PUNTS AND PASSES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19107, 27 June 1930, Page 14

PUNTS AND PASSES.

Duckworth, the English wicket- i keeper, is smart with the gloves, but his practice of appealing with a tremendous yell at the slightest provocation is proving as irritating at Home as it did in Australia. W hoever is in the team and whoever is out of it, only proper understanding and quick co-operation between backs and forwards will give New Zealand victory at Lancaster Park. An Australian cricket cartoon, published after the first innings in the first test, showed a dismayed partisan in four attitudes ejaculating; “ I don’t believe it! ” “Impossible ! ! ” “It Can’t Be True! ’* “Bradman Out for Eight!!!” A Rugby player caught using his fists in an international match should be given his marching orders, just as quickly as if it were a club game. Lilburne was instructed before the first test not to cut in too much. Helpful advice. of this kind should be coupled with the old wheeze about letting the other side hook the ball so that you can dump their backs; or with the tip to give the other side the benefit of the wind in the first spell so that you can stage a strong finish in the second. Gilbertian strategy. Too many people are complaining of veterans in the New Zealand test team when they ought to be turning their attention to the age and experience of the New Zealand selectors and asking themselves whether these respected old-timers are really wide awake to the strategy and tactics of modern Rugby. ♦.* *.* ♦.* One of Nepia’s line kicks in the first test was a beauty. Five or six British forwards came charging at him in a heap. Nepia grabbed the ball off their toes, stood his ground ten yards from the goal-line, and one yard from touch, and with a mighty punt found the flag at half-way. The world’s best fullback?—Yes, in 1924 and in 1930. :: Dai Parker, front-ranker in the British scrum, kicked a remarkable

goal in the match against Southland on Wednesday. Britain obtained a penalty on the sideline near the Southland twenty-five line and the spectators gave Parker credit for being optimistic in trying for a goal. The ball was very slippery, but it shot straight between the posts, just skimming over the bar.

Cables to Australia make it clear that Chapman, besides fielding grandly in the first cricket test, handled the English attack cunningly. It is easy to answer that the captaincy of a winning team is a simple matter, but Chapman’s consistent generalship should refute the arguments that England needs a new captain. Hart’s try in the first Rugby test was a beauty, and heartened the New Zealanders, who had been three points behind. The movement started from a scrum outside the British twentyfive, the ball being handled smartly by Mill, Lilburne, Cooke, Lucas and Hart. The last-named was a foot or two outside Reeve, the opposing winger, when he received the leather. Hart went into top gear straight away, raced outside Reeve, and had twenty yards to go for a score. The Canterbury man swerved infield a few yards in front of Bassett, the British full-back, and then changed direction for the corner. Bassett xyas caught on the wrong foot and tackled Hart just as the latter grounded in the corner amid tumultuous cheering. Nepia’s attempt to convert the try hit tl\e far upright and rebounded infield.

In Wellington and Dunedin, the British forwards were well shaded by the provincial packs and yet only one Wellington forward, Porter, and two Canterbury forwards, Stewart and Cottrell get a chance in the big games. :: The Southland Rugby Union are very confident of holding the Ranfurly Shield this year against all comers. TKey have a very good pack of forwards, and their backs have plenty of pace and dash. Their grotind at Rugby Park is always heavy, and the Southlanders will have the advantage of being used to it. «*« tri a Commenting on the first test at Dunedin. Air S. F. Wilson, a past president of the Canterbury Rugby Union, states his belief that there was at least a three points difference between the teams, and in favour of Britain. Spong, in Mr Wilson’s opinion, is one of the greatest five-eighths seen in New Zealand. A feature of the test was the magnificent play of the two full-backs, Bassett and Nepia. :: J. Bassett, the British full-back in the first test, who is a policeman, made a happy combination of the two occupations. When the New Zealanders were about to raid the British premises he did not wait to take out a search warrant, but “arrested” them on the spot. He then made a “charge” against the rest, often securing a conviction that he was a great line-kick. He compelled the touch judges to “walk the line” smartly. England’s flapperdom squealed with indignation when it was announced that Betty Nuthall had been left out of the English Wightman Cup team to meet the American girls. Betty has had a wonderful press for some years, but her tennis capacity has never quite equalled her gift for publicity chasing, and she may now be ranking with the also-rans. Another player, Eileen Bennett, was also left on the outer, but since she has changed her name to Mrs Furnley-Whittingstall one ceases to wonder. There’s no room for a name like that on an ordinary tennis court. a A feature at the first test last Saturday wap the large number of elderly people present. No doubt the very great majority of them had come to see their old schoolmates playing for New Zealand. One of those hustling volleyers, still rampant in America, had equipped himself with a steel-shafted racket—they were invented, by the way, by the late William Larned, many times champion of the States. The storming volleyer hurled himself at a promising lob and delivered a dynamic blow. The ball bounded off the court into the stands, but it was followed by the steel framework of the racket, leaving the handle, in the hand of the player. A question which came near to wrecking the Olympic Federation seems to have been settled. This was the proposal to pay athletes competing “ broken time ” to compensate for wages lost while at the Games. Finland, Sweden, Holland and Switzerland backed the motion before the meeting of the International Amateur Federation, but on Britain’s emphatic declaration that adoption would mean her withdrawal from the Games no further supporters came forward. It was this “ broken time ” disagreement which caused the split in the English Rugby Union forty years ago, the breakaways forming the professional Northern Union now the Rugby League. Max Schmeling is now world's champion, but he has hardly proved that he is the world’s best heavy-weight. Old William Muldoon, who fought with bare .knuckles half a century ago, will not allow Schmeling’s name to be engraved on the Tunney-Muldoon championship trophy. “I am thoroughly disgusted. I have spent two years trying to get a solution of the heavyweight puzzle, and now a thing like this occurs!” said-the veteran U.S.fight commissioner.

