Rugby Snapshots

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 95, 13 July 1927, Page 7

Rugby Snapshots

Where Were the Maori Stars? Episodes of Shield Battle RUGBY followers—and their name is legion—had a lot to talk about last Saturday night. The form of the Maori team seen in action at Eden Park was disappointing, principally on account of the incomplete nature of the team. Those missing happened to be the leading lights, whose presence would have lifted the team from the commonplace.

time the Auckland Rugby

Union accepts an engagement with a Maori team, it should ask the New Zealand Rugby Union for a definite guarantee that the tourists will arrive at full strength. - Mr. A. Takarangi, the manager of the team, was given food for thought when only ten of his team answered roll-call on Saturday morning. He did his best, and had been wise enough to arrange, beforehand for Wanoa, Turei and Co., to answer emergency calls. But the fiasco was really out of his hands. Bay’s Commandeer Hawke’s Bay could not really be blamed for retaining the two Gemmells and Wilson, but Barclay does not appear to have played a club game in the province, so in his case the commandeer seems high-handed. Falwasser did not join the team until Monday, and -in his absence the remaining backs were mostly nonentities, though fair enough performers. Had Auckland not possessed an unusually large number of gifted native players this year, then the team would have had to be stiffened by a strong pakeha element. Club Games Resume Club games resume next Saturday, with the meeting of Grammar and Ponsonby. Last time they met, the luck was with Ponsonby. July 23 will be a blank day owing to the Soccer test, and after that the last of the senior grade matches will be played on July 30. These are sorry days for the club footballer. Every Saturday in August and September is booked for representative engagements. The only club fixtures are of an obscure character. * * * Senior B Table The following table sets out the positions of the senior B teams at the end of the first round, which was, with the exception of two games. Suburbs v. Waitemata, and Tramways v. Waitemata, completed on Saturday:—' Points. Oh.

Only four teams played and beat Takapuna prior to tlieir withdrawal from the competition, the remaining six being credited with a win by default. Waitemata and Suburbs and Waitemata and Tramways have yet to meet. The game against Tramways is m the nature of a replay, and the one against Suburbs a new game, Waitemata not having come into the competition until after the first playing Saturday. No Blows Struck The “Dominion’s” version of the sensational shield match incident: ’Tt was here that the two famous 1624 All Blacks, M. Brownlie (Hawke 4 Hay;, and Q. Donald (Wairarapat were ordered off the field by the referee. Donald came through a ruck and ran into the arms of Maurice Brownlie. No blows were struck, but tne pair certainly glared at each other. The referee, no doubt deeming that the game would get out of hand if lie did not firmly maintain control, made a motion of dismissal to both players and the two All Blacks, who had stood shoulder to shoulder on many a hardfought field in Britain and France in 1924, had to make their way -to the side-line. „ Celebrities Humiliated Confirming, as it Joes, THE reporter’s announcement that neither of the hapless twain was guilty of vicious practice, the above account suggests that both Brownlie and Donald are entitled to some degree ot sympathy. Off the field they are firm friends, and it may be inferred tna. they were made the scapegoats lor all the hostility shown during the match. Neither plays parlour football— W. Donald exchanged civilities with fewatn in the match on June S—but neither has ever been accused of bad sportsmanship. and it is unfortunate that men of international tame should need to be so humiliated. Fellow Sheepfarmers Both, it is interesting to note, are sheepfarmers, the one in Hav.’ke s the other in the Wairarapa, and boui are men of some prominence in local public, affairs. Donald is an old boy of Wellington College, and Brownlie was educated at St. Patrick s College. The most unfortunate feature of Saturday’s incident is that it may mean the retirement of both from Rugby a regrettable complication in view of New Zealand’s dire need of such forwards for the South African tour next year. Another Sensation The commencement of the second spell provided another sensation. J. Blake was tackled at half-way, after a thrilling run. by J. Donald, and the crowd on the line voiced undisguised ire at something that happened when the Bay centre was laid out. One of the spectators rushed up to Donald in a threatening attitude and ethers went on to the playing field, two constables having to exercise summary jurisdiction to take the excited ones off the field and allow play to proceed. The Gemmell Trio Something like 15,000 people saw representatives of the Gemmell family. of Wairoa, in action

last Saturday. S. and J. Gemmell w ere helping Hawke’s Bay along, and Peter w a s playing at Eden Park. When the New Zealand U nion wired Peter, inviting him to join the Maori team, he was the only one left on me farm. But the father of the three

fine forwards is a sportsman all the way, and insisted that his only iemaining helper should accept, while he had the chance. Fiji Team’s Defection Not even when Ponsonby won out, after time was actuallv up in the game with Varsity, did the students suffer such a jolt as they •'xperieneed when a cable last Friday announced that the Fiji team was not coming.

