RUGBY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1515, 10 August 1912, Page 12

RUGBY.

9I CBi Amstobumjs 1 : A Right Pleasant Note. Quito a pleasant note was _ struck by one of tlie Itugby Union officials during tho recent revival ,of. mention of I'etone grounds, etc. The official stated that tlic union wore fully .sensible of what the I'etone Club had dono/for Ilugby football. Thilia sort of pleasant mention is as it ought to be. New Zealand, on the whole, is becoming; rather noted for its peculiar style of "negotiation"—largely conducted on tho "win-tic-or-wrangle" principle. Tho' occasional glad word (as in this case) naturally conies iii as a very pretty variation.

Sydney University Tour Here Cancelled. Many who take an interest in Univers- " ity football will, no ;dtjubt;-regret to;read tho following letter which is forwarded by Mr. H..H. Daniell on behalf of tho New Zealand University Rugby Football .. ■ Management. The letter is as follows: — Sir, —As you aro' no doubt aware my club 'had intended' bringing a Syd- '. noy University team over here this year. Unfortunately, owing to tho number of injuries received, Sydney were unable to send a sufficiently representative team across. In a letter ■ reoeived from Sydney the otlier day, tho'following was given as the list of casualties for the- last month:— Broughton, injured knee; Jekyll arid Hinder, broken ankles; Hardern,' bro- ", ken 'collar-bone; Fisher; , dislocated • shoulder. Several:, of tho -junior teams have also been incapacitated. Apparently football.is a fairly 'stren- " uous game on the,other side. I should be glad if you would, give us a' paragraph in to-morrow's paper stating these reasons for .Sydney riot coming. • <—I am, etc., . ■■'. H;;H. DANIELL. !A New Topic-The.Weather. ; The few fine days',which accidentally ocpurred lost week'were deposed before the end of the week/.'and Saturday came in wet. The weather, got. wbvso "as tlie day wore on, and dm the wholo was the most unpleasant football day which the city:has experienced-.for a very long time. Tho fact that a representative match was abandoned is good evidence of that. BeS'des' the heavy rain, which made everyiing unpleasant, thoigrounds were quite ,Tinfit for liugby. ■ • ,■ ■ Bad Taste and Unreasonableness. The matter of the abandonment of the inter-island country *• teams match was • brought up at the meeting of the Management Committee of the New Zealand 'Union on Wednesday.'.: Mr. N. Galbraith,. the chairman of- the , committee, introduced the subject, and expressed displea- ' euro at the curtailment of tho game. The union seems to have been much concerned as to how the public.~would view the affair, and were anxious to disclaim knowledge of the intention to cut the gamo short. Mr. Galbraith appears to have been anxious to sound a note to the effect, that "the public ought, to have been cen- ■ sidered." Anyone who analyses the situation intelligently, will see that Mr. Galbraith has not exercised good taste, and has not been reasonable. "Consider the public!" is his cry.;; What of the players? V And "consider" what_portion of the "public"?' Mr. OalbraitK,ought to be. aware :hat a "good proportion of the 6pectatorate was in agreement with the idea of abandonment. To what extent did he think ;. iho players were entitled to consideration ? , If ■Mγ, Galbraith. has'ever played Rugby . ho will be aware- that they were entitled to some. ' • '•"', '/ Annoyance and Comfort. Mr. Galbraith' was .'annoyed because the committeemen who. sat iii comfort in the reserved stand were not consulted in the -,matter, or because they were not told that the match was"-.to ( be, discontinued. Mr. Galbraith, who sat in comfort in the Teserved stand, did notVenginoer tho postponement of tho schools,match, so. that the inter-island representatives '■'. would' have as decent a field to play on' as the union could provide. If the players had Tefused to play at all,, they would have had a certain'amount of reason on their side, and; a-certain amount of sympathy. When the 'interislaml match was started, ,the ground was totally unfit to ask a person.to'inhabit. To have continued the game to the bitter end would have been reducing Itugby below the common' laws of .civilisation. '""".'.''■":'.'■]". Laws of Civilisation, ' '.:".:.'" . The person who will apply the term of Bport\ to nn affair in which the chief consequence of playing is that the players are constantly being thrown, dragged, and buried ; m slime is- not worthy of the "consideration" of the Eugby Union. The union should have no fear of displeasing such" patrons. Mr. Galbraith was ~ at. tho head of 'he body which asked the men to field under these conditions. It was.there that his share of the business really began .and ended. When tho gaine!comu',eneed, it was in the hsnds of tho. referee, and when the referee de--1 dared thel.gii'ound unfit to.'.bo iplayed on,' Mr. Galbraith ought to- have known better than to haveitaken up theattitudolwliich he' revealed at Wednesday's meeting. As is observed above, Mr. Galbraith did not exercise good taste, and to emphasise the seriousness of this, it is necessary to observe,/also,: ;that Mr. Galbraith is ' the Eugby heatl-of the Dominion. If Mr. GalbraitK realises his position,' he ought to bo careful; of the example he fietsj- - : The Inter-Island Match. Tho interrupted match: between the country representatives of tho two islands would probably havo been a very iiteresting game.if fair conditions had prevailed. The players made a good showing in the unfavourable circumstances. The indications wero that North would have won, and that idea is strengthened: by the. record of tho two learns while they'were . on their recent tours, At the conclusion of the second twenty minutes' spoll.-North , had scored U points and South'.3, but tho New-Zealand Union'.has'.'decided that, the match cannot be written down as a win to either side. This is a correct decision, and probably will not be objected ' to. • ' •■.-■•.•■ • ■ ~.

