Rugby Football.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 413, 21 April 1937, Page 2

Rugby Football.

England Takes Triple Crown.

First Win Over Scotland and

Murrayfield

By winning all three internationals, England have established themselves as Rugby champions for the season, holders of the Rugby triple crown and the Calcutta Cup. Their third and last victory was over Scotland, at Murrayfield, a ground on which they have not won before. They beat Scotland’s representatives by two tries (6 points) to a penalty (3. points), and were much the better team than the margin of points suggests. Both in forwards and backs they were superior, and the foundation of victory was won by tine work in the scrums. Hero of the match was the winger, H. S. Sever (whom the All Blacks will remember), for he scored the winning try under the posts to conclude a remarkable* season. It was his dropped goal that beat Wales, and his fine run along the touch-line which robbed Ireland of victory. Win Deserved. T. H. Evans Baillie, commenting in the Sunday Observer, said of England: “They deserved to win in the sense that any other result would have seriously misrepresented the run of the play. Their win would have been more convincing if they had been able to show a bigger tally of points. Certainly in the second half Scotland’s pack began to get on something like equal terms in the matter of possession in the set scrummages, but in the first halt the monopoly was almost ludicrous. A neighbour of mine who kept a record made out only three heels by Scotland in the whole 40 minutes.

“Whether this reckoning is correct or not, it is certain that, even allowing for the valour of Scotland’s defence, England’s backs ought to have had more than one try. It was to some extent the old fault of badlytimed and badly-delivered passes by the centres, but must more was it the result of' having no discernible plan of campaign. They were not let down by the new captain, F. J. Reynolds, who gave them every chance, and E. J. Unwin, by the way he scored his try, proved what we have long known to be true of him, that what he lacks in speed he makes up for in football brains.

“It is the centre that England will have to seek improvement in next season. Elsewhere she is well equipped, for H. G. Owen-Smith gave a perfect example of full-back play. R. c. Gadney was as sound as ever in his long passing out, and the forwards, if lacking the fire and pace of Scotland in the loose, performed their first duty of getting the ball admirably.” Scoring of Points. One of Murrayfield’s biggest crowds —60,000 strong—watched the match. The first score came just before halftime, when Reynolds sent but a per-fectly-timed pass from which Cranmer and Candler fed Unwin, who, accelerating as he neared Marshall, shot over in the corner for a perfect try. Cranmer could not convert, but England thus led at the interval by three points. The remaining points were scored in the last ten minutes. From a scrummage near the left-hand corner flag they heeled, Gadney whipped out a pass to Reynolds, and Sever, who had come in to make the extra man swerved past Marshal to touch down near the posts. Cranmer failed to convert, and Scotland, the reverse of downwhearted, rushed down to the other end, where, after Owen-Smith had carried over in fielding a high kick, England were penalised and G. D. Shaw placed a goal six minutes before time.” I Celebration. ‘ They carried Owen-Smith triumphantly to the dressing-room after the match. They tried to carry Sever. A small boy with an autograph book sprang mysteriously from every tuft of grass,” wrote Howard Marshall in

the “Daily Telegraph.” '‘Championships, caps, and crowns you may keep for all I care, but humble the Scotsmen at Murrayfield and every English player becomes a hero. If the reverberations of England’s triumph were to be heard at the Waverley Station later that evening, who shall complain? England had beaten the Scotsmen in their own lair, thumped and spreadeagled them properly at last, and celebration was surely justified.” The teams were:— Scotland. —K. W. Marshall (Edinburgh Wanderers); W. G. S. Johnston (Richmond), R. W. Shaw (Glasgow High School F.P.), D. J. Macrae (St. Andrew’s University), R. H. Dryden (Watsonians); W. A. Ross (Hillhead High School F.P.), W. R. Logan (Edinburgh Wanderers); M. M. Henderson (Dunfermline), G. L. Gray (Gala), W. M. Inglis t (The Army), G. B. Horsburgh (London Scotish), C. L. Melville (the Black Watch), W. B. Young (Cambridge University), J. A. Waters (Selkirk), G. D. Shaw (Gala).

England.—H. G. Owen-Smith (St. Mary’s Hospital); H. S. Sever (Sale), P. Cranmer (Richmond), P. L. Candler (St. Bartholomew’s Hospital), E. J. Unwin (the Army and United Services); F. J. Reynolds (the Army and Old Cranleighans), B. C. Gadney (Leicester), H. F. Wheatley (Coventry), H. B. Toft (Waterloo), R. J. Longland (Northampton), T. F. Huskisson (Old Merchant Taylors), A. Wheatley (Coventry), W. H. Weston (Northampton), R. Bolton (Harlequins), J. G. Cook (Bedford). The referee was Mr. S. Donaldson (Ireland).