Rugby Football.

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 57, 3 August 1901, Page 20

Rugby Football.

THE game between the A and JB teams was not remarkable for any particular brilliancy, neither side seeming to trouble themselves much whether they won or lost. The result — A s 15 (five tries) to B's 3 (one try)— is not altogether a fair criterion of the play. So far as the opportunities for scoring went the points should have been about even. The game was principally confined to the forwards, the backs on both sides being unable to hold the greasy ball, and comparatively little passing was indulged in. A notable feature of the match was the non-success of the goal kickers — Hales, Wood, Wallace, and Callender all making unsuccessful attempts. The spectators seemed to enter into the spirit of the match, and anything ludicrous in the play was applauded to the echo. From the half-hearted, manner in which the game was played, it behoves the Selection Committee to devise some other means of giving the representative team a trial. In my opinion, it would have been better had a possible and probable match been played, and then the travelling team picked from it. As it was — taking Saturday's match as an instance^— the representatives were Mire of their places, and their opponents reckoned it was no use tryina; to upset the Committee's selection, and the result was, in a sense, a fiasco. Had each man been playing for his cap, a very different game would have been witnessed. The play at times was not worthy of the name of football, and such a state of things is to be deprecated. • ♦ ♦ Hales gave a very fair exhibition at full-back. He collared in good style, and, with one or two exceptions, his kicking was quite up to club form. Wallace was not so brilliant as on the previous Saturday, but he put in a lot of work. How well he and Wood fit each other. They act just like machinery. Slattery's display gave evidence that he is overcoming the nervousness that attended his first representative match, and fully justified his inclusion. He kicked well, and what few chances he had were fully taken advantage of. Mclntyre was not altogether a success. In the second half, Row and he changed places, and the change for both proved beneficial. Wood was too well watched to become very offensive, but he was sounder in defence than previously. "Morry" had gieat difficulty m retaining the ball on Saturday, and on the Southern tour I would recommend him to lay in a stock of glue. Meredith played his usual good defensive game, but' spoilt his display by trying to score himself once or twice when he ought to have passed out. He should remedy this, as his play in the Wairarapa match was marred in the same way. Kelly was responsible for a lot of the dribbling rushes that were so deadly, and his play was at times brilliant. Kelly seems to correctly fill the bill on the wing-forward, and that position also gives him the opportunity of originating several passing rushes. O'Bnen and McAnally were the pick of the vanguard, but there was not sufficient individual brilliancy to mention any particular one or two. Callender was not at home on the slippery ground. He has a bad failing ot waiting for the ball to bounce, instead of going to meet it and taking it on the full, and this got him into several hot corners This should be remedied. His finding the touch-line was his strong point. Midlane had very little to do, likewise Row, in the first spell, but they pei formed as well as could be expected. Braid put in a lot of good defensive work, and was the only one of the threequarters to at all justify his selection. His screw-punting was very effective, and his all-round display was a ieally creditable one. Freddy Roberts, at half, was a revelation to the spectators. Ho took the ball well, and his defence was sound. Time after time he beat Wood badly, and, had his efforts been backed up by McKenzie, a different complexion would have been put on the game. He stopped several very dangerous rushes, and his collaring was very deadly. Altogether his exhibition was first-class. What prompted the Selection Committee to put McKenzie five-eighths was the question often asked on Saturday. Time after time he funked badly, and

