RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1734, 26 April 1913, Page 12

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

[Br Aristodotub.l

i.The Surprise Petono Struck. By s-thoir failure to beat Victoria C01...1eg0 ...lego on Saturday, Petonothavo put .them- ' Bolves at a serious disadvantage in the . . ■ championship .str'ugglo which is to come. /' It was tho general opinion that Petono • • jwould bo one, of,the two or threo leading 7 teams, • and very probably they will be, :: ,but tlio loss of one point on the first playing Saturday will bo'a handicap. , ; "j". As J things wore last week, they were lucky; to draw College instead of Oriental, i Poneke, or Athletic. Any of .these other : teams would assuredly have beaten Petono ' : . on .th'at day, aiid with A very little luck College would 'have beaten' tlioni, .too. If Petono could not put a better team - than, the fifteen of.-last week in the field, , •: they. woidd have to be classed at once as ■ secon.d-rato club, but fortunately they 'have - a .number' of other good-, men on; „ whom to draw. Their chief want on : Saturday, was in the five-oighths and'cen- . v tre-tliree-quarters ■ play. Bamsden and jU'Kenzio were away, and James Ryan is not going to'play at all. so that, an entirely;.ne,w lot were played. , : None of the. . new men seemed to understand tho neces- ' 'sity ! for runiiing. straight, with the exe}< ' ceptidn,■ perhaps, : of E. Ryan; who .was , S'eble to.beat a man now and then. Jos. an utter failure in attack, and Vjnly moderate in defence.

.. .The Dropping of Daly.' . > tho men missing 'from the fctono team Jjyas Daly, who is not considered by the selector.. to fbe . good enough for. the . first fifteen. Some, will bo surprised at p .Ithis; Admittedly' Daly has -made "bad 'mistakes, but he is such a speedy runner ■ and sflch; a reasonably .Rood preformer in jo'ther;respects;'that most.clubs would find ii place in. the three-quarter, line for him. i; : 'He isjtoo good for junior football. ■ College', under a Tireless Captain, -What 'has;hai)pencd 'to College? Some , . 'of thV surprise'd;peoplo will want to know.. ", ,'l'hey;have simply 'acquired four or five , - j'oung players who. hdvo .been taught the | game;'thoroughly,, 'and;; who understand jLondition.' : .■ ■ . ; ' .. ' . f In the team as'it was in the maltch, one i : ' roan.stood head and shoulders above all " .[tlxe rest in lhcrit. His name wasQuilliam, '« wing forward, and captain, of the side. • , Jlis owilrplay was,;very good, but it was ilia driving of "his • forward pack that was eall?;jgood. ; He'ii - a 'tireless, worker himelf/ «nd;:soinelioW:';iie keeps the. others forking.''- The Green forwards had the 'efcbne. pack in trouble' practically all. the lime;,! - • '• •. : '. ■.• -.Of tte otherimen, is about the ' t>eStj >t«t lie :i's, too . light ever to be a 'i/ ' kreat iforfrard. .' .Others in tho pack, not'..Sbly the.giftnSßeard;;,have useful .weight, ;•' tnd- some igqi.well iii; tlio loose; i ißeard.'is too promt td'take long rests. . . ; :. In .'{ho' back division College, are not strong. : I{.yan is by far the best .man f; fthey' have,'-and he is a.very useful 'man . -for them. 'T. "Beard is-.a'good kick, takes the" ball well; and runs straight; but ho : 'Is 'sluggish.: Goodbeliere is simply a playpr, .with all the "faults and more than the i • : . .usual brilliaiice of a fast wing :-threei.; -..- auatter.'. Enting, on tho other wing, has jV;' .bettor, defence; but lie- is a ; . very timid. ' -.runner. ••• ,y,. • ■ ' :: . Not the Old Roger Danssy. . Daifeey, {he ex-Otage University and rer,.';: ..VpresefitatiVe, player, ll n-who .touted '; wi/tli i:' i '■ Parata's team in. Australia in 1910, f. ,was only in fair'form; He does not look ■■ tho llogei- Dansey of old; Tie seems to ; '. . have'lost tissue, and does not seem as fit . as heiniglit. ; life; tfas starved very bad- ?.* ly on''his wing,-; but Me did what was ie-. '. quired of him very'well, and doubtless he • • M'ill improve. .. v

