RUGBY

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2211, 25 July 1914, Page 16

RUGBY

r .tAe tour of the all blacks. j So far tie "All Blacks" have iron j. their four matches in Austrrjia. Tlia . jn&t interesting nows we have yet re-, f ceiyfcd of tho team came to hand by i-W . mail this week. ■ j;-..--. |f; '■ ■ ■ ■ I Rusisy Coming Into Its Own. i ,I'iio Rugby Union seems to be com- , mg into its-own again, and the interI'. . ; est/ -awakened in the game by the visit ; ./ofgtjio New.;' Zealand team, arid their t opening match to-morrow, is quite re■f . nuiiiscent of old times, says H.-S. Tarj:' .•'» tho Sydney "Sun. "The New [. Zrfalajidors liavo been successful against I ' e Y&V country in the world on all occaBioris, excepting Wales, who have defe'atf once, and Australian combinai; itions,' who have four victories against I thein.- Thus'the contest between what i :may..iie described as the two champion i. 1 >ia,tidns is interesting in the extrenie; t,biro; [to-morrow's. match '.is important ; ,v. ' : fr<Jrrij,.another standpoint,-as New Zeai land",and. Australia aro tho ' two. riai-. y 'tioni which give more thought to .the £-; . , y possibilities of Rugby than any other jccuntaies " ■■■ ' ■ - : = « fJewiiZealand v. Australian Scrum. ' • I, Contests between the 'Dominion and 1.; Commonwealth mean a clash of set' t 1 ' ideas;, as . .these two. nations are . .the ....... only,.ones with set formations in the ,. 1 scrum and set work for the backs. Oldi' - timers will be busy, to-morrow arguing i : formation against the eight; , .. Lut; vjt is doubtful if any convincing i >ijl;.];ake place other than that which : St-[present exists. That three men in :> slhfetSront.- will beat two for possession, : Jthft-;'. eight men will pds'h harder .and : stronger than seven, and that, 1 a well"rll}gd scrum will have-an easy pas.isagejfor the ball and'a clean heel is a I 'contention that is' held by all lattert; ". :'4a^tistifalkns.;.... However, the New, i Zealbnders will take some convincing. '■A4«nst -'the rest of tho world they y.<<successful, but.it must bo borne j; .v - jmlnd "fchat the rest of the world play I-tWjfirrt . U P an d first ..down' formation, I * n ft- $¥>.' higgledy-piggledy scrum of eight' :is mseless against the;'set formation of ' V or ( ? vcn .However, the All i Blacks during their last three visits to . fcydney have met very strenuous com- ; . Poffion iir,the., eight- sornm, so ;much quite'on thocards that -. j "\\ould have had to .change..their s ) ''•{? 1 ®^ IOI >'' 3 Mhose. - toii r s /Md- been exi ' iemJed for-, another, few matches." |t" ; 'i-; After the 'Fray. ■ S# above was, what Mr. Target-fc had ; J?*??,? ® a ™ !0 even of . battle. - After K V 'V.®^-:^ c , a ' an d had vanquished New South•"ales by 2, to 6, ho wrotei v ; . . : 'rthe, .'game as a whole, it WP appear that tho New Zealimders' pla£|the g9m K ;by;in. s tinct; Although 1 ' - ' .had . little j opportunity to pJaKl;together. combina- }•.••• th»'-All Blacks played like amarine; Whenever a ball was passed j' thor® was someone -there to talco it. No opijortnnity'-ti* score- was' lost. When ths-f stornjed, t-lje. Blues', goal-line' they r lilayed moro'coolly"than if in neutral :I" fsimilar, circumstances the .Blues allowed chances' to escape by rea--'><>«orerjagAHeSd.r And' fh defence Zealanders went.'about their .. worljin a quiet but undeniably effective - , fasntpn. In the second half the defence Blue backs as a whole was poor . ■ , In |sfeg,ts>j.fc. : .was,good,- .but. 'the "three-: I f(ua'rt'ei'. : lni6"failed- bh l dly l, iri' thi's depart-' I-..-' nwnt. on many occasions. -When, too, |=» '™^^JCasJpoked-.from./the-'NewvZea-' , . was not got.- oufc to t-he j (-..backs'W^v«iptigli; r -.witli the result. ; Opinlomi:' i : match-,' t has .physical strain like the with titem' : j ; ; lie s |tj[^tadi;^^any«feain. lt t i- ". traini- edturn to " .P'ay^^ r w^sthQ;t^d;ybu''can , t take a )• 1 • ,are. not | ■ so. qiii^^igii§p'' > There 3s .'an tindfer >which capi ■ . tains ; agree to play four -soells iiir Btead of pi'i'o. Tliat, should bo done i.- |.wlieneyer''there is >any wind', at all. h' |.Ot/herwise the T3sult of tho.match.det". ipeiids ; iipon -fclie spin of a coin. lam v fassjiming, of cotii-so, .that the/tennis •arojfairly. equal; When teams are equal ;. ithei! sides..that'Jwin's "tlio toss" arid has [-' .'UTnd,. w r ill -bo vie-' ; I've'seen; this hap-' >penr,time--and'-agalinv: ; ' Saturday's game -, 'f.was a gpod ; ono r in tbo first half; : but ouii at 'half-time, i ,thoy had putnip' fi great fight, against a. iloTverfiiji combination plus 'a strong breeze. . I, forgone, .was not surprised 'that they, were'unable to r maintain that j ' Jform." . _ .... ..

