RUGBY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2175, 13 June 1914, Page 14

RUGBY.

_____ n [Br Lock.] CHOOSING THE ALU-BLACKS. Chief intorest during the week centred in tlio selection of the inter-Island teams, which' aro to meet hero next Saturday. The public were, 110 doubt, taken by surprise 'at the decision to play a B niatcli in addition to the original fixture, but, tho proposal is such . ■ an excellent one that it must ■ surely liavo commended itself to every follower of tho game. Tho B match between the two Islands will bo played on ;Wcdnesday next,' and tlio A match on Saturday next, botli on Athletic Park. Nono will welcome tho innora" tioh more than tho country unions, many of whom have long been neglected for' want of a means of doing themselves justice. .'■ ' i The North island Backs. / Tho North Island teams, on the whole, appear to be very good—almost as good as can be expected in the circumstances. Almost tho whole of tho A team hr»ve previously represented New ■ Zealand, and eight of them were members of tho" combination which toured California and British Columbia. TJio_. selccti'oii, however,, js. open to criticism, and the first name one's' eye lights on—an honoured name in Wellington Rugby—should not be in the list! There would be . lio ode more ' pleiscd than ''Lock", 'to seo James 1 Ryan strike New Zealand representative form, but the fact that lie has not bociiMip to that standard for como time should liavo been well known to the Wellington,.member of the selection com.mitteo if th,at;meniber 'lias ( beei! following the'game closely during the last few seasons. However, if Ryan excels his riccerit lorm, _and ijustifirs .his inclu■sioit,: over.Vbno in Wellington will be delightDU, lor there is no. more popular player. The selection of M'Grcgor (Auckland), 11. Roberts (Taranaki), and Stolir (Taranaki) was generally expected 1 though, of. course, it' was not certain whicli- positions those players would' occupy. They -will form the three-quarter line, and aro. (on past form) a. strong .trio, particularly' Roberts, whose play last season" stamped him';,as about, the best back, in tho country. - Wellington peoplo will probably be pleased to find Weston, of ■ Auckland, selectod as one, of tho fiveeighths, but opinion here will bo very, much divided regarding J. M'Kenzie's inclusion. Wellington knoirs M'Kcnzie's play'well] and 'on'last season's form, and. Iwhat they have seen .of Tilyard this year, tho Rugby .public of this city would probably favour tho Poneko player. Tilyard suffers tho disadvant ago.' bf not bearing I 'tlio appearance o£ a likely live-eighths, but tho fact is 'that he is an excellent man in the position, and few who aro his equal navo been seen on tho Park for some time. Meston played a .great game here for 'Auckland last year, and if that day's i work is a fair .sample of his form .ho is ! -first-rater.. Tho.half-back chosen (E. i Roberts) is the right one. The Vanguard, . 1 1

-forwards the least known is Cotter, of tho.Wellington Club. His selection comes as a surprise to many. .Many will lie disposed to go so far as to say that ho, should not bo in tlio team, and thero aro plenty who never suspected that ho was about to enter the lists of the chosen. Among his own club- m ates ho has certainly never (listingtnshed uimself above Francis Jliller, or Beard, the first two of whom have been .exceptionally fine forwards in the last two seasons. It is not clear whether the Smith, of uLaninaki, js the heavy forward of that namo who ha 3 served the Amber and .Wacks for many years. If it is thaS same player, ho must (be wearing -well Better forwards would bo difficult to fand than Cain (Taranaki), Sellaw (Auckland), Vilson (Wellington), Downing (Auckland), or Bruco (Auckland), and the wing-forward, Taylor (Taraliaki), showed last year that he was a particularly valuable man on the side oftho scram. The omission of Miller (of the Wellington Club) from the paok Eeeros almost inoxplieablo. Only two things can be said—Miller was either unavailable for the. Australian trip, or i ? sc l, ec ' :ol ' s have blundered ably. They have chosen four Wellington forwards, and left out (even out of tho B team) this player,. ,who has been almost without peer jn tho city' the last two seasons. It is uriderstoo3 that tho reason why Dewar (Taranald) is not among those chosen is that he could not got tho necessary leave for tho trip to Australia. Hawkins, from tho samo province, though nominated, is a so reported to be unable to travel abroad just now.

1 Where Luck Comes In. Among thoao who have had the'illluck to havo been left out of oven the 15 team is C. Brown,, the Taranaki half. Brown gavo a good exhibition in Wellington last season, and has been a very' solid half for somo years. • Ho represented New Zealand against Australia while the All-Blacks wero on their way to California. However, Brown has had to givo way to a good man—H. Nnnn. of Petono, undoubtedly 0110 of the best men behind tho scrum who is playing in tho Dominion.' It looks a, littlo odd to lind in the B team one who accompanicd the Now Zealand team to California. That, nevertheless, is the lot ct Lovpndgo, tho young Taranaki three-quarter, who was added to tho New Zealand team at the eleventh hour last season. From what Wellington saw of Lovcridge, ho must bo regarded as a really promising back. Beard, of Wellington, who figures- among tho , B forwards, lias shotniito considorablo this soason. Ho has been well in tho senior championship, he figured in the Wellington representative team which defeated the Maori team, and how ho is given his clianco of playing himself into a jersey with a silver fern on it. * ■ • Tho Men From South. Tho southern teams • contain many playors with whoso work on tho fielil 'Wellingtonians.jire unfamiliar. It is to ho hoped that J. Cuthill, T. Lynch, anil several of tho bettor-known forwards are'in top form, for at their best they woukl adorn tho selected of any Rugby country. H. Taylor, tho Christclmrch half-back, will figure behind the scram, in the A team. It is reported that ho has been playing badly this season, but that-he showed vastly improved form last' Saturday. From the little we have seeirof Taylor in this city, he cannot be written down c's a champion half, but he may be,the best man in the other island. However, his form in California will probably be taken as a good'guide as to his value. Smoothing Out tho-Ruffles. These dlwtMTatiiJii.-i need not detract from' the guild" work of theselectors, ivhii have about the most unenviable task-of all team pickers. • It is a thankless task to rhoose a team for a city, a province, or even a club, and it is- much more thankless, and morn difficult, to choose the representatives of an island, or.a country. The selectors ;vho acted for this Island, have, as sflid at the outset, done writ, and, moreover, nil interested in the gamo are

