserves severer censure than that, for by knocking out the Canterbury halfback, wing three-quarter and centra three-quarter in quick succession., and generally mauling sundry others, Wellington must have contributed substantially to their win- Rightly or wrongly, the Wellington team came down with this reputation, and while one can well understand a Canterbury referee hesitating to take drastic action against a visiting player, there should have been quicker decisions all round. It. 'is beyond the writer’s memory to recall such a demonstration against a football team as that made p a against one or two of the Wellington forwards. One of them early placed himself in disfavour. He first came into prominence by running up to Mullins, the Canterbury right wing three-quarter, and on the latter dodging him, the Wellington player lashed ont with his foot and kicked Muljms or* the leg this apparently being his idea of tackling an opponent. A few moments later the same offender floored Fitzgerald after the latter had kicked the ball. The un-f/rS’ 1 ' 1 ?!. half T*, rathci> severely injured, the crowd hooted roundly, and the referee administered a caution! Later, light m front of the stand, a Wellington man dumped Mullins in‘a most callous manner after he had <mt in his kick, and there was an even tlmf^rPP^Tn^ir 101 !’ anc! tlle hootin S sew hj Tho match from o cf-. > point of view included— Scrums ree kicks-Wellington 4, CanterbSv 17; marks-'Wellington ,4, Canterbury S force-downs Wellington 3, Canter. bury 4, scores—Wellington, 3 tries fhe scrum expert who followed the d game produced the following r e ! First Spoli. ■ 1— W. screwed; forward dribble; Mul hns saved. * S—W. screwed to advantage. 3 ~~Sere°d fc baU ’ half-back's kick smo--4 e asily; good passing rush. 5—W. repeated ijerfonnance. 2 X- s , ec F? d f n d, made slight gain. ” given chauco; good B ~hal/° nVardS Shot baU; ° ut P ast ..H; hall: W winger spoilt. IU—W . winger hooked from scrum side.

11— -W prevailed; passing rush followed. 12— W. repeated the dose, 13— W.’s hall again; passing rush stopped. 14— got ball; good lino-kick by half. 15— W.’s ball; Mullins stopped rush. , 16— W.’s hall; fine dash bv backs. 17— Scrum on line; C. forced. 18 — Inconclusive. 19— G. got ball; W. penalised off-side. Second Spell. 20— 0. secured 1 ; W. tackled well. 21— Inconclusive. 22 W. started fine rush; Mullins saved. 32 —W. breach; free kick 0. 24 Inconclusive. 25 Inconclusive. 26 got ball. 27 Inconclusive. 28— 0. got ball under goal; rush stopped. 29 W.’s ball; saved position. 30— 0. rushed through twisted scrum, 31— W. pushed through; C. forced. 32 W, breach; free kick C. 33 0. got ball under W r , goal; defence strong. 34 C.’s ball; advantage nil. 35 0. screwed from own line. 36 W. obtained, but half tackled. THE RETURN MATCH. The Canterbury selectors must be a hopeful trio if they think that Canterbury can win next Saturday with the same team minus Hirst and plus Grant. This amounts to an admission that the only weakness lay in tho second fiveeighth. Hie game, however, should have convinced anybody that very drastic changes were needed. First and, foremost, thq five-eighth line required strengthening, as the .selectors have admitted. Now, the first emergency for the five-eighth lino in the Otago match was Giasson, the brilliant Menvale player. When it came to making a change after that match, however, Giasson was ignored, but was still kept as first emergency back (obviously as a five-eighth, his old position). The match having disclosed a weakness, does the emergency get his chance? Not at all; ho is put right out of, the running -while another man gets the plac© as emergency, after being presumably weighed in the balance and found wanting. Going further afield, it must bo admitted that Tench compared most unfavourably with tho Wellington full-back, but he is retained as a goal-kicker, notwithstanding that his only effort on Saturday was pool, and it was obvious that ho lacked steam. The selectors have presumably decided to bring Mullins back from the wing, where he should never have been, and substitute Grant. This brilliant player, in the opinion of many good judges, should not have been left out of the first fifteen, but in any case ho has not had a hard game since tho middle of July. Coming to tho forwards, it ought to have been realised that Vvhat was wanted to beat Wellington ; i more weight and strength. The .rest argument against Wellington next Saturday will be brawn. W’eighb in the scrum, other things being equal, is liko horse-power in a motor-car. Up till now four men have had to undertake too much of the work. The selectors made a mistake in leaving Empson out of Saturday’s game instead of Hegarty, hub in any case they went from had to worse. What they should do is to put in Smith and Ellis as hookers, and substitute a heavier man in the back rank. This -would mean passing over Drake,_ who is admittedly a very hard working, dashing forward. There are, however, two men who could give him almost a stone in weight, if not more, namely, Drabble and Edmonds. ” The sugested Canterbury team could then consist of Cook, MacLeod (who cau kick goals), Eoag, Grant (or Zimmerman), Giasson, Mullins, Fitzgerald, Gray (wing forward), Smith, Ellis, E. Cummings, Murray W. Cummings, Henry and Drabble. This forward team would even up matters with Wellington in weight and size without sacrificing football skill, ri TRENTHAM TO PLAY AT CHRISTCHURCH. Mr S. F. Wilson received a telegram to-day from Sergeant-Major Brooks, stating that a Trentham team would play Canterbury at Christchurch on September 14. A letter is following the telegram, but whether it will qualify the fixture is not known. NOTES. The Wellington forwards were, a solid set and gave their backs material assistance in tackling, their quick break-ang-up tactics enabling them to dash in amongst the opposing backs and effectively check the passing rushes. Thera were a great number of stoppages of play in Saturday’s game on account of injuries to players—far more than there should be in a clean game of football. Canterbury wore much the worst sufferers in this respect. Th 0 seven-a-side tournament in aid of tho Lancaster Park training hall fund and a probable match against a Trentham team will be the next Rugby fixtures in Christchurch. ° * R. E. Boag lOst, J. Hirst lOst 41b and O. E. Gainey 9st 101b are three of the lightest backs that have over played representative football in the one team. The only lighter trio the writer can remember was A. E. Cooke A. E. White and W. Lang. ’ Tho Canterbury team which leaves for the north on Thursday will bo accompanied by only two emergencies. This number seems hardly enough when tho style of play likely to be. encountered is taken into consideration. Two strenuous games within three days will probably find a weakness amongst some of the Canterbury men.

Tancred, tbs big Wellington forward, was employed at Belfast in the early part of the season and fully intended to play for the Marist Club, but he was transferred to Petono just before the competitions opened. 0. E. Murray and Ivor Gray jour-

ueyed from Ellesmere and Kaituna respectively to attend training at Lancaster , Park on Wednesday last. Not one of the twenty-three selected to train failed to put in an appearance. It is improbable that Harry Taylor will turn out for the Trentham team against the Canterbury representatives at Wellington fm Monday next. Latest advices are that he has sprained his ankle and in consequence will need a lengthy rest.