ALL BLACK HELPS

Chronicle (Levin), 10 December 1949, Page 5

ALL BLACK HELPS

{N.Z.P.A.-

-Reuter.

Oxford's Narrow Victory Over Cambridge

Coyvriqfit)

Received Fnday 8.50 p.m. LONDON, Dec. 9. The All Black Bgtting the only New Zealand represontgtive ip this. year's Oxford-Canxbridge . game at Twickenham played well on the righ,t wing. for- the Dark Blues and could claim some credit for the opening which gave Oxford the only try oi" the match. Oxford, who had more speed ao-.i thrust in the backline than their oppon ents, made strenuous efforts to open u;. play but Cambridge *s determined spoil ing taetics foiled most of them. As a result none of the wingers saw much of the ball aud Botting dhstiug uished himself chiefly by intelligen; covering and good line kicking. He had few opportunities to show his paees in concerted movements. The weakness on. both sides was onee again at the base of the scrum and among the insid« baeks. Both scrum halves made deter mined efforts to get the ball awav, bui in too many cases their passes laeke'i direction and in many others they wer smothered by the fast breaking for wards. Cambridge, who have had a much les:satisfactory reeord this season than Ox ford did well to restrict the score t the narrow margin of one uneonverted try. For this they had chiefly to tliank their hard working forwards and uni formly good tackling. The outstanding player on either sid' Was the South African, Hyfmeyr, full back for Oxford. He gave an almos1 faultless displav of kicking and hand ling. The big moment of the match, and one of the most thrilling in the lonj. series between the two Universities was the (iO-yard swerving run by thi Cambridge centre, .T. V. Smith, which took liim to jvithin one yard of th* Oxford line l)efore he was driven int( touch. If he had scored there would have been just time to take the kick Scven members of Oxford's Twicken ham team, four of them South Afri cans, have been picked for the second England Rugbv trial game at Gloucester on December 17. The first trial. which took place at Birkenhead lasi Saturdav, produced some excellent footlia.ll. It was played on a wet ground and developed into a rousing tussle between two verv evenlv matched packs of forwards. Onlv a penaltv goal separated the two sides at the fmish. Oxford and Cambridge Universiti players, owing to the imminenee oi their annual fixture at Twickenham Were not picked for this match. Some commcnt has lieen caused by the faci that no Cambridge players have been chosen for the second trial — even Smith who was the hero of the Twickenhan; match. But the Cambridge players are nothe onlv people with a grievance. Foi the first time for many Years only twplayers have been included. The faci, that fi\e South Africans and one New Zea lauder played in the Twickenham game has prompted sports writers to do some research into the nuniber of Do minion players wTho have played for the two Universities since the war. The correspondent of one newspaper pointed out that with the exception oi" one second row forward a compleTe Dominions' fifteen could be" chosen from those who have played for either Oxford or Cambridge in the four Uni versitv matches since 19-45. This team would be: S. C. Newman (South Afri ea), I. Botting (Xew Zealand), C. B. Van Kyneveld (South Africa), A. S. Stewart (Xew Zealand), B. F. Hofmeyr (South Africa), M. P. Donnelly (Xew Zealand), J. O. Newton Thompson (South Africa), II. D. Small (South Africa), B. H. Travers (Australia), A. J. Van Kyneveld (South Africa), X. A. Yincent (South Africa) T. E. L. Cawkwell (Xew Zealand), W. Hefer (SoutiiAfrica) and A. B. Harcourt (South Af-. rica). . t \ v C m The Star's Rugbv winter?" suggests that this team with the addition of one other Dominion player would have prc-v-ed Ino strong for anv Rugby side which could have been selected in Britain during the same period. The Old Lady's Curse Speaking at the Shropshire sportsmen's dinner Gordon Kiehards, Britain 's cliauipion jockey, denied that he he had an inferiority complex about wiiuiing the Derby. With a smile he attributed it to the fact that "an old huly in Sheffild" had put a curse on him. ' ' She wants me to send her a fiver to take it off," said Kiehards. "I am thinking of sending it. But I haven't an inferiority complex. We have seven furlongs wlien they go like hell. When we get to the top of Tattenham Corucr it's the horse that has the inferiority complex, not the jockey!" The British Empire billiards cham]>ionship which was last held in Melbourne in 1938 is to be revived again in T.ondon in 1951 during the Festival of Britain. The 1938 ehampionship was won by the Australian Robert Marshall, but the Englishman Kingsley Kennerly established a record break of 472 — a reeord which still stands. Kennerly later turned professiongl, and England 's ehiyf challenge for the title is expected to come from .Toe Thompson who is generallv rated England 's best amateur since Kennerly. Marshall is still playing competitive billiards and is expected to defend his title in London.