RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1842, 30 August 1913, Page 12

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

' . • CBT AiiSTOßDwa.] . z" c Letter by an "Old' Boy." f'Old Whanganui Boy", (he insists that Wanganui is correctly spoiled with. 01 on "h") Eends a note 011 tho voryl ex- 0 | citing intcr-coliogo match on Thurs- j r day. He admits keen "Whanganui" dis- s j appointment, reviews tho game, and 0 j then goes on to stato as follows: — 0 j .- . "On. the day's play; AVhanganui were ti beaten by a team of superior merit...But p ,wby were Wellington; College.superior? For two chief reasons ; I think. In 2 : nearly all sohool teams there is a ten- d, dency among tho backs to-run across the r , field instead of Tunning straight, and f : thus it happened that time and again s j the Whanganui wing-three-quarter was fjammed on tho line. In this respect Wellington wore far better than""Wha t] nganui. 'In tbo scrum Wellington had a ■the best of matters, and (through tho C( efforts of their hookors) got the ball out b 'to their half more frequently than-did a their opponents, and, onco the ball-was n out, Wellington's half-back knew what e : 'to do with it. In fact, lie. played tho w ;best individual game in tbo match. tl "A second point that' told heavily b ' against Whanganui was their faulty h Ipassing. They should learn that a. man b must take a pass without turning round, g A pass to bo at all effective must bo a straightly and quickly delivered, and tl must be taken on the stride so to speak; s' ' ;{C; standing pass is, useless. if • the 'cor- a . responding opponent is quick. Thus it t was obvious to >anyono who is cognisant t of the elements of football and who cwatched ,tlie, .game on Thursday,-'.that'' n •Whanganui lost the match through not t 'running straight, - land -through their u faulty "passing.' "Whanganui play :ii Christ 'College to-d.ay, and unless' they t make the same mistakes as they ; did d on Thursday it will bo a good team.that ' beats thcni." ' The Welllncton Men. C A good deal of the comment which h can be offered on tlie Taranaki-Wellirig-i jt lington match was included in Monday's e review of tho contost/ ■ • ; c Little, however, .was said of the play I of the Wellington men,, who fought a [ hard fight in a most creditable manner i and left the field victorious. s Wellington's most apparent weakness 0 was Evensen, full-back. Evensen, has 1: never convinced many that he is a strong 11 full-back,' and it is a littlo surprising c .that Mr.' Meredith persists in selecting v him, for his exhibitions, though by no s means distinctly bad, are not first-class: Ivinvig would be a much safer last ditch, t The'Three-quartors. t .' The .Black three-quarter)line-, was exercised very little.- Mitcfhinson, tired of !; waiting for opportunity, set out to * create one ;now and then, and in this 1 way gave a sample of his capabilities. s ; One .of; his' runs was excellent'; he . £ threaded a - path through the Ambers < in an extraordinary manner. ; r'James ; ■Ryan was in giiod fond aiid was, rather 1 the kind of bade who was specially 1 . wanted for the day. Ho erred badly once in jamming KLnvij; on the line 1 when the Black backs had a good open- ' ing. ' Kinvig's line-finding was as sound j as ever. , 7 • ' 1 Roberts and Nunn. ; Tilyard and M'Kenzie, particularly \ Tilyard, played well as nve-eighths. ] M'Kenzie-tried less of what the crowd £ calls "funny business" than i 3 usual' ] with him lately. Nunn, at halif, was in ] his'glory mixing it with the hefty Tara- i naki forwards. Just at present ho is at, 1 the top of his form, and, as has been ( remarked before,' is pressing E. Roberts hard for tho honour of chief: represen- ( tative half-back. When Nunn has -ap- j pearedin 'a few .more of the bigger • games one ivill be able to judge more i accurately how he and Roberts' com- ] pare. , ' 1 The Came. , ■ ; ■ Last Saturday's match was excellent indeed on such a ground. On a 1 dry day one of the most brilliant games 1 ever seen in the oountry should have i \ been' turned on. ■ Wellington has a fine s back tenm, and. Taranaki play an en- ■ tentaining'game. , 1 That the visitors are a . first-class team was evident. They had the ill- : luck to lose Stohr and Roberts from the - backs, two of the. best, and both _■ "All 1 Blacks," and they were minus Cain in 1 the pack. These three wore replaced by weaker men, and, further, the reorganisation or tho team caused two ■ of the backs to be playing out of place. 'A Promising Player. A good deal of interest was taken in !the play of Loveridge, the New Ply■'mouth boy who is to go to California with the New Zealand team. He did little attacking work, but his defensive play was very fine. Playing centre-three-quarter, ho got no chance to show his scoring worth, but he loft the impression that ho is a champion. It is ■to be hoped that lie will be seen out again' before tho team leaves for America. , • , , College Boy's Impartiality. Wellington youth at the WellingtoniWanganui College Rugby match (on seeing the referee award Wellington a free kick when - they _ badly needed relief): •"Good referee this, good referee!" Same youth, a few minutes later (on seeing iWanganui awarded a free kick handy to the Wellington goal): "This referee ,'came from'Wanganui. Ho travelled ■ down with tho team." • Footballers' Sports Meeting. •• The ■ Wellington Rugby Union has .'decided to hold a footballers' sports gathering at Athletic Park on October ■ 4. The! programme will include handicaps and championship events for footballers in all grades. Provision will bo made for tho, players' in tho public schools union. Harrier clubs are to be catered for by tho inclusion of two miles, three miles, and teams' races. There will also be events for'members of tho Referees' Association, and-members of kindred sports bodies. -Relay races for Rugby .clubs will be an additional attraction.