OUR ENGLISH LETTER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8022, 8 January 1906, Page 3

OUR ENGLISH LETTER.

SPORTING. London, Nov. 24, 4905. So severe was the weather during the early part of the week, that it began to look as though it migh* once ■g&in be found impossible to bring off the Manchester November Handicap. X pleasant change, ho .vever, set in on Wednesday, and everything looks bright for the final day of the flat racing season to-morrow. There is no material change in t' e positions of the leading jockeys, owner*, etc., from last week, and as the full season's returns can be given in our next letter, these matters can hi left otiv. T»c sensation of the Warwick meeting was the suspension of Wheatley, who heads tho lh-t of winning jockeys. He .was riding Gun Club in the Erns-

' cote Handicap Plate, and hit mount aeOeideutally bumped into Goldrush, with "the result that, the rider of the latter was unseated and took a header over the sails. Gun Club finished first, hut the owner of Goldrush lodged au ob- , jection against Wheatley for foul rid. ing, with the result tint Gun Club was disqualified arid Wheatley suspended tor the remainder of the meeting. To most people it looked a pure accident, and the decision of the stewards hurt the owner of Gun Club, who was in a way respoo sible. Wheatley's suspension led to Madden drawing closer to the leader, and afr the close of racing yesterday he was only seven behind the North Country apprentice in the list of winning mounts. Turning to racing, the November Handicap Plate at Warwick went to Spinning Minnow, while Imari,.a hot favourite, was unplaced. The two animals may meet again to-morrow in the Manchester Handicap, and both have been backed. On the second day of the meeting, Schnapps showed form in keeping with his three-ycar-old days, and easily beat the opposition in the Midland Counties Handicap Plate. The opening day at Manchesfer was a bad one for favourites, the Lancashire Nursery Handicap being fought out by outsiders at the finish, Mr B. W. Parr's Paitcoma scoring in a field of ioiirt*'en. To-day the chief events were the Castle Irwe'.l Handicap and the Egling.oa Nursery Handicap. Bosoato Dann earr'ed Mr Bobinson's colours to the fore in the former, the field nnmDering eleven, while Mr W. Cain's Ciumock Lad scored over seventeen rivals in the juvenile event.

.FOOTBALL. , LokMk, Nov. 24,1905 We had grown so used to the New , Zealanders running up big scores , against our teams that it came as a , surprise to find Scotland only beaten : by a margin of five points. Those who were fortunate enough to see the match at Edinburgh agreed that it was a grand'struggle. Upwards of 21,000 apectators were present, while the gate amounted to £I3OO, of which about £IOOO goes to the New Zealanders. .The-Scottish authorities preferred to give the visitors all the profits, rather than a guarantee of £250. and they also declined to recognise the match as of International rank. The public, however, think otherwise, while the exteme caution cost the Scottish authorities about £s* : o, at which most peopc are smiling. Scotland .played four three-quarters, three half-backs and seven forwards, «o there was no opportunity of comparing styles, the players virtually adopting that of ther opponents. The Scots itarted splendidly, and early on a forward rush carried the ball over the line, but a claim for a try was disallowed. A little later the ball went to L. MeLeod, who dropped a goal, drawing first blood for Scotland. This was followed by brilliant work on the part of the Colonials, Glasgow registering a try, which Wallace failed to convert. The Scots aext attacked, and McLeod got in a fine kick and followed up. Gillet failed to gather the ball, and McCullnm rushing up, dribbled over the New Zealanders' line, so scoring a try for Bcotland. This was unconrerted, but at half-time, the home players were leading by 7 points to C, Smith having scored a second try for the "AH Blaws." The second half was hotly contested, and with only five minutes remaining for play, the home aide were still leading and the excitement was great. Oneo the Scottish back made a blunder and two New Zealanders were rapidly dribbling towards the line, when K. McLcod's sprinting powers enabled him to overhaul them, and picking up the ball, he ran over his own line, round the posts and kicked into touch, the finest bit of play during the match. Just when Scotland looked like winning, Smith got in a splendid individual swerving run, and scored a try. while two minutes later a fault by the Scottish full-back enabled the opposