RUGBY OF THE MOMENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 107, 27 July 1927, Page 7

RUGBY OF THE MOMENT

RANFURLY SHIELD DISPUTE AUCKLAND REPRESENTATIVES IN ACTION AN outstanding topic in Rugby circles has been Hawke’s ® a -7 s dramatic and perhaps ill-advised refusal to accept the decision of the New Zealand Rugby Union in connection with the Ranfury Shield, dispute. The form shown by Auckland representatives has been closely watched, in view oi pending arrangements.

T HE fact that the North Auckland pack romped over the Auckland lor wards for three-parts of last Saturday s game is not reassuring. The wm earne to Auckland by virtue of a three-quarter line immeasurably supto t,le opposition trinity. The vyhangarei three-quarters bore the stamp of the country. Matene, whose fame has been won as a forward, played in the key position of centre It is to be feared that the Auckland pack may let the side down when it meets teams which have good backs to support winning forwards. Finlayson Roves Finlayson was rover—and he roved. Essentially a packman, he would have been much more serviceable in the scrum, and Keene had the better of him on the day. Sheen played brilliantly at centre for the visitors, and the Hook-Sheen-Lucas combination kept the gnmdiggers thinking. Matene was too slow 7? ma i'k Sheen adequately, and the Rifles skipper profited from the weaknesses exposed. Had the dangerous Auckland three-quarters been better served by the insides, the game might have been a runaway, but Badeley and Berridge were too often reluctant to send the ball out, and when they were tackled in possession the Northern forwards rallied round to carry on.

All Turn Out The manager of the team for Whangarei had that rare satisfaction, the joy of taking a full team away. There was none of the usual last-minute defections, and no emergencies, as it happened, were required. trippers realised what strenuous travelling really meant. Arriving at Whangarei at 2 a.m. on Saturday, they left again the same evening, and reached Auckland at 3.30 a.m. on Sunday. Fortunately the Rugby Union had thoughtfully arranged for taxis to meet the train, and the gratified players were motored to their homes.

Ponsonby and Grammar C. Badeley is likely to be an absentee when Grammar meets Ponsonby in the final club match next Saturday He IS travelling in the North, and may not be able to return for the match. Grammar is anxious to field a good team for the occasion, as the first round match was a desperately close game, with the luck rather going Ponsonby’s way. Like University, Grammar has relied through the season on a fine fighting pack, which is likely to keep the Ponsonby pack busy in Saturday’s encounter.

Varsity and Training College Hager to reach second place, if possible, Varsity had wanted to make next Saturday’s game with Training College serve for both first and second rounds. The first round match, it will be remembered, was postponed, with the consent of Varsity, because holidays had thinned the Training College ranks. Still, Training College is keen to play the two matches separately, and will not agree to make Saturday’s result serve for both games. Later in the season each time will be depleted through the call made by representative teams.

Club Interest Fades After next Saturday club interest fades away, with the result that players not chosen for representative teams will get only spasmodic football. It is one of the worst features of New Zealand Rugby that representative football is so exalted that club players of average merit conclude their season by the end of July, whereas they should have at least another six weeks of Rugby in view. The remedy, of course, is not easy to discover. Without representative matches, and the gates they command, such refinements as hot showers could not be provided. But the social side in New Zealand football should be encouraged, so that more friendly matches could be arranged.

Various Encounters A friendly match of the type that should be encouraged was played this afternoon between a Tramways team and a scratch side composed of senior players. Another match scheduled for to-day was the King’s College-Wanganui Collegiate School game. Last year, at

Wanganui, the home team won rather easily. This afternoon, also, Hawke's Bay was meeting Taranaki. The uncertain state of the Ranfurly Shield arrangements had rather robbed the match of interest. Neither team could be at full strength, owing to the decision that no more of the Maori team can be released until their tour is over. Way Clear “There are no previous commitments,” say the “Athletic News,” London, “to stand in the way of a visit to New Zealand by a British team in 1929. “After the trip to the Argentine this summer comes the visit of New South Wales.

“The South Africans are due in this country before another team is dispatched there.

“An instance of the seriousness with which the New Zealanders take these tours is shown by the announcement that six trial games are to be held in New Zealand this coming season in order to discover the best men to send to South Africa in 1928.”

Back a Year “The New Zealanders,” says the same paper, “want a British team to visit them in 1929, and not in the following year as suggested. “The cabled report to this country notifying the proposed change of plan gave no reason for the alteration, but it is stated that the New Zealand Rugby Union has decided to send a pressing invitation to the Home counties.

“Whether the new date will be acceptable to Britain cannot be known until the next meeting of the International Foard.”

A Queer Situation While the Ranfurly Shield dispute at present bears many comical aspects, the situation is not without its unpleasant features. The New Zealand Rugby Union’s record in handling disputes of such delicacy does not suggest that it is capable of reaching a satisfactory settlement in the present instance. Mr. S. S. Dean, the chairman of the union, has yet to prove that lie is a heaven-sent administrator, and it looks as though he has led his blundering followers into another deadlock that may be disastrous for the game. One can hardly commend the Hawke’s Bay Union’s attitude—it appears to be losing its sense of proportion—but there may be more than a tinge of justice in its feeling that a policy akin to persecution has been pursued by the Wellington executives, who have never been renowned for impartiality. Justice and Jealousy Hawke’s Bay’s attitude suggests that it places a good deal more value on the shield than on the principles of abstract justice. It would have been better advised to surrender the shield, and leave its case to be judged by the football public, with the following points to be considered: (1) Plawke’s Bay has still to meet a better team; (2) Wairarapa protested after an admittedly superior side had beaten its team, and after its officials had agreed that Barclay should play. Meanwhile hysterical editorials continue to be penned, and doleful scribes assert that the national pastime is going rapidly to the dogs. What they fail to recognise is that the great majority of players—the club men, seniors, juniors, right down to the lowest grade—go on playing with as much keenness as ever. It is they who make the game. The Serious Side The only really serious possibility this critic can discern in the situation is the danger that Hawke’s Bay footballers may nourish and magnify their grievance until they decide to renounce the code. The contingency may seem remote —one certainly hopes that it is—but such things have occurred before. Here again the professional pessimist will say “Good!” and observe sententiously that such men are better out of the game. But the Wairarapa and Hawke’s Bay footballers, as a body, happen to be fine men, as well as fine players. Those territories have evolved the type of forward New Zealand wants for the South African tour—men who play Rugby because it is not a parlour game—and their defection from Rugby would be a disastrous blow to the Dominion’s Rugby pride.