RUGBY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2181, 20 June 1914, Page 14

RUGBY.

■■ ';''.v v •'"'... . ,'.♦ ——■ ; ::;,-', r ;;.'.:[Bi Lock.l THE CONTEST FOR THE CUP. Tho contest for*,tho 1 championship of ■ Wellington has how reached a- stage of the greatest interest. '■, • Athletic, tho '' holders of the trophy, just succeeded in maintaining ■ their unbeaten record last Saturday, when. they clashed . with Pctono in battWoyal. Wellington, also,. are unbeaten, and on. Saturday' next' Athletic and Wellington will meet and settle an argument which has grown . extremely interesting. There is little - doubt.that Athletic-, will start favourites, and thero is good reason why thoy should, but Wellington's chance of lowering the standard of tho champion team is recognised as a very-resectable one. If Wellington can produce,a gamo '■ such as Petqno .played last Saturday, Athletic may go' under. Tho matches ■ on this day week will conclude the'first round of tho - fixtures,. and' when . the second lap is undertaken < tho contest will bo oven morp keenly followed than , lias been the caso so far. A Famous Victory. For those who from time to time assert that Rugby is decaying I have always felt' a'littlo sorry. This small and woeful hand might have profited by sponding an hour and a. half at Athletic Park last Saturday. , Haloes would no <■ longer be the special property of a fewRugby luminaries of a former day;; credit-would willingly havo been handed out to'their successors; the niyth that ■ tho terrific, charging forwards of yesterday have no worthy brethren on tho field to-day • could never be Tepeated again, and tho delusion that we aro now <v race of ; ping-p6ngers would have been shattered beyond repair. . Athletic and ■ l'ctone deserve credit for giving tho public' a gamo, which Time,- will havo difficulty ia. effacing froni tho memories of the thousands : :who. saw it..', Who can forget the ; magnificent Petono attack which Athletic;withstood for the greater, part of the' afternoonP.Wlio can imagine: a finer or. a';.fie'rcei<defence than that'; ■- with which AthletiC'ihet the onslaught? It wa's a terrific game, and tho only pity is that Potone, .who had a little the better of tho fray, did not. gain tho victory. •'.'' ■ ■ ' ".'•" "".-'." / The Ranfuriy Shield, : ' Tho Taranaki .'Union has suggested to tho 'Auckland Union that September 17 should bo iftie' date for the Auckland- ■ Taranaki/niatch.f6'r''tlio Ranfuriy Shield at New";(Piy.m'outh';.'.Tho Auckland. Union considers,;;the; :;dato.too late .in -tho season,-and.has-asked tho southern province to suggest'an'earlier date. Respecting this,'difficultyabout a date, tho Auckland, ."Herald"; : says:—•"•There is just a possibility that tho Auckland team will*- hot- go south this year in quest of the "Ranfuriy Shield; at least,; such seems to be tho case if Taranaki does not suggest a suitable date, for the match. The. date put if onvard b} 1 ; Taranaki is September 17, but this is clearly too late for Auokkind/as winter locally is.,considered'shorter than it is in the south. It 'is to bo hoped that Taranaki will .see its.w-ay-to-sugest an earlier date." One might not unreason--ably; gather from": this -vthat' Auckland: feel entitled to have- things rather much. ■ their own way. To .suggest that August' is too late in the soason is absurd, and '" cvenjjf a date, rather later than accept- • able;was suggested, the northerners y should realise.. that August is. by--.no means' "top early for Taranaki. ■/- Auckaction' s-esms,; to say the ■ least, inconsiderate.. .-,, i ' ' ':

