HERE AND THERE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20127, 21 April 1928, Page 4

HERE AND THERE

COMMENTS OF INTEREST VISIT OF THE WARATAHS The Wairoa Sub-Union, with heaidr quarters at present located at Waverlcy, has mad an appeal to neighbouring Sub-Unions to assist it in advancing the interests of the game within its own district, by ’paying periodical visits with representative teams. This appeal is worthy of the attention and support of all centres to which it has been made, and the effort of Wairoa to keep Rugby on the up-grade is indeed commendable. Situated at what has been termed a blind end of the Wanganui Union’s area this sub-union is not so fortunately placed as some in regard to arranging matches of a kind which will | appeal to supporters of the code within I its own borders, and any assistance | forthcoming from other centres would materially overcome an obstacle to progress looming in Wairoa’s path, and would be evidence of the esprit de corps which exists among the SubLnions in the wide Wanganui district. Ominous Quiet?

Quietness pervades the Wainui a-Rua Bugby area, anii no fanfare of trumpets heralds the opening of the season on the upper reaches of the Wanganui River. It must not be assumed from the outward signs as viewed from this

distance, however, that little preparation is being made in that Sub-Union for the forthcoming season. Very much the contrary is the case, and the very silence which characterises the present organisation there is regarded by many in the light of ominous signs of what is being aimed at. Wainui-a-Rua’s motto on the eve of a fresh period of matches is: “What we have we hold.” The coveted Maori shield found a resting place within Wainui-a-Rua’s borders last year and it is certain that to wrest it from its present holders a team will need to come prepared to do strenuous battle. Visit of the Waratahs.

The New South Wales’ team will arrive in the Dominion next August, and, with recollections of the splendid record achieved by them in the Motherland last season. New Zealanders will attach to their visit a greater degree of interest that might otherwise have been the case.

What was accomplished by the Waratahs at Home has done much for the game in New South Wales, and there are not a few who predict, that the day has come when the standard of Rugby over the Tasman has reached a level very nearly the equal of that in NewZealand. That, of course, remains to be proved and, in one sense, it is a pity that in their pending tour the Waratahs will be opposed by what in reality is the Dominion’s third grade All Blacks. Material for two sides is on its way to South Africa, but it has been repeatedly said, and that by the All Black selectors themselves, that talent <t:ll remains in this country every bit the equal ot* that which has gone in quest of the world’s Rugby crown. That is an opinion which the visit of the New South Welshmen may justify.

With arrangements for the Waratah’s itinerary pending it behoves the Wanganui Rugby powers-to-be to see that the fifth city in the Dominion is the venue of a match.