SCHOOLS’ RUGBY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16833, 8 September 1922, Page 6

SCHOOLS’ RUGBY.

The important part played by the public schools in maintaining the popularity of the amateur Rugby code hardly needs emphasis in New Zealand, where the school teams provide the most polished exhibitions of the game as it ought to ho played. In Sydney, where League professionalism has been able to deplete the ranks of the amateur players, it is being realised that with the schools and colleges playing Rugby, the amateur game is bound to revive, and that with a few necessary improvements in the union game, it will take the place in Australia that it occupies in New Zealand tc-day. The standard of Australian play "has fallen off to some extent, but the Sydney University team, which will play Canterbury ’Y r arsity on Saturday, has been able to show that the fine old traditions of amateur Rugby are fully maintained wherever the game is played. Christchurch this week has witnessed the final match for the Moascnr Cup, the trophy won by New Zealand soldiers while on active service, and presente 1 for competition among the secondary' schools of the Dominion ; and while the standard of play shown by the Auckland and Southland finalists was decidedly below that shown in recent years by Christchurch teams, the game was exhilarating and clean. It is gratifying to know that Rugby goes band in hand with cricket a* the premier game in the public schools of the Dominion. The condiof competition for the Moascar Cup may not he ideal, but they ensure, ao nearly as possible, the meeting of the best teams from each island, from those schools which hare entered for the competition. It is to be hoped that in years to come the whole of the secondary* schools will make a bid for the possession of this trophy on which the retention of the amateur code partly rests.