New; 'Zealand ; - Half-backs. "There appears to bo a dearth of good half-backs in the Dominion at present," ■ writes "l!'ull-Back" in the Otago "Witness." . '".'■„■'■■■:.' Td this optimist someone might whisper the names-of E; :Eoberts (Wellington), H.Niihn'(Wellington), C. Brown (i'aranaki), and iloss (Auckland). ". Ho might be reminded, too, that of. J. Coleman, the Taranaki all-rounder, is 'playing again "and if in form Could make some'of the'heros of yesterday fear for the safety of their reputations. J. Tilyard, the Wellington representative- five-eighths, isa still a hrst-class half-back. And there is Kki, who before his injury, was excellent behind the Bcrum. Before C. Green left Wellington .;ho was a very fine half, and he is said'., by his West Coast friends to. be still in his old form. Thero ar.e sure to ;ibe other good halves whom iveliavo not had, the good, fortune to see in Wellington, so the position is really'the reverse of 'Tull-back's" statement, Tha Projected Expedition. , l ' Australiari supporters of the Igame are, taking things very seriously in view i of the coming-invasion of New Zealand-: ors.', Thus the Sydney "Sun":— <\ "It is likely that the Australian team 1 /to meet the; New Zealanders will he .made up mainly of Now South Wales players. This circumstance will add to the chances of defeating the invaders. It .T/ill.mean-that the majority of l the team will be able to anticipate one an- • other's play —a. big factor in securing |, victory. . N6vcrtholess, this is' not enough. Tho living-together notion 'should be.followcd again. Good results j followed it on the two occasions .when f it was tried. _ It prevents the possibil- ' jity of going into -battle without' knowFang'.precisely, what you propose to A do. [[Disciplined troops can achicvo- results not possiblo to twice the number of Taw irccruits. .-.' .. ■ "It .is- a certainty that if-the New. ■ Zealanders aro to bo beaten more attention will have to bo paid to defence Tho Sydney grade competitions and tho I first rep. match of tho season disclose that there aro too many holes in the teams. Wo cannot hope to succeed against a formidable combination like j the Now Zoalanders by attack alone. Thoro appears to bo nothing wrong with attack, at all, but it cannot stand by itself. The selectors no doubt aro quite alive to the situation, and their aim will bo to select players who will not ho afraid to 'dive' when the necessity arises. That it will arise is as certain, as'the fact that the sun will riso in the, morning." Sermon by "Off-side Mac." "Offrsido llac," the well-known ox- ~ Now/ Zealand player; and ;critic, writing in the' "Sydney Daily Telegraph," gives' tho following interesting notes- and hints.:'! It''-is noticeable tlntt the formation,of scrums in the senior grade games is not what it ought to be. A scrum should always pack parallel with the touch-line, so tlntt the ball may go in as fairly and squarely as possible. But tlio/serums -in, recent gamesian? wheeled and sere-wed anyhow before the ball goes'iii, with.tlie : result that merit, does not .aLway.-Cgoveru possession. One can qiiiiejuiiderstantl' referees wishing to iiiakV-tho game .as fast as possible, but it. appears'that'they would do no harm if they adopted; a strong attitude and Tefus/cd to allow the ball to go into tho ecrurn unless it was packed as it should bo. ■ Ifrthis;'■• were done, the rcfeittes W(iiil(l.hot'"h:i\ i 'u to'.put the hall in them»plvcs,",s'o often. It is u cardinal principle, 'of the game that referees should take part in the-play as little as pos-ci-ble'; The.player;; cannot be blamed. It isonlv ■•natural to find that if any 'latitude' 'is'.allowed thorn hy a referee they will; play, up to it.' It,is quite possible that some'of them, finding that the referee allows the ball to go in iirespec-

tive of the position of tho scrum—sometimes it is almost parallel with tho goal, instead of the touch-line—screw round accordingly before tho ball goes in, in order to gain an advantage in obtaining possession. , The Came In Auckland, In recent years several senior teams have dropped out of the/ Auckland arena. Grafton, Newton, and North Shore no longer contest the principal championship, and now Parnell, the club which produced Jervis, Murray, Elliott, and many other fine players, has asked that the resignation of its sonior fifteen should be accepted. Some of tho 'members of the team have been transferred to other clubs. the season commenced Parnell has lost no fewer than six backs, and tho' club is charged with tho fatal fault of not having kept the lower grades provided with players who could, when needed, fill gaps in tho senior team... / will have only two senior matches every Saturday now that Parnell has disappeared from the contest. Passing Flashes. ."Bunny" Abbott, one of,the threequarters of the 1905 All-Black team, has gone-into active service again, after a good spell among the spectators. Ho ■is'' playing in Taranaki for tho Clifton (Waitara) Club, and seems to be doing, .very well.Soma Aucklanders claim that Ross is the. finest half they have had in the uq'rth since the best days of Kiernan. ROss's play in Wellington last year was particularly good. English Rugby during the past few years has' . undergone a remarkable change. It is a change (says an English writer)'that has caused it to shed slackness and indifference: the change set in after tho visit of that astonishing side from New Zealand under Gallalier, and now I mako bold to say that wo play Rugby as well as, if not better than, ever. It ia faster, more enterprising,'more venturesome, more original. There are'moTo ideas in it, I think; ideas perhaps' not all for good, but ideas-that at least'smack of greater subtlety; indubitably ideas that havo cautured the people; England's champion back in tho sea-, son just concluded is said to be the Cambridge Blue, D: T. De Villiers, of 'South Africa, who played against tho last English:team in Cape Colony, and followed it up by gaining further representative when he reached the Old De Villiers is described as the three-quarter to-day in Great'-Britain. It'woulrljappear that tho Rugby gamo is going "toTsecuro a hold in Fiji (say's an Aucklalb^;. paper). A union has already there, and the secretary ha3?«jrittcn for 100 copies of the rules; of/-the;! game as-observed by the .Auckland' Union. The letter ac-companying-'the request states that the game is as yet iii its infancy in Fiji, but has every prospect of success.