indebted to the selector, or selectors, who conceived tho excellent idea of playing a B match, for the purpose of endoavouring to do justice to the players who ato not playinp under the principal unions i but, while the ideA is good, tho execution is open to tlio observation that there aro rather few country players in tho team selected. A Story of Chances Lost. Wellington and Poneke provided the star attraction at Athletic Park last Saturday. It was a beautiful afternoon. and the crowd numbered close on 4000. ' Tho game was exciting in its later stages, but on tho wholo was rather uninspiring. The result ■ was looked upon as very doubtful, but Wellington were favourites. It turned out to bo a game of lost opportunities. Wellington won, but had Poiieke's ungrasped chances been put to good account. the Red aud Blacks might,liavo won. Poneko played without Tilyard, who would probably have found the Wellington defence- somewhat to his liking had he been wearing tho colours. On the day's play, Wellington deserved their victory, hut Ponelco are quite capable of Extending them. I

Algar's Fine. Display. ' Poneke did remarkablv well for a team which has such light backs, particularly. as Wellington are a very hefty fifteen. The tackling of most of the •Red'hacks was a'dmirable. Walker and Spilkne, two of tho lightest in tho team, did some beautiful collaring. Algar tackled like a champion, and showed commendable industry in bringing down some, of liis heaviest opponents. This lad carried the burden of his side. He was the chief man in attack. anc]the ( mainstav in defence. His line-lcickmg was excellent, and if there was a fault;in.'jiis work ft was a slight over-doing of duttir.g-in tactics.

The Pitiless; §woop. v On the Wellington side one could not heli) being sbi'jfijk by the plav of Beard (live-eighth). - .-His defensive work was very line. Tie appears to rely-con-siderably on "11 is exceptional strength, and is liot" always sufficiently agile to bring to earth a man who lias a good swerve, but : his mighty dive at a straight'runnSi-'is a sight to look upon. No player wh'd-ever wore a jersey could resist that sw'odp. Poneke players who got within of his>merciless .crash should be quite'convinced on that point. Beard's kicking, was wonderfully strong, and almost without exception he found the line. . Kg goal-kicking was good mid powerful;' but ho had the ill-luck to narrowly miss the posts in most of his attempts. ...... M'Farlano's Big Innihgs. ' f

The most uncertain (as to result) of the other games was that between Oriental and I'otone. Petono had not done veil so far in the season's fixtures, but insufficient allowance was made, by those who tried to forecast the result of this match for the ill-luck which lias shadowed the suburban team. Saturday found them, vanquish Oriental hy 29 to 13, and itjs of some interest to notice that S. M'Farjane scored 17 of Petone's 29 points—a try, two penalty goals, and 1 four goals from tries. Passing Flashes.'

AVellington|s next representative match is against Wairarapa, at Masterton next Saturday. On tho Wednesday following, Wellington will meet laranaki at Hawera.

Merivalo still lead' in the Rugby championship of . Christchnrch city. .The position of the teams is: Merivale, 5 wins; Old Boys, 4 wins; Linwood, 3 wins ; Christchurch, 3 wins; .Sydenham, 2 wins and 1 draw; University, 1 win and 1 draw; Marist Bros., 1 win; Albion, no win.

Four sets of fixtures have now been played in the contest for the championship of Auckland City. The positions or the teams aro: City, 3 wins; Marist Bios., 2 wins and 1 draw; University, J wins and 1 draw; Ponsonby, 2 wins; College Rifles, 1 win and 1 "draw; and rarnell, 1 draw. Parnell have now retired from the contest. The battle for supremacy will probably be closely fought. ■ Ponsonby were beaten in one Ot their, matches by a potted goal to a try, and on,the other band were lucky to beat Marist Bros. Several matches have;been drawn,- and others won by but a few points.

Lambert, formerly of Wellington, potted the goal in Auckland last Saturday which gave University victory over 1 onsonby by one point. Tho shot was taken 1 from half-way, In reporting the Maori-Wellington match, Lock credited Beard with two tries which were obtained by Miller. Burrell the Wellington Club's' wing-three-quarter, who was injured last Saturday m tho match against Poneke, is still on tho list of the temporarily disabled.

J. Tilyard, tho Poneko . five-eighth, who stood out of the team last Saturday owing to an injury to his anklo, received m the Wellington-Maori match is tit to take tho field again, and will Play for the Eed and Blacks against Oriental this afternoon.|