Possibilities Worth Exploiting. - ; -''■ Tho :only players who brought ttiemi , eelyes • under notice, wore Kaipara .and. liCiinavil, both of whom are' inembers of the; North team. Leiumnl- was- noticeable only for tho easy .;wayi;,with; which'he handled tho slippery ball. Kaipara was conspicuous for bis elusiveness. It has?, been said of late -that Kaipara is not the Kaipara of old, but, inciting from : the little.Se'eu.of Knipjifa on Saturday, it is clear that-ho. is- still particularly . good. Clt is,' also, more! than .probable that'there is no player in .■' Welliiifcton who is-as elusive and as hard to stop.' I Ho can swerve' as 'effectively as Young, takes as much stopping as CookYamlcnn i dodge in u manner beyond the" cpjabill(ies of;eiHior. Tho stray, visits of such us Kaipara do good. Tllcy'laivaken play-; ors to the fact that there-are-all-sorts of ■■ possibilities worth e.\ploitii>g*"r\v.; Polhillj Publication, Etc, ■'■-'■'. ■ At this week's meeting :bf,the".\V"elling"-' . ton Rugby Union, tlic;PolhiH-Oliib wroteaskingi.if the committeeicoiild.arrfcige a' r match,'in llasterton, stating that-if theycould not get a match they would,evcntii-' ally play the professional game/ It'was , pointed- out at. the muotiiig; that this particular club was not''affiliated..to the Wiigby", Union, and therefore ■■ they (the union) could not take','any faction, in the matter;, -•-- - - ' : 'i'ho chairman asked that this l>e withheld from "the papers," .although the 1 letter -was'read'out in open meotiug by the secretary. . ■ . The , other matter which the chairman ' did not want.published was . the tour- ■ ing- teams. The facts are: Eighteen players u.ye to leave Wellington on Monday week next on a northern tour, playing at ; Auckland and othur-places, in charge of a ! rosponsiWo'.'pefsuh , . , " , On' , .the same ' date : 16 players, ore to leave Wellington to play Hawko's Hay at Hawlsb's Hay, also in ' charge .nfVu' responsible" piu^ou. I The Star Game, : The first-reverse nt the hands fend feet) I .. m' Al'iilstii- I'br Potoue, on Ilio suburlmn oval last week, was duo principally to the

