FOOTBALL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1126, 13 May 1911, Page 12

FOOTBALL.

■ RIKiBY. ' . - [Br Abistobclus.] N.Z.R.U.-The State of the Game, i .Outstanding'.thought,, after' considering -theproceedings at the N.Z.B.U. annual 'meeting is that, at. last, some'of the dele- ■. gates are beginning, to stand up to tho position, it is pleasing to note also that they were Wellington delegates; such (plain-spoken ones are the salt of theearth '—the pioneers" in every reform. ■It is jfurther , pleasing to , record that the "old ihands,"'in face of '.the very direct state- , 'ments , made, did not venture to begin the ,old string of platitudes about "the - grand, 'old traditions of the game," and all that 'sort of thing. It is to bs hoped that ,Jthe. pioneers, who seem willing to begin •a retorm movement, will not desist. If ihey persevere, there is hope for the ,game>' and no,one wants to see a fine , v game slip into gutter altogether. >:j .And'do not let* us have the retorm sideTho current > school •controversy is only.a siiUMss.ue. , Our poor .friend ■ Bugby. stems to have cancer, soviet us : jnpt begin treating,him exclusively for a ■','wart; on the nose, ;> which is school foottball,' or 'a wen on the neck; which is the Smuch-discussed.."wjnger." Let us get two .things first—"legs" and stamina in every 'game played which will.draw the public :by giving them the great thing (motion),i which they love. Let it be plainly statet that newspaper reports which mention 13 players on one side and 12 on Trojan-like efforts" is one of the , most deadly kinds of bacilli that Eugby 'has to bear up against. >' And then school football. Our reformers not be unjust. The Schools Union j have done a veiy ugly thing with respect 'to the Marist Brothers' School, , but that 'may put 'itself right if better counsels, prevail. But it must be recognised very plainly .that the public school teachers, do not coiiie 'juto. the situation to bo bounced. A teacher's interest in Eugby ■ (or any other game) is merely a labdur of love, and.itj must never bo forgotten that ~'Jiis:efforts in. any similar enterprise, appear to him inertly as an addi--itiqn to a gruelling and harassing day's iwork; of which "outsiders can' form no. conception. -And—this is both just ami ■importarit-'the're is no obligation on tho public school 'teacher to "foster" any 'game whatever. .-'■.■'. ~■ The reform vill take a very definite" ehape if our Eugby rulers come to appreciate this point. Give the gamo the swiftness, the dramatic periods, and tho ■whole-.heartedne.Ss which it had. in the days of the old-timers, and there will bo 'no trouble about the boys. A boy is, first and foremost, a great copier, and ho . is prone to copy what he considers to bo the most striking thing that he can discern on his own - horizon. If he figures ■■it out,.in/his little mind, that Eugby is. j IT, he will again pursue it just as wililingly as he did in by-gone years. And ■then there will be bo .need for free footballs, or special; special grants. These things, have been tried in other provinces, • and have done little good. ;• ~ Good Player Departing, ' ; : Much Tegret was .expressed by followers ■ of the sport this , 'week. wheii it became known that the fleet Oriental back, Pyle; was under "marching orders." He has been-'transferred to his bank's branch atAmberley (Canterbury), and his appearance on the field to-day will be his ,tast for' his side. Taken in conjunction with the ss-vere accident to Pred. Roberts, one is'thrown back on the old adage- 1 - "Trouble never comes singly—it arrives . iin'vbattalions.'t *\\ ~ i Some rumour 'has been current' also as to the retirement of Bamsden, Petone ■five-eighths. 'All that can bo said about this is that it is to ba hoped that tha Tumour, like a premature announcement "of Mark' Twain's deathe, is "very much ' «iaggeratedl"j : ■.'■.' ■ . The Acme of Modesty. Viewed from almost ' ,any ■ standpoint, the Wellington-Melfose match, played^it • Karori last Saturday, was as poor an ex-, hibition of football as could possibly be imagined. The 'Wellington team showed no method .in their attack, and their defence seemod to consist mainly in trusting luck.JjThroushout the game R'vcrr.l members of the team Jfhoivecl a good deal of ..ignorance of the simpler rudiments of .'