THE SPORTING WORLD.

Hokitika Guardian, 20 April 1918, Page 4

THE SPORTIN G WORLD.

111 it V I'- . It is no secret that the question of nerves had a lof. to do with the quick win of Pat O’Keeffe when he met Bandsman Blake for the middle-weight championship last week. It was the night of tlie double air raid on London, and the crash of the falling bombs and our own anti-air raid barrage was a too vivid reminder of the Mons fighting for Blake, who could not get it out of his mind. lie was much upset, and had he followed his own feelings he would have left the National Sporting Club and made for his home. Under the circumstances, it was not surprising that O’Keeft'ej who was quite unaffected by the raid made short work of his rival. ’ RUGBY. x '

Very great interest centred in the Rngby international staged at Richmond on Saturday. The rival teams represented the New Zealand Field Artillery (with an unbeaten record) and a Public Schools Service side. During the season the New Zealand combination had scored over 500 points, as against their rivals 14, and with such a proud record it tvas generally expected that they would win on Saturday. The Service team was a line gathering of stars, but the drawback was in the fact that the men had not had many opportunities to play together. Under the eircum-

stances, the scratch team did very well to run the'All Blacks to two points, the failure to convert a try alone preventing them making a draw of it. Ths play was very equal during the first quarter of an hour, and it was somethiug of a surprise when the Public Schools scored a try. Before the interval, however, the New Zealander’S also got over, and, as the try was converted, they led by 5 points to 3at the interval. It was a fine struggle during the second half, but neither side again scored, though the Public Schools narrowly missed a penalty kick. So. ended a line match, with the All Blacks just on top.