RUGBY SIDELIGHTS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 900, 20 August 1910, Page 12

RUGBY SIDELIGHTS.

. AVATJNT ALL CROAKEES! : ! (Bi Off-side . Mac.) My-,old friend, "Seen the Old 'Uns," returns to the .charge, and asks with Machiavellian simplicity:'— ■. .1 "Supposing we look at it this way :— "Is the Wellington representative team . now ..comparable .to the 1896 Wellington, team ? "Is Canterbury nearly as strong now as she was in 1894? . "Could Taranaki of 1910 make even ' a moderate stand against Taranaki of ' 1595? .■■■-.- "is Southland half as strong now as silo was in 1898? "Could the degenerate football now evidently in vogue in Otago be decently mentioned in the same breath. . as the form of the Otago representatives in 1892? If 'Mac' cares to faco this aspect of the matter he can only § answer the questions one . way. The game is going to the dogs." Unless one returns a straight "Yes" or "No" to each of these questions, "Seen the Old 'Uns" will in all probability declare that I have evaded. the position, and forthwith ha will be quite satisfied' in-his own mind-that."the game is going to the (logs." It; will be agreed generally that a straight-out comparison between, teams of specially-selected years cannotbe regarded as providing or proving a 'reliable'test of superiority'or inferiority. The game can never stand still. Each year it is either' better or worse than its preceding.-season, but; given the requisite amount of * practice,- the material will always show a ciirtuin" amount of. improvement. .. ■■-■>'■ ..■'• The Better Teams. : .; ' ■ Footballers, like doctors, must ; agree, to •differ. "Seen the Old 'Uns" points to the Wellington 189G representative.. team -.as a standard of superlative;, superiority,, possibly because,the. combination beat Queensland by' 49 "points; to 7; "Charlie" Morten, usually a pessimist on Wellington football, declared the team could teat anything in New Zealand. Still' that" particular fifteen was; beaten fairly and squarely by Taranaki, and later could only draw with Otago. ■ There is ..every reason to believe . that the Wellington 189G team; was not so good as that of 1894. 'Then take EllisonV opinion on the subject. "He. considered that' .the best team Wellington .ever, had was.in,- 1892, when/it had a clean-'■ sheet,-■' and beat Canterbury: by a cricket score after, the southern province had ■ just as .'easily accounted for'"the scalps of. Auckland.' If we go ' further back", to the days' of Harry M'lntyre, or- J. M. King; we should probably find that those veterans considered that Wellington was strongest about 1889, when it beat a very strong Auckland combination on Newtown Park. Coming further forward we arrive at-the years 1905 or 1900, I am riot sure which, when .Wellington, with its All Black coterie", routed Wairarapa by 60 odd points. Spectators, amongst whom were n large number of old players, , agreed that the game was the fastest and most brilliant ever seen in Wellington. Then, following/ bnvthe foregoing instances of great games, we have the 1 reported utterance of Mr..G. P. O.'Campbell, that the fastest, game .he ever saw played .-was that between Wellington and v Newi South Wales■;in 1882. Wellington played .two matches against New South. Wales- in 1882, and were beaten both times. •Doubtless. Mr.. Campbell refers to the first game, to which I'have previously referred in "Wairarapa football!" New South Wales won by 14 points to 2 points. Eaper and Hawkins, two tries each (two converted), being the scorer's for the visitors, , and •Udy a:try for the losers.. Mr. Campbell is admitted to be ah authority on. the game,'but it is hardly possible that he could have" seen either the WellingtonQueensland or the Wellington-Wairarapa matches, otherwise he must have awarded 'the palm to one of those two'contests.