the wretohed weather. Before play commenced, it was easiily seon that whichever team won would n<»t do so by moro than a. very Howover, the heavy forwards o* the Blues and Blacks wero quite at home, and asserted themselves to much greater advantage than did the mid-dle-weight pack oil their opponents. On such a day teams, no matter how superior one may' be, arc on an equal level. Tho heavy man can follow up just as fast as the. swiftest man on the tield, and tho back (no matter how resourceful) is harassed with a greasy heavy ball and a sloppy ground. Tho Athletic skipper showed great judgment in placing his backs very deep, so that, with comparative- ease, any rush coming was checked before serious damage was done. PctoL'c, on the other hand, were nil playing too close \\p to tho scrum, and, when tho .town side forwards got moving, there was.'only tho fullback to pass. ■ To sum the game up, one can say ■straight out that Athletic liad the best of matters, all through, ajid were continually on the attack. Led by Paton, in the vanguaril, they swooped down with effect more often than was comi ortablo. As a "wet day" forward it would be almost impossible to produce anything better than Paton. He was the life antl soul of tho vanguard, and his eye noner lost sight of the oval, no matter where it was. Paton certainly was the best forward on the ground. For the first ten miniy.tes "Kanji" Wilson was very prominent, but after that lie tired, and seemed to be quite content to keepup with tho play. Bell, Osborne, and-.Levick trio of noteworthy hustlors, Osborne 'showing a fino turn' of sliced. ■ ;..' ■ [ .''.■' In the backs, Evensen\was a tower of strength;. Where .all the others failed— in 'line-kicking—Evensen excelled. As the connecting Jink in a sfTong chain of defence, he left nothing to be desired, and nover once made, a mistake. Gosling, tho full-back, saved" his side repeatedly., No matter how the ball came to him, he always "got his kick," and Fcores of times ho "speculated" with grbat effect. , Other backs tried the "flying kick," and badly missed. Not so Gosling. He "made good" every time. Although E. Roberts is not' a wet-day man, ho showed good judgment in not passing stupidly, and did a lot of'good work', in conjunction witlnhis forwards. Atkinson,' who took tho field in place of Power, made a great difference to the combination of Athletic, and incidentally showed that he had lost none of his old dash. The Man Who Lost the Game. Miller,, the Petono full-back, lost the game.-' All along he showed a weakness that did, not inspire confidence to the most optimistic, and when Athletic scored he had ample time to force, but was , either too slow, or else was .playing to the "gallery," as very often is his wont. . Ramsden was sent up to .wing-for-ward from five-eighths. It was a very good move, and worked well. The player under review was full of dash, and did a tremendous lot of spoiling work. Line-finding: Case When It Does Not Pay. Apart from playing 'too 1 near' his forwards, Jas. Ryan got through a good ninety minutes, of ; hard credit. One fault he did make, however,- and that was that (when his side were two 'points in arrwlrs) he kept, on "finding the line." Ho thereby wasted precious time, when Petono wero really "up against it." No. match was ever won when the ball was not kept in the field of play. .The. team;; which is ahead .in points,may.^!iljvay : sfb>> relied on to do the "line finding." The "side , behind" in such • a 'case as this should try to "keep the boat on the other tack." M'Kenzie was not np to the usual, standard, and seemed to hesitate at a critical moment. Ho lost a lot of ground through dilly-dallying. . Nunn has. played better. Ho did not adopt the wet-day game. He passed the ball to his five-eighths when that man was smothered. One thing which the half-back did have bad luck in was his potted, goal, which only fell short by inches. As has been stated before, the Petone forwards wore not by any means comfortable. The day. did not suit them, nor did their opponents. Heady was the leader for Potone, and by his efforts much ground was gained. M'Farlane,' Parrant, ! and W. IL/ Ryan played, splendidly, never missing a.- chance. -