RUGBY ENTHUSIAST

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1028, 19 July 1930, Page 13

RUGBY ENTHUSIAST

LEVIN MAN ON PATH OF BRITISH TEAM

“WONDERFUL FOOTBALLERS” An intense enthusiasm for Rugby has led Mr. M. J. Suhan, of Levin, to see as many matches of the British Rugby tour in New Zealand as possible. M R ; SUHAN is in Auckland today for the game at Eden Park and, though he has seen game after game, his interest in Rugby has not been damaged in the slightest. On the contrary, he finds the play of tlie British team so refreshing that ho would not object to a considerable extension of the tour. This is surely a tribute to the entertaining Rugby played by the British.

Though Mr. Suhan was not able ta go to the South Island to see tlio matches there, he has seen all the games in the North Island except the latest encounter, at Gisborne, with Poverty Bay, East Coast and the Bay of Plenty. After the game against Hawke's Bay at Napier, Mr. Suhan travelled to Levin and came North to Auckland as quickly as possible to resume his observations of the visitors’ play. “Heavy travelling, but well worth it,” he says, when asked if he finds the journeys merely to see football games too arduous. His keenest desire is to watch the third test at Eden Park on Saturday next, and he will certainly be at Wellington to see the fourth test at Athletic Park.

Mr. Suhan has been associated with Rugby for 15 years, with considerable experience in official capacities. He was a member of the Horowhenua Rugby Union. Rugby is not his only interest, for he was in the party of New Zealand bowlers on tour in tho United Kingdom and Canada in 1923. His opinion of the British players is that they provide wonderfuliy spectacular Rugby of the kind ho would like to see played in New Zealand. Their back play is easily the finest he has witnessed, ami he has watched many international sides. But, with all his enthusiasm over the methods of the visitors, he does not agree that New Zealand should abolish the rover. The British breakaways, especially Ivor Jones, undoubtedly play a game of the wing-forward type, he says.