would have done more good to his side had he remained in the grandstand. And, no doubt, this was the cause of the threequarter line not showing up as they should have done. Of the forwards, McTigue, Brunsden Sweeney, and Skilton. were always in the van, and they were equally as good as some of those who have secured their caps. • • • My ocnfrere ''Touch" is being severely handled by the football scribes in the Wairarapa — his "beggarly combination of two clubs" being the main cause of the severe criticisms. It is just as well, though, when one writer comments on another that the truth should be adhered to as near as possible. "Diogenes" is the writer I am referring to now. He says the Wellington representative team is chosen from two or three hundred players. Simple arithmetic would tell him that seven teams of fifteen players can only total 105 players, and',l2o would allow for another fifteen as emergencies. I do not wish to detract from "Diogenes'" main argument, and that ''s--the great team put in the field by Wairarapa considering that the range of selection is limited to two clubs. The country union is to be congratulated on its team, but still it is just as well not to make the comparison too strong by exaggerating the field of selection for the Wellington team. « • * I thought of picking a New Zealand team this week, but will postpone it till I see the Southern teams at work. Taranaki must be decidedly weak this season, tor even its own papers crowd the football news on to the back pages. Auckland scribes are growling- — George Smith cannot travel, Alex. Wilwm and H. Wilson are doubtful if they can make the trip, and so on — so that the Northern city's team can be labelled easily "weaker than usual." Hawke's Bay is always a doubtful quantity, Wanganui I have never seen piay, and with these thoughts travelling through my head, my impression is that Wellington, Auckland, and Wairarapa will supply all the North Island players in the New ZeaLand team. By the way, exchanges that reach me contain very little Taranaki football, so a line or two from some enthusiast in that part of the country would be esteemed. • » • The writer in the Wairarapa "Leader" cou.d not have enjoyed his trip to Wellington with the representative team. He must have expected great entertainment at the hands of the Wellington Union, but surely he must have i been in the back country for a long while, or he would know that the days of the "glorious drunk" are over and done with — it is the rule now among the larger unions, at any rate, to make the entertainment as light as possible. The reference to the gentleman who presided over the extempore gathering only serves to show that some football scribes would be doing the game more good if they handed their pencils over to others with keener senses of good manners. This writer complains that the Wellington Union, in order to get a bigger gate, kept the Wairarapa team in town from Saturday afternoon till Monday morning, and paid their expenses for that period. Surely there is nothing unfair or underhand about that? Then he goes on to say : — "But the Wellington Union always decline to return the compliment when they send their representatives up to the country — their team must invariably get back to town on the Saturday night." This is a fair complaint, but is my country friend sincere — or is it he wants something to "squeak" about, as the boys say? It cost the Wellington Union just on £9 to enable them to commence the Wairarapa match at 3 o'clock. Would the increased gate takings in Carterton, if a similar arrangement was followed there, cover the expense to the country union ? My experience of country football—and it is fairly extensive — convinces me that the time when the match starts is a very secondary consideration. If the people want to see the game they'll turn out if it is played in the morning. And nine pounds means something like two hundred people, and that number extra would take a lot of finding in a country town. This growl has been heard before from the Wairarapa, but, while their players have aU the best of the existing arrangements, they should leave well alone. The majority of the players, from the country would stay in town till the Monday in any case at their own expense, so that as long as the local union pays their way for them they are satisfied, and, considering they have always to put their ''mite" towards the expenses of the tour, this little perquisite they should be allowed to enjoy in peace. • • • A pla3er named Kirk, captain of the Kaite football team, Gisborne. has died as the result of a collision with a fel-low-player during the progress of a game on the 20th ult.

The decision of the delegates of the Rugby Union on Tuesday night is to be commended, in that an endeavour is being made to place the onus of the default of the Melrose Club, and the subsequent defiance, of the Management Committee, where it rightly belongs. What is the history of the trouble, as told by the Melrose delegates, Mr. Grant as the leading counsel p The membeis of the first fifteen — or a majority or them — met in the Gymnasium on Thursday, the 11th July, and decided to make default to the Wellington Club on the succeeding Saturday, some of the team being willing to play, but the majority were of the contrary opinion. The same informal gathering decided to advertise their intention to default, and instructed the club secretary to write the letter which appeared over his signature in the "Evening Post," on the 15th July. The probable consequences of his action did not occur to the secretary, for he did not trouble to call his club committee together before taking action, but went straight, ahead. After the letter appeared, the Management Committee of the Rugby Union wanted to know if it could consider the letter as an official document, emanating from the executive of the Melrose Club. After some delay, caused principally through the trouble the secretary had in getting his committee together, Messrs. Grant and Sievers attended the last meeting of the Management Committee, and stated the committee of the club had endorsed the action of the secretary and the first fifteen. That being so. the motion carried that an apology be requested from the members of the team and the executive of the club was a correct one. Those members of the team who considered an injustice had been done them collectively by the Management Committee will, ot course, not tender an apology to the Union, while those who were not party to the defaulting will only be too eager to show the stand they took in the matter in the councils of the club, and will make the "amende honorable." The Management Committee and the delegates have shown that the best interests of our national game can only be furthered by a firm rein being kept on those who play in their matches, and that, for the sake of good government, any turbulent spirits must be kept m check. The Melrose Club have been placed in a very undignified position, and it is to be hoped that in the future the lesson learnt will not be forgotten by those who have the control of the club's affairs.