.Rugby, and the grand climax came at the end of the game, when , tli*- team's biggest forward (Hunt) took 't'iip drop-out,, and greatly amused the crowd by lcicking-off with a punt. ' The backs of the team were practically worthless, with the exception of Hill and S. Hunt. Tho latter shapes promisingly at centrc-threequarter, but, between him and the scrum on Saturday last, there were three very useless players, and, in eucli circumstances, as Dickens would fay, "What's a cove to do?" So far as his form last week was concerned, Christophers was not worthy of his place either as captain of the team or as five-eighths. Numerous were the mistakes, while the only time that he put in anything like a decent run, he gave the advantage away by.a neat pass 'to an opponent. Other notable • failures wer.e Leckie,,as a'half-back, and Lambert as a place-kick. .The last-named seems to be right -"off colour'' as a kick this season, for his form in the Levin Shield competition was poor, and it,continues so. . Among the . forwards, Sheehan and JTOab certainly" did some good work, especially the former, but the remainder of the pack took care not to over-exert themselves,- apparently for fear that they . .might be asked to play in the representative team. ,Melrose .forwards showed up. a little better.;. There was nothing brilliant about their iwork; but they endeavoured to support one another in the loose rushes, and, on more than one occasion, they broke through in effective style. 'B. Sullivan, the '.-.'winger, was about the most prominent man in the team, but that is not 'to say that he was "ramping," in fact, he appeared to be a'-genuine trier right through, likewise "Bill" Adams, who, however, is not the same dashing forward as of old. . Two of the Molroso backs played sonnd ; football, and they were W. Marshall, at tall-back, and Peoley, ■ at half—both young,, players. Marshall was not long since playnig in tho ■ fifth-class contests, and, for his age, he is remarkably cool, and game enough to go down to'anv rush. Pooiey had the good fortune to be clayingbehind a pack that continually got possession of the ball, and the 'little half generally managed to make good uso of it. His try was a capital piece of work but is, of course, discounted to a certain extent on account of the weak backs through which ho threaded his wuy At the time of writing, W, Hardham (Petone; is still confined to his bed as a result of the injury to his leg received last Saturday when playing against Old Boys. I-. Koberts (Oriental) may bo sufficiently recovered from his injury to play again next Saturday. The Blow-And How Poneke Got It, . Pre-eminence in backs snapped the laurel crown for Oriental in their battle with Poneke. ■- Had the two' back teams been even, there .would have been practically no dift'erenco between the corabina■tiqns, both forward brigades being beautifully matched. Poncko van gave it 3 backs some fine opportunities, but they were not turned to advantage, not because the backs did not try hard, but because their shots were turned on the wrong bull's-eye. Walsh, for instance, worked like one possessed, right through the game, but, time nncl again, he nnuld have both saved himself and benefited his side had he parted with the ball instead of trying to play the wholo- Oriental team himself. Morris made some really pretty openings for Poncke, but almost invariably it was noticeable that he did not know what to do to get the best advantage out of these. Tilyard, at half, played a Capital defensive (same, and, with Kelly, made fewnr mistakes than any others in Poneke •■onrjruard. Judd and C'alcinai Were pro- < 'nblv tho most consistent of a fine set ' .-f forwards. Oardiner, en the wing, was ' r'li'rt of n gallon or two, and his play ' a;?n".-ir?rl tn lack sting. t Striking bits in tho work of the Qri- < ental forwards .were the tackling of s

IRTS AND OTHER PASTIMEB.

Perry, and the following up of M'Bain. Perry brought his men down like a back, and M'Bain, heavy and hefty, who was shifted from his usual position as "lock" to wing-forward, kept dead on the ball with a persistency which repaid his side well. For a big person he has pace, and a detrimental tackle at the end of his dashes would make him another Watkins. Murphy and Kyne.also did good work.' Eoberts, Corraci, and M'Lcqd wero tho bright and. particular units .in tho Oriental light 1 division, which was an excellent combination nil round. Tho opportunities which came along were seized at Once, and turned to good account, and no serious blunders were made. One fault of the backs, however, was their kick.ing. Whenever they "centred" their, kicks were too low and long. What was needed was higher kicke, which the forwards could get under. The long kicks on- Saturday would have run a . less thoroughly-trained team to a standstill. Another fault of the long was that the fast man of the charging forwards (usually M'Bajn) Often got close' to the man takibg.the ball, and the others were yards Ix-hind him. . Thus the defender could always side-step. 'With three men, or more, on him, he would havo been lost. Whisker Tacklers. The alort Poneke parson, Walsh, gave .Reveral demonstrations as to what can be done to the man who disregards tjie guiding rule , that it does not pay to tackle iiigh. Early in the match, lioberts made the mistake of going for Walsh high, but he only tried it once ( Walsh caught the solid "All Black" fair and square, with his shoulder, and Eoberts was felled as though a locomotive had struck him. A few minutes , later Walsh got away again, and Kinvig, who had not benefited by the rude shock which his comrade had just received, also' endeavoured to embrace Walsh round the- neck. The result was the same as in the case of Eoberts— someone hit the surface of the planet ■pretty, hard, and that, someone was not Walsh. The moral may-not be obvious, so we will state it.