TOURING RUGBY TEAM

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 683, 7 June 1929, Page 7

TOURING RUGBY TEAM

NINE ENGLISH PLAYERS Press Association WELLINGTON, Thursday. Interesting information regarding the British Rugby team which is to visit New Zealand next season is contained in a letter to the New Zealand Rugby Union from Mr. Cecil Wray, the New Zealand Union’s representative in England. It is quite possible that as was the case with the side selected for South Africa in 1924, there will be a few changes, but if the great majority of the chosen players make the tour the home countries will be exceptionally well represented, says Mr. Wray. Every one of the 29 are internationals, and all except two, X. A. Sellars, one of the two fullbacks, and W. W. Wakefield, have been chosen this season. The team will leave England on the second Saturday in April, and is due back in the second week in October. "England is the chief contributor,” Mr. Wray explains, "with nine players—lv. A. Sellars and T. W. Brown (fullbacks), C. D. Aarnold and FI. L. Novis (threequarters) and H. Reid, C. D. A. Gummer, E. Coley, W. W. Wakefield and F. A. Martindale (forwards). Scotland and Ireland each have seven representatives. The Scottish contingent are W. M. Simmers, G. T. S. Macpherson and I. S. Smith (threequarters), J. Nelson and H. D. Greenlees (halfbacks), U. S. Macintosh and J. R. Paterson (forwards). Ireland will be represented by G. V. Stephenson and J. B. Gouly (threequarters), M. Sugden (halfback), and F. J. Cagney, G. R. Beamish, C. T. Payne and jVL J. Dunne (forwards). “Wales will contribute H. M. Bowcott (threequarter), M. C. Powell and FI. Williams (halfbacks) ,lvor Jones, D. Parker and T. Arthur (forwards).” Mr. S. S. Dean, chairman of the Management Committee of the New Zealand Rugby Union , said tonight that the team which Britain was sending next year would be easily the strongest which the Old Country had ever dispatched to this country. No previous British team had ever been composed of international players. The players, Mr. Dean pointed out,

had been selected conditionally upon their retaining their form. That the British selectors were in earnest about sending their strongest possible team to New Zealand was evident from the fact that they had advised no fewer than 90 players in the four Rugby countries that they were still in the running for places in the team for New Zealand. It will come as good news to followers of the game in New Zealand to learn that G. V. Stephenson, the famous Irish captain, is coming out with the team, as his name did not appear in the original selection. Stephenson is freely acknowledged in Great Britain to be the greatest three-quarter in the British Isles today.

ningham, Sinclair, Wallace, Gladding, Clarke, Cooke, Woodhouse, Lowe, Latta, .Talfon, Dickey, Frew, Patterson, Sharpe, Urquliart. Meet at Ferry Buildings, 1.30 p.m. sharp. MATCH AT THAMES The Marist senior Rugby team will play a match against Thames at Thames tomorrow. The team will leave the General Post Office at 9 o’clock tomorrow morning. JUNIOR NOTES HOW THE TEAMS STAND A SECTION Eden 6 Marathon .. .. 3 Grafton 6 College Rifles. 2 Ponsonby .. .. 6 Grammar B .. 0 City 5 Takapuna .... 0 Varsity A .. .. 4 B SECTION Grammar A .. 8 Hauraki Unit. . 2 . Marist G St. Meliers .... 2 Ponsonby . . .. 6 Public Works . 2 Technical O. B. 6 Training Coll. . 0 Varsity 6 Trinity Coll. .. 0 The first four matches in the first round up to May 25 have shown that A section is by far the strongest in the competitions. Eden has fielded a fast , nippy combination in every match and is running on level terms with the well-seasoned Ponsonby players, who are equal to last year’s standard. Each team has an unbeaten record so far, and with Grammar B has still a game to play. In points, Grafton is on the same rung of the ladder, though it suffered one defeat when Eden lowered its colours. Most surprising tire the performances of Varsity A, which is not the fast attacking combination of a year ago. Grammar A has turned out a promising team that has already proved too strong for the B section, having won its four games with comparative ease. Marist, Ponsonby, Technical Old Boys and Varsity B are each running two points behind. Managed by former All Black Ces Badeley, Grammar Old Boys visited Hamilton on Monday and staged a bright curtain-raiser against Hamilton Old Boy colts. The Aucklanders threw the leather round in lively fashion in the opening spell, the backs combining in some spectacular rushes which produced 13 points to the home team's 9. * * * The complaint of "on referee” for lower-grade matches seems to be a fairly common occurrence of a Saturday, and figures prominently in the union’s records to cover games that have not been played. Not only does the absence of a referee disappoint the boys, but it is detrimental to the interests of the game, and from this standpoint alone, the Referees’ Assosociation should demand from its members who are absent without leave a resonable explanation of their remissness.