RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1770, 7 June 1913, Page 12

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

OBt Aristobulus.] Champions in Inconsistency. Last Saturday's surprise was tlie victory of Poncke over Melrose. Poneko aro always liable to do something very unexpected. They are easily the most inconsistent team in tho world. Melrose were not;caught napping; Melrose did their best, but they were the worso team on the day,. The victory should make it a littlo tlearer to Poneko that they have the material for a good fifteen, and that what is lacking is training and enthusiasm. Piibbishy Rugby.. Tuesday's representative game was a defllorable exhibition. Wellington met Wairarapa with a team which was a long way from the city's best, but, noverthe- . less, there is no excuse for Wellington s running so close' to defeat. Wellington loafed so much at certain stages of the game that when, tliey wanted to ' come to lighf'v they could not do so. The Wellington backs played rubbishy Kugby. Lambert was a farcical blunderer; at full-back; he was liko an elephant in- a' pantomime. Twomey and Tilyard failed as five-oighths, and_ Dingle was ftUito ordinary as right wing. Krnvig ,was ■ sound, and Roberts the oleverest ot All.the rear division. Young, the speedy left-wing, was starved by the other backs. Bell was tho pick of the forwards, and, tis far as one could judge from the stand, OPiton one of the most useless. Miller arid Hills worked hard "throughout. [Tackle the Man .with tho Ball. " Victoria College were disappointing on Saturday, when they wore .opposed -to; Oriental. Wellington'had-just been ablo to; beat College, and just been able to beat Oriental, so that it-appeared that these two teams should have been well ■ matched. Yerv few tipsters, would have suggested that 'College wcro : rcnlly.a.hettcr K ido than Oriental, but ' most people thought the teams \vere.. sufficiently-near an equality to make tho game .exciting. How; wrong this forecast was, the result— n College defeat by 24 points to—showedThe Oriental backs showed flashes of their, one-time brilliancy in passing at- j itacks, and College -irero, powerless to keep them out. The Green backs have lis a body still to learn the lesson that the:safest way to set about stopping a passing rush is to bring down the man .with the ball. Too often a player Waited to see whether tho man with tho ball would pass it or not, and, of courso, tho result always was that the man did pass -the ball from a moro comfortable position. If- tho tackier goes straight into the man with the ball, tho'chance3 are that bo will at least arrest tho passing run, if lie does not stop it altogether. The wan who has the most uniform success in dcfence is tho man who never waits before, tackling. Tho manwho hesitates as to which of two men ho would be wisest to watch usually ends by tackling; noither of them. This is all a digression, but tho' object of it is to account in some degree for the success of tho Oriental backs. They aro a good lot, certainly, but- they can be bustled ■ by resolute tackling, and if they are bustled they ore no longer formidable. Against weak opponents they can do amazingly clever tricks in the passing game,.and thov performed their wholo repertoire last Saturday. . ■ 'Tzz

The Magpies' field kicking was very good, but their place-kicking was very bad—seven tries, and not one converted. Several of the shots were easy ones, too, A-. good place-kick is of enormous valuo to a side, and one or two Oriental players might with advantage specialise m this too'much neglected part of the game. Clever Visitors. The Auckland" University team which met: the Victoria College fifteen here, on tho.-King's Birthday- was' a typical collego". ttam—short of brawn, but well supplied with dash and intelligence. Seldom docs one see such a speedy clever lot pf backs associated as the Aueklanders. They- were tremendously handicapped by the inability of their forwards to get the bail;;for ,tneni, and any chances which they got were obtained by literally snatching the ball from their opponents. Movements so ■ initiated are always difficult, but however ragged the passes were, if the back to whom the ball was given could-get his fingers on it ho could hold it: up, even when racing at top speed. Half a - dozen men like that are always dangerous, and the Aueklanders had them. Men who have cultivated the passing game so suoceesfuty have naturally acquired some skill in swerving and in tho other wiles necessary to get through a team in opposition. If, the Victoria College pack had not contained two suoh burly gentlemen as T. Beard and H. Mackay, the ,Greens would probably have failed to gee the ball • in every scrum, and then the Aueklanders might have done anything. In view of their marked success on the very few occasions when they did ball, it would be mere guessing to suggest the scoto they might pile up if they were getting tho play. Perhaps wo s3vall hear more ofi'some'of these backs when tho interprovincial games aro being played. Petone and Wellington, Petone were not exactly lncky in their Victory over Wellington last week, but they wore fortunate. Both forward' teams were well matched, and good form was shown by both packs. The Yellow vanguard. seized every opportunity, and not only nsed their foet, but initiated passing bouta which taxed the strength of Petone in every quarter. Irons, Miller, Beard, Elliffe, Henderson, M'Gregor, and Lambert were all on their; top form. The pace was good all tho time, and these .men ftiostly made it Lambert ,was just a little bit "off"'in his line finding, but otherwise played faultlessly. ■ " In .the backs Wellington cam do with tome coaching. The' material is t.hei ■ but- one fault is that the five-eighths and three-quarters do not account ' foT their opponent. Every back should tackle his man, and not wait for aJi intercept. Let the other side do that. In attack, the Yellow backs, were fair; but'all had a tendency to bore the wings to touch. Petone's star forward was' Wm. -Ryan, % player of good weight, very fast, and a good tackier. He is, a player who .shirks nothing, and previously ho has been unfortunn.to in not quite catching the oyo of the selector. There are few forwards in .Wellington who aro now playing better than Ryan. ' Apart from place-kicking, M iarlane .was not noticed in anything. The Bluo backs were not up to full Btrcngth, Ramsdan. and E. Ryan being" off through injury. However, Dansey and Daley made good substitutes. Jos. Rvan has improved, but still has the bad habit of dropping passes. MTtenzie was in good form, and kept up a good Btylo of attack and defence. It wa3 quite a good game, and tho 1200 spectators present fully appreciated it.