The Brewery Team. ."■'.• Just to show some' cause why sweepini, condemnation or fulsome ; eulogy of the game is not Warranted upon one season's play: Ellison contended thai the best representative team that' Wellington ever possessed ■ was in 1892.''1n. ■ the previous year Ellison captained a Wellington representative combination, on tour through the South Island. This team went away with a flourish of triunpetu. It included Gage, Caradus, Speed, L? Dixon, and others, and 'was understood to possess a fine, forward division. However, they B o ' no.fishj they won , no matches. There appears to-be a good deal of murky obscurity , about the doings of this combinatiou. but' u smell of froth remains to this day, and right to the end of the chapter, Kliisbn's 1001 champions will be known in AVellingtou football history as "The Brewery Team." In-the match of this team against Otago, the Otago foriwards passed brilliantly.; Wellington had 'a bad .time, Ellison as a half-back .tried tovplay. Otago l.y himself, result that Speed, who had. scored pre;viouily,iu ■ every- club niatch In Wellington," never'had the. ball once passed to him during the game. And. when the Wellington team was leaving the Duucdin Hailwny Station, Montgomery and others presented Ellison with a baby's bottle, so that, they said,'he could feed Speed in the game against Canterbury. This presentation, by the way, is, another striking illustration of the original humour shown by our Otago friends through many year» of football history. It will be seen from this that the "Brewery Team" of 1891 were the champions of is 92. ' , .- .-:.■■ A Wairar.apa Experience., The writer had a similar experience in a Wairarapa combination, which included. Thomas (one time Otngo full-back), A. D'Arcy, J. M'Carty, R. Thompson, Wateon, and Gray. AVe played five matches on tour in 1890, and lost every one of them, but to accentuate the bitterness of our defeats, an unfeeling sympathiser (?) wired us from Carterton to come home, ■"because the milk was getting cold." Next year, with practically the samo team; "AValrarap'n was unbeaten, and ninongst its victories was that against a Hawke's Bay fifteen, which included James, I.e Qurane, "The Siniler," . W't Hape, and lliroh. Wellington To-day. And now to give- "Seen the Old 'Uns , ' his answer direct: I am not prepared to qay that the Wellington 1910 team is not comparable with that of 139 G. I saw .a portion of.the■ Ponekc-St.- James Club

match, the other day, and the manner in which Mitchinson potted that goal convinced me that he was a man who could be depended upon to do things. That pot illustrated resourcefulness, conlulence, strategy, and sltillj and the player with th.iso attributes can always Do depended upon to do something lor his team at the critical moment. With Uoborts and Evensou, and a good team of forwards to even up. things, Wellington should bo able to show to-day what sort of a team it possesses. It can hardly be expected that Auckland, iveak as she is represented to be, will be easily bealen. Canterbury Football. With reference to the second question as to whether Canterbury is as strong now as she was in 1891, it may he pointed out that in. 1594 Canterbury was not especially strong. She was then badly beaten by Taranaki; and had a lot of light-weight backs and slow forwards who had no 'chauee whatever with "Tiffy" Lang, A. Bayly, and D.. Hughes. In. remarking upon this game, talked of to this day.in Christchuroli and Taranaki, it may bo mentioned that the three Turanaki men mentioned were the heroes of the encounter. Latig played five-eighth, and after feeding Bayly for a tiiiib, he wnnt in for "dummy" or feint-passing tactics. • AVitti a shout of "Hero you are, 'Alf., , " he would raise his hands right above his head. White, the Canterbury skipper and others would rush for Bayly, and then Lang would run straight on as if he were "Hen." Kelly or "Jack." Bennett in their palmy days of five-eighth play. He scored three tries. D. Hughes, with his abnormal limbs and feet, played the Canterbury forwards at' times by himself, and gave one of the greatest exhibitions of loose forward play ever seen on Lancaster Park. As for Bayly, it was • said that his play on that day demonstrated that he was a better man than his elder brother George. > ' . The Game in Taranaki. , Could Taranaki of 1910 make even a moderate stand against Taranaki ai 1895? Taranaki's strongest combination was in 1891, not 1895. The 1910 Taranaki team compares very favourably with that of 1891. The backs include such men as Cameron, Dive, ■ Stohr, Eoberts, and Mynott, and some of the Waimate Plain forwards are big, fast, active men with a good knowledge of the game. The team that beats Taranoki this season will be entitled to declare themselves New Zealand champions, for the year. ; Southland Inferior. Cannot say if Southland is half as strong as Southland of Ib9B. Never considered that Southland- was -partici 1-irly strong in Rugby, but there is no doubt that Southland always entertained a vastly different opinion. The Southland forwards were a good lot for a number of years, with no especial skill, and they bad few backs of any especial note. The worth of the "All-Black," backs is somewhat discounted by an official stalenienl . that Stead, the Southland representative, wife the, best nil-round man of the combination.Otago Degenerate. The writer admits that! football is degenerate, badly degenerate in Otago, and it will probably remain so until some genius like M'Cleary, Morris, or Duncnn comes along and schools a team into the limelight. The .press might help by recording the deeds of such men as ICeogh, If orris, Lynch, "Sonntag, Duncan, Priest,- Owen, Cra.nj Mason, Stephenson, ' 'Duffy" H'Lareri,, and other players. One man, an organising man, an enthusiast, who can do things, and make other men do things is worth his weight in- gold on a Rugby field. ' ' .