SHORT PASSES

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18208, 15 July 1927, Page 12

SHORT PASSES

New Zealand evidently can make another sporting boast. Most of her aspiring Gene Tunneys and Jack Dempseys play football. The New Zealand Boxing Association might be asked to take over control of the next Ranfurly Shield match. The ordering-off at Masterton of two of the 1924 All Blacks is liable to create an unpleasant impression at Home, particularly when a certain Twickenham incident is recalled. One or two members of the Canterbury Rugby Union, however - , adopt a philosophical attitude. They profess to believe that play at Masterton was not so very rough after all. That’s consistent anyway—their views oppose the referee’s. It is apparent that the sooner the training camp scheme for representative teams is dropped the better. Such camps are in direct conflict with the. spirit of amateurism. The despatch of a Maori Rugby team on tour of New Zealand so early in the season looks like being a rank failure. North Island unions have already complained that it is interfering with IheiT competitions. k « The English visit of Lowry's cricketers is more than half over, and it can be safely said that greater success has been met with than was at first anticipated. All that is wanted now is the thorough defeat of some first-class county, say Surrey or Lancashire. . The proposal to secure a couple of covered courts for tennis players in Christchurch deserves hearty support. Indoor play on board floors in winter would improve the standard of play immeasurably. Canterbury is going on in dead earnest with the challenge match for the Raniurly Shield on September 3. Here’s some advice to the union from a man who saw Saturday's game:— “Send no crocks to Napier. They’ll be battered to pieces.” The new president of the Scottish Rugby Union is Colonel H. 11. Duncan, who played against Wales in 18SS. A young Tirnaru cyclist, Pelham Ellis, made a good trial run from Timaru to Christchurch yesterday'. Although the roads were in very' bad condition, he did the distance in seven hours. So far Jack Steel has done little in Christchurch to suggest that be could stand a couple of hard spells against a first-class representative team. Some critics say he is “tireck” l'l H 2? Canterbury's first representative Rugby match is against Southland at Lancaster Park on August 20. Then follows a game against Taranaki on August 27.

Taranaki play Hawke’s Bay for the Shield at Napier on July 27. Tilden and Johnston of U.S.A. will have their work cut out defending the Davis Cup against France in September. To date Dempster Ls New Zealand's highest scoring batsman with 1097 runs. Lowry has 1087 and Blunt 104 S. That good footballer, Ces. Baddeley showed his top form for Auckland against the Maoris on Saturday. He handled beautifully, says one enthusiastic critic. Attacks on the judgment of New Zealand's Soccer selector have fallen rather flat. His team beat the Canadians on Saturday, so most of the changes in personnel were sound at all events. X » X AH patriotic sportsmen hope that J. W. Savidan, Dominion cross-country champion, will be able to make the trip to Australia for the big event on August 6. One of the outstanding failures in the Hawke's Bay-Wairarapa Shield match was Jim Donald. That hurried trip to Sydney and back on business caused loss of dash. Friends Again.—The Harlequins and Newport are to meet again on the Rugby football field in the 1928 29 season- Relations were broken off after the match at Twickenham, on November 7, 1925. The ’Quins have now thrown out an olive branch, which has been accepted by the Newport Committee. Albion's well-deserved Rugby win against Christchurch is their most important victory since the palmy days of Joe Weston, Paddy Burns, and Doddy Grav. K X X Canterbury tennis players who hope to reap triumphs without a powerful service are making a blunder. Read what Rene Lacoste says about it in to-inorrow's “Star.” It’s a thin time that cricketer Bill Cunningham has been having at Home —eighteen wickets and 80 runs off his bat in eleven matches. Oliver and Bernau share the hoodoo. Fourth Soccer test takes place at Auckland to-morrow week. New Zealand hopes to carry off the rubber. X X ss “F.L.” writes: It gave me a pain to read this in yevSterday’s paper: “At the request of the late Sir James Carroll, Mr Coates, when in England, conveyed a request from the natives that the Prince of Wales should honour them by presenting a trophy for competition by Maori Rugby teams in New Zealand. The Prince assented.”—--Surely there are enough wealthy men in New Zealand, without the Maoris importuning the Prince for a football cup. The less said about such a deplorable practice the better.