The Smashing Black Forwards. " ~ . .. .-(Hie "Daily Telegraph" Bays:—"The liatsje began.with a. stubborn struggle Ney ..Zealand liad.the advantage of aJ ■high wind, but. encountered such Btubfoorn forwards that at the end of tlie ■' .flialf they led at half-time only by a jhard-wonsLi. points—having scored two. tries and a penalty- goal to ono try. by jWew; South' Wales. ' But the Ne'wZea- ; land pack smashed oh. ,In the ruck Vthej-,packed and drpvo:ahead like demons, and as time wore on the Now ; gouih.Wales, eight, receiving little 'assistance from a breezo that was now fitful,? .was gradually pulverised into submission, till at the finish, though-still battling grimly, they were being pushed . jibput by 'thb' seven pack which in ttte >pen. ; was galloping where, tho Blues ■poiijd do little -'moro'thaii- crawl. . For half the game tho contest: kept tho ■15,000'.spectators agog 'with interest.! It was a. great struggle, and both sides played good Itugby. But in the second : term, though- tho scores do not really indicate-, ..of ■ .the > game,, the 'NewZealanderS were very much in first- 40 minutes . jigafnst the wind had been too gruellingi,jfor New South' Wales. . . Ar|hur|^llson ; in^he i Limelight.. , .. . the.; New Ze'a- ; land forwards improved as" the game proceeded. Their, quick following up in tho:"second spell'gained more- than half the?points notched,by the Ride. Wilson ;—tfie 1910 V 'All;, Blacks'— ■ffill:;- pfom'iriently in this year's tour!' Downing, the 'successor of feediing. flnd is the .type of big, freMmovihg' forward that the Dominion neV'er fails to- stehd across the. Tasman. Irvine's worth'.ini.the "forwards'.'cannot ho liightly estimated. His lock work' m : saved it repeatedly. on iiaiiy occ'a.sionjiwheii the'.Blues gained possession? Ins'wonderful 'heave', arid control of his scrummages nullified all i'l(6ks to get %> ball hack to the lialfjwclts. Cuilningliam; New ' Zeakud , s greatest this position—easily th(i ; most important place in tho seven had better control' than , Irvine did oh Saturday. Bruco and M'Nceco are'characteristic New Zea-JanfiorsT'liig-and , speedy. ' The 'hookers' arernot as-goodv.ae.formerly., and on »iiexi' A.u"straliS should obtain ■[possession much pftener than in the inafch under review. .... At_ the Eanta tixnei'iioth-Cain find Francis did

tlieir othor-.work Well,: but\iri hooking they were fortunate in having such an aWo, and. solid ecrum beliind';them:"