Spong. the British half, has received his full share of attention from none too gentle opponents in New Zealand, and he deserves full credit for dogged courage, skill and sportsmanship. “N.Z.X.” writes—When the All Blacks play the second Rugby test at Lancaster Park to-morrow week, one would like to see Porter making openings down the middle of the instead of barging about between fiveeighth and centre, sure enough in his handling, but more often than not in the road. After C. Johnson’s display behind the Southland pack against Britain on Wednesday one is puzzled to know why Holden, who played in the New Zealand trial, was not included. Johnson, though sound on defence, was too slow at passing and was inclined to fumble. :: As in recent senior club games in Christchurch so it was in the first test at Dunedin —the back row forwards for New Zealand kept getting their big feet in front of a well-hooked ball and Mill was left waiting uselessly at the base of the scrum. T. P. Murray, the British centre three-quarter, is fast making a success of the scrum-half position, which he occupied in the first test owing to W. 11. Sobey’s injury. Murray has his job down to a fine art. He passes smartly and combines well with Spong, the fly-half. One of Murray’s best games' behind the scrum was played against Southland on Wednesday. The weather conditions for the Britain v. Southland match were even worse than those for the first test at Dunedin. The Invercargill ground contained many small pools of water. There were several heavy showers of hail before the match commenced, and the start of the second spefl saw a blinding snowstorm in which the “muddied oafs” could be seen only dimly. Owing to the strong wind blowing diagonally across the field, there was trouble in some of the line-outs owing to the wind preventing the ball from being thrown in straight. :: :: Reeve’s try against Southland on Wednesday was brought about by a ruse for which the

British Rugby team are becoming famous. When Britain secured from a scrum near the Southland twentyfive line, JonesDavies, the winger on the blind side, came round between Spong and Knowles to take part in the passing rush. Reeve, seeifig the move, gave the inside men more

space to work in and when the ball came to him he had a clear field. It was the best try of the match, and the manner in which the six backs handled the greasy ball in the rush was a treat to watch. ZZ tZ Iv It’s a curious world. Dailey was thrown out of the All Black trial match to make way for Holden—and when it came to the Invercargill game, the Southland selectors displaced Holden in favour of a new and untried man. M zfz Though R. S. Spong. the British flyhalf, has been “capped” many times he seldom wears any headgear. This gave rise to some pleasantries between him and Isaac Jenkins, the famous old* time Southland footballer, on Wednesday night. Jenkins met Spong in the street and eventually placed a muchdated representative cap on the Britisher’s head. Spong’s remark after studying the cap was: “You’ve beaten me. I don’t know who you are, but let’s shake.”

Distracting Lo Players. When arrangements for the broadcasting of the second test match were discussed by members of the Wellington Rugby Union on Tuesday evening the opinion was fairly unanimous that the strength of the loud speaker which did service in front of the stand at Athletic Park on Saturday would have to be toned down considerably. “I think the radio people made a very fine effort to try and meet us,” Mr J. Prendeville, chairman, said, “and they deserve our thanks. At the same time it must be admitted that the announcing was very distracting to both spectators and players.” He suggested that when the second test came along it should be broadcast only till three o’clock, scores only to be announced after that. Mr J. N. Millard observed that the loud speakers near the scoreboard and near the bank could not be heard by the players. Mr Prendeville: People in the stand said that the announcing was very distracting. Mr G. F. Jackson could not see how anyone could follow the broadcast of the test match and take an intelligent interest in the club game. Mr Millard: The public should be given the means of listening-in to the big match if it wants to. No definite decision was arrived at other thar that some improved pm- 1 vision will _>e made for the second test, i

Lilden’s Vivid Pen. Enthusiasts have been reading Mr Tilden’s first novel, “Glory’s Net,” and have enjoyed it. From the literary viewpoint it does not compare with Mr C. B. Fry’s novel, “A Mother’s Son,” but the American champion was not at Wadham. In Mr Fry’s test match at Lord’s, every technical detail is accurate; Mr Tilden’s description of a Wimbledon final has rather an artificial atmosphere. Centre court umpires, even through the microphone, do not say “Game, Mr Cochet,” nor dp they introduce the players like a circus-ring master before a match begins. But the book is not written for a conservative public; the story is told for arduous and modern youth—for sporting “fans” who like to have champions described as “raging tigers.” The author works up his plot in vivid colours, and one cannot doubt that many of the dramatic incidents are founded on his own hectic career. Put Tilden in the hero’s place when the latter is battling with the French champion at Wimbledon, and the mystery of the sensational Tilden-Cochet match of 1927 is partially explained. Only Cochet does not win in the book. “Glory’s Net”—the title is chosen to convey the entanglement of a man in a game—has its moral value. It proves that playing the game of life is more important than playing a super-game of lawn tennis.