■', With , a couple more Walshes in senior Eugby; there would be few backs who w : oulfly3iot be driven to tackle low in self-defence. . A Frenzied Forward.. A' Poneke forward ran amok during a "mix-up" hi front ot the grandstand. He' burst Tight' through a half-packed scrum, and then, closing his eye?, and putting liis head - down, butted blindly back into the -pack, his feet going like flails against the legs of anybody who came in th® way. It mattered not to the man that he was pushing and kicking in favour of Oriental. Appauently ho, was in a frenzy, and felt that he had to be up and doing. , It was not a case of nialico prepense—jiist a temporary aberration. Luckily for the player the referee was 'oil tho opposite side of the scrum or the frenzied one might have had to explain matters before the Eugby Union—a difficult task. Weary Warriors. Compared with the "big etent" on the park on Saturday, the companionship fixture on tho Number 2 ground—CollegeAthletic—was dull,and poor, (r Yet College and Athletic, who, ( piust have noted the contrast in the infereettne matches created- amongst tho three thousand spectators, should remember that they wore in toe same class. It might assist them to become a little more serious, particularly College, who, each time they go out, show lamentable want of condition. . They seem -.content to remain at the bottom of the ladder. Their first spell display indicated • What they could do, but unfortunately the effort left them with nothing, to .go un : with. Poananga and one or two more • were hard-working always, but the rest, especially the forwards, soon hung in their tracks. . ' The Athletic on the whole made a poor showing. Wilton, JH. AVilspn, and some i of the other backs developed {fie bad habit of watting for the bounce, instead of taking the ball on the full. The handling was also as a general thing inaccurate. Almost every scrum Athletic- got possession of the ball. (College by the way should get their hookers taught this art.)' Evcason occasionally shone, but generally was - )elow reputation. ."I'anji". Wilson was : ,ho mainstay of the team; and. the way ' he can arouse-enthusiasm among players sometimes was good- to witness. S. Wil- : son on two occasions shewed a heated '■ disinclination to be tackled. Now nnd j then, however,' his tricky initiative was delightful. Irvine and Murray were hard- • working serviceable forwards. : Fair, Hurle, and'Poannngii were the , pick of the College backs, but all hau" ' too long to the ball. Millar/at full, quito i distinguished himself with accurate fielding,,;; kicking, and .tackling. fell /away badly, as a team, when defen3- , ing.' However, they have the satisfaction ot knowing that, though not' yet winners ; they, havo eight points to their credit. jMI desperandum. J At the. Hutt. : J The Hutt ground, on which the St. i James—Southern match was played is i SS. 6 ot ,. the pleasa'ntest about AVellington 1 lne attendance at the fixture was small ' and the .match was.started half-au-ho-ur I late, bouthern were expected to make < a good , showing, and they thoroughly justified the opinion of their supporters. at. James were far the more "solid" fifteen, and physique counts much in , At the opening of tho game, the "Jim- ' mies played.in a disorganised way, that ' would have entailed defeat had it been 1 the system all through. It was an even ' go pretty well' all through, and it was ( not till' half, the, proceedings were over ( that St. James scored. Southern were ' the weaker team, and St. James merited ] their win, but one outstanding weakness ' of the loeers contributed to the team's < downfall, This weakness was Dwan, the s full-back, who seems to be below senior 1 class. . He showed no skill last Saturday, i and'as a senior seems to have little to 1 make up the deficiency. Dwan's trouble ( is that he is out of his depth in the ( senior grade. < He might do well, and ; bo of good servico to his club in a lower 1 grade, but he is rather light to do him- t self full justice among the heavy-weights, without the aid of greater skill and versatility. About the Players. . j Bradley was a big help to the Southern j backs. He took all the work he could ( get, and looked for more. His form this , season is good,' but it is hard to judge c him on his play so far, though he gives ". the impression that he would do well c in a good back team. , Contrary to. the opinion , of many, the ' writer reckons that Thomas was about '• St. James's most useful back on Satur- * day. Hekita's style of play'.is an exact copy of the Te Aute' style. ' The Maori c is a fine kick, and a Sturdy runner, J 'whose equilibrium it is particularly dif- I ficult to disturb. The St. James half and * five-eighths gave their 'other backs few I chances—they seldom got tho ball past ? the second five-eighth. There was no good ; reason for that. Southern were not that ; sudden! Among the forwards Moffitt did ' splendid work. j!