A paragraph in the report of the last meeting of the New Zealand Union may perhaps be worrying football enthusiasts. "That the Committee, having considered the appeal of Messrs. Wngley and Marsh against their disqualification by the Wairarapa Rugby upholds the appeal on the ground that the Wairarapa Union accepted the undertaking of the Masterton Football Club to pay the amount in question. Last season Wrigley and Marsh were members of the Wairarapa team that toured to Canterbury, the members ot which team were expected to pay a certain amount each towards the expenses. Wrigley and Marsh, on being selected, notified the Union that they could not pay their share of the expenses, and desired to be left out of the team. The Masterton Club, of which they were members, however, informed the Union that they would guarantee the expenses of the two players, and accordingly they travelled with the team. This season both these players came to Wellington, and they were posted as defaulters by the Wairarapa Union the Masterton Club not having fulfilled their agreement. The peculiar position is that the expenses of the tour had to be paid by the players while travelling, with the result that it cost the remaining members of the team more than it should have done to make the trip, lhe conclusion of the Management Committee' of the New Zealand Union is, in my opinion, the correct one, and the Masterton Club should, at the earliest opportunity, redeem its promise by paying the amounts they made themselves responsible for. ♦ • * A suggestion has been made that the Wellington team to play Ne\v Zealaad on the 28th August should embrace the pick of the Wairarapa players* not in the New Zealand team. It is a good one and, if given effect to, i\ould undoubtedly add a deal of inteiest to the game. The team to represent Wellington against Otago, Southland, and Canterbury left on its tour yesterday afternoon, with Mr. N. Galbiaith in charge as manager. The nineteen players are the best men available, and the Wellington Union are fortunate in having been able to get such a first-class representation away, and my opinion is, considering the form that has already been displayed this season, the three matches should bo added to the list of wins insoribed on the banner.

George Stephenson, the ex-Otago representative, in discussing Mr. Jas. Hutchison's abilities as a critic, said — "Why, he is. that near-sighted he cannot distinguish well-known players on the field." He is now a member of the New Zealand Selection. Committee. The pictures on page lo are reproduced from photographs taken by Mr. E. J. Halford, photographer, Mannersstreet, and are good likenesses of the players who took part in the match. Mr. Halford has a number of the original photographs mounted, and will be pleased to supply them to any who may want them. They tell me there is yet another McKenzie in 'the "Long Me" family. This one is the youngest in the batch, and is the long fellow's pet. He captains a Thursday team in Carterton, and has all the genius of a Baden Powell in strategy. Shortly he will burst out in the full glory of a developed footballer, and when he does, great things are expected of him. A Bush paper, describing its representative full-back, says of him — "The bigger the opponent the better the collar." The writer must be a bit of a humourist. Surely, the Wairarapa team was big enough for the full-back to make a start on, yet the collaring was of such a character that 33 points were registered against his team. To my idea smaller men would have suited him better. Commenting on Mr. Hutchison's appointment to the New Zealand Selection Committee, an old friend in the Wairarapa "Leader" says — "The honour is given as a sop to the recalcitrant Highlander, who, when looking through his spectacles, magnified by prejudice, can only see Otago with Duncan in the foreground. . . . Either Garrard or Evans w ould have been infinitely preferable to Mr. J. Hutchison." The programme of the Southern tour of the Wellington representative team is as follows — Leave Wellington Thursday, August Ist, by the Monowai, at 4 p.m. ; play Canterbury, at Christchurch, August 3rd : leave Christchurch for Invercargill on the sth ; play Southland on the 7th. Return fiom Invercargill to Dunedin on the Bth, playing Otago on the 10th. I have obtained leave to accompany the team, and will supply a budget of notes on each game. There must be a lot of humour on the Management Committee of the New Zealand Rugby Union, though one would hardly think so by looking at the countenances of the gentlemen who compose that body. Fred Murray notified them, at their last meeting, that he could not attend in Wellington to assist in selecting the New Zealand team, and they appointed Alf. Bayley in his place. This decision should cause a shock through the football world of the colony greater than the appointment of Mr Hutchison did. I read the other day that Mr. Bayley had resumed playing, and, if it had not been for that notification, his name would probably still be amongst those of the other forgotten lights. Names run through one's head of many "have-beens" who would have been more palatable than Mr. Bayley, but suffice it to say the latest appointment of the Management Committee is not a good one. The Sydney "Sunday Times" thus sums up the last New South WalesQueensland match, played on 20th July — -"A great hard game, it was marked by hard tackling. The Queenslanders were full of life and dash, and played with great heart. They lost, but, on the play might easily have won. All the New South Wales forwards were solid, and they played with grim determination. The Queensland forwards at times excelled in the pack, but, taken all round, there was but little between the two forward divisions, and that little favoured New South Wales. The Queensland backs attacked in neater and sounder style, but they were mot so sure in defence. Einley, the New South Wales scrum half, deserves a special word of praise in a game where every man played hard and well."