The tour would have been good for the game in the Island?, but an error was made in not malting the arrangements cover the other groups, Samoa and Tonga, which play Rugby with enthusiasm. The next move is with the New Zealand Rugby Union, which should invite a Pacific Islands team to the Dominion. * * • Potted Pars Cyril Brownlie was the best forward on the ground at Masterton last Saturday. The Rev. Matene could not relinquish the responsibility of his northern parish to join the Maori team. But he played a great game at Dargaville against University. Two Rikas, whose brother is a member of the Maori team, played in the same match. One of them is refreshingly named. He was christened “Monday.” Cooke all but turned the trick for Wairarapa last Saturday. But one swallow does not make a summer.

Ireland's Custodian . H. Crawford, Ireland’s custodian, who played for Cardiff against Northampton, has had a particularly long international career. He has now reached the veteran stage, but the Irish Rugby Union has not yet succeeded in unearthing a probable successor, good fullbacks being exceptionally scarce in Ireland at present. If Crawford should fail, them for next season's internationals, the Irish selectors will probably experiment by playing a three-quarter at fullback. Crawford’s remarkable accuracy in flykicking—a dangerous procedure for a Rugby man—is a relic of the days when he played the Soccer code. About Players' Roach, the Gladstone and Wairarapa fullback, who scored the opening try for his side last Saturday, makes a habit of the practice. He has twice scored in club matches this season. Rugby men in this country will re- ?, rea , t . . to hear that Frank Mellish, English and South African international, and Blackheath player, so injured a knee in a recent game that it is doubtful if he will be able to play again in the present South African season. Tom ITeeney, the New Zealand boxer who went under to Paolino Uzcudun, the wood-chopper of the Pyrenees, formerly represented Wanganui and Poverty Bay at Rugby. Playing in Wanganui for the Kaierau Club,'he was a slashing forward, and is still remembered for his faculty of holding the hall, like an egg, in one hand, while he fended with the other. From Nippon A Japanese Rugby Union team sailed last Friday for Sydney, where it is expected to arrive early in August. It is to play three matches in Sydney and one in Newcastle. It was explained to the Japanese that as the star players of New South Wales would be on their way to England, the tour would not prove a financial success. The Japanese, however, have decided to accept the risk, and will hear the expenses of the trip themselves. Hawke's Bay’s Goat Brought from Napier, Hawke’s Bay’s mascot for the match last Saturday was a black-and-white goat, reminiscent of the black lamb taken on tour by the Canterbury representative team of 1923. On state occasions the lamb was bedecked with red ribbon. Last Saturday the Hawke’s Bay goat wandered on to the ground during play, causing the spectators to roar with laughter. Another amusing incident was the collapse of a shed, the roof of which was crammed with spectators. When Wairarapa took the lead, at 10-8, they stamped until the roof fell in. Brief Tenure Wairarapa had held the shield for one month and six days. The enthusiasm the win created in Hawke’s Bay is almost unbelievable. A crowd in the main street of Hastings followed the proceedings by wireless, and cheered to the echo when the win was assured. Three special trains, and numberless cars, took Bay supporters to Masterton. So great was the exodus that the Napier cabaret, band and all, transferred itself to Masterton for the Saturday night. The Camp Question The New Zealand Union has taken a long while to reach a decision concerning the training camp practice followed lately by Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa. The practice was started by the New Zealand Union itself in 1904. when J. W. Stead's team went into camp at Day’s Bay to prepare for the match against Bedell-Sievwright’s team, and was renewed in 1921, when the Springboks were here. In the case of Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa, many of the players are slieepfarmers, who can spare the time in the off-season, and the suspicion that professionalism is involved originates mostly in the minds of the imaginative. If the New Zealand Union suspects professionalism in any instance its duty at once is to investigate. and not indulge in idle generalities.

W. L. D. F. A. Pts. City 10 1 0 165 60 21 Ma'nukau 0 1 1 ISO 4o 19 Varsity B .... 6 2 3 118 120 14 Waitemata .... 6 1 - 78 50 1« Technical Old Boys 6 1 4 94 lo Marist Brothers ..5 2 4 o< Ellerslie 4 2 o »4 S2 10 Otahuhu i « 7 60 119 7 Tramways * 0 7 bO li» < Suburbs 2 2 6 ol <6 b Newton 2 1 S oU lib a