; Melrose'to', be' Reckoned .With. 1 ;•*' ' V Melrose's . sound 'defeat 'of St. James on ;• Saturday .(by, 20 .'to. -OT,' indicates that Mel- : ;,; ,I'bse ' will probably have; to bo -reckoned ■ S; Syith. by the big-gun teams this'year. Mel-. .■•;.:'toso' are' a Better,.team'.than- they were. : -r last season, and-.they 'wero good then. They •;••• ha'vo.'Tiot got the', services of William .Marshall, who was so good a full-back and .. goal-kick foi'j.them last-season,- but in'his .V '.place' they have,.ll. Capper, who did ex- : ' 6ollenl:''w6jk"ius. 'fiill-back for .Southern.

Cappro is-a fm& kick;,but wyi.; have to bo ' absolutely'first-class ;to ; be Marshall's etjual 119 a tackier. J. Tiramey 'lias -returned to V Wellington and rejoined Melrose. He skippers the!team. Generally..there are few diaiiges in'tho. team, but it.is' clear . that i,t* is a better fifteen than it was at ' ; ithe'end .of last season.

Poneko and Oriental. There is really, no other moral , to bo Urawa from the Poneke-Orieutal ' "match' . / {it the park on; Saturday than the obvious ■ - pie that it"is-'a bad thing to go into! the football field, : or< any. other held, ill-pre- ;. .pared: On appearances in the early stages j of tha game Poneke should not have suf-| ''i'ered ;any crushing defeat,'.if they :.' -were defeated'at all:. As time went on,' , 'however, they .tired away'to toothing, like - a. racehorse , that, has done its, distance. " During : the , first; spell on Saturday (Poneke manifested, d; healthy, inclination" • pto open up. the-play. The .'.backs ■ seemed ■■ .... icon on this, find several'- of their"number, notably, Morris, "Tilyard, aid J. £1jliot, were very nippy in attack whenever-,-a gho,vt of.'opportunity showed-itself. . The Oriental .forward pack was decidedfly 'better than that of their ..opponents. In combined rushes it took a iot of stopping, but at times the forwards got out- . , of touch with the rearguard.'. The prin- , ' ,;cipaL;defect .'of Oriental was a lack of -imtiativo and brightness.in both back and .'■■■ forward play. Tlie'whole team seemed to ' - -.be given over to the ideai : that ',''it's dogged' '- .'.as does it," and they:scarcely did an un- .. expected thing during tlie afternoon. "Ones"! If a the unexpected that tells. It's tho unexpected, too, that warms the ~ souls of tho ""bankers." Both, in line-kicking and in kicking 'generally, Poiieko gave as poor, an cxhibi- ■<■ '-tion as can be imagined. Many of their '..ticks lost-nearly as much . ground as they rwero 'intended... to ,gain. -The Oriental 7backs, on-'the iother hand, .kicked with .judgment:A hard-workin<? member of. the (Mental rearguard w;as Hale,'who several ; tiraes averted an impending' score.'by a quick ,' dash when play was on. the Oriental line: ' . Carrad gave a fairly good account of him-, pelf behind tho scram,-but no .doubt if .'Roberts had been in his old place much 'heavier score would have been registered against the. beaten, team.

.Wellington a Trifle Unlucky, ... It can scarcely be said that tho score in tie Athletic-Wellington match, played at Miramai last Saturday, fairly represented the merits of tho teams. On the Wellington side Millar was unlucky in not being credited with a try in the first half, during which period the Yellow and Black men quite held their own. Towards tho close of the game, Athletic did look a trifle the better team, bat'early in the second spell, wjien the score was 5—3, not many would have cared to bet .'odds on •Athletic. Wollington, on thatforin, ought ■.to .bo able to argue the point satisfactorily ,frith St. James this afternoon. ■ .Willie Davies, Welshman. A Homo exchange says that Leeds have made a .Rugby Union "capturc" by securing Willie Davies, tho Welsh Rugby Union international centre three-quarter back. Davies, who is a schoolmaster by profession, has played with Devonport Albion, and for his connection with that club—or, rather, "acts of professionalism" in. con--1 nection with Devon- football—Davies wag suspended by the English Bugby Union jn connection with the recent inquiry. •