E.RoUerts's Brilliancy,

The "Sydney Herald" observes: ' "i'he feature of tho game was the splendid exhibition of half-back play given by 13. Roberts. It was left to tho New South Wales public and critics to discover the brilliant Cutliiil,and though they cannot claim .to havo discovered Roberts, there were not a few who wanted to know what the New Zealand selectors were' dreaming of that it was only .because another marij Green, dropped out,' that the wonderful Roberts , was ■ included). . RD'betrts, on Saturday, J did some remarkable .things. Playing behind a pack frequently beaten .for the ball in the first half, he was •magnificent'in'defence; but, when his •forwards were serving him with tlio ball ' in the second term' 'all-hot, , he did things that left the opposition and tlie crowd : literally agape. As' a finder and maker.of openings, as an exponent of the cofkscrew, now-you've-got-me-now-you-haVen't brand of running, he was wonderful;- Green may be better than Roberts; but Roberts will do us. Lynch and others. "Other, ineii, among the New Zealand, backs, whom-'the. crowd had'a', lot-of time , for. were Black, Ryan,'Dick Roberts,: and: Lynch. The last-mentioned is :.-a,.young giant, >ith.the raking, unconquerable ■ stride' of a warhorse. Nobody, wanted -to:tackle', him low, and the high tackier .-recoiled; from collision with him as though-fronr an attempt to shoulder a- .tramcar;'off! its; track. Lynch, fortunately' Jot -Now South Wales, v did not' get too. many chances. .Ho gave us samples of his abilities; possibly it was as'well, that he was not called upon to display. , the'whole, of his goods. It might.'.have been calamitous for our Rugby' Tor. despite tho 27—6 licking, .the-New, South Wales.men'were not disgraced.'.'' New 'Zealand's,- points were made ;of eight,.tries , and. .a penalty goal.-..; Had there been anything: like consistency in their-' goal-kicking the score might have reached -43. But there isn'fr-any Wallace in the bunch.", A Sortie from the South. < Southland 'has challenged Taranaki for the Ranfurly Shield. The ' 'Southland News" says that "this is the best football year that Southland has known, ''and the touring team sent north should be the* , 'strongest that'has ever, represented the province. Never in any season within, our recollection have the selectors been confronted with such promising material., and never havo players had greater confidence in the men appointed'to select teams. Southland, for once, can put in the field an array of attacking backs that would do credit to any representative team in the Dominion.,:. .."; - - ■ . .'".'. Behind the Scenes. ■ ■• ! The southern Press has ventured more than one guess at what occurred behind the.scenes in Wellington when the New Zealand team was being selected. It' is reported .'that, a private letter which a southern writer received from ton ; states; <that it, is said' in football circle's '.'there"that a long debate took plsvcev when',tho New Zealand Selection Committee came to decide .-■ between Irtveridgo -and Cockroft for inclusion in tho New /Zealand team,, ; the,, two North Island'/selectors—Messrs.* Gallal\or and Lynskey—sticking out for Lb.veridge, and tiio'. South Island selectorsMessrs. 'Wilson and Harris—for Cockroft. Thes' c'orrespondeiit" also stated that if the two latter had stood firmly to their gunsj Cockroft'must have been ;SClect^i,:,;.bvvt2tliat<, the7'':(Mterbufy : ' selector.'weakened.. Mr. Harris, on being asked if the facts contained in-tho letter'were r "correct, Refused to say ■'Yes",or "Nq." /,'...- ■ It would: have .'been extraordinary if Mr. Harris \ had answered'the query, but the answer might havo caused a slump'in .the;shares' bf some prophets. Aviation'arid Try-getting. ' \-' Beni Fuller, jun., the'eleven-year-old son of Mr. Ben. J. Fuller, broke his arm ■'while, playing football in Sydney a little while ago. - It appears he had--the.-leather, tucked under his wing, and was_ off for a-'try,, when Guillaux, the avaitor, suddenly-appeared. in Mr. Lebbeus Horden's sea-piano. Young Ben wanted to do two things at once, see the aviator and: score the try, so he raced on, staring skywards, tillcrash! he collided with one of the goalsuch force that his left arm was broken above'the elbow. Still (n the Limelight. The following is from an exchange:— "W. Ouhninghami the veteran Auckland All-Black, is still playing the gamoj assisting ' Ponsonby the other day to play a draw with City in the-inatch between tliose ~:twb'. teams.'. Although . carrying-ya' lot of superfluous avoirdupois, ho can still play a good game. The only other members of tho famous AllBlacks : still playing are A. M'Donald and S.-Casey-(iri Duncdin), aud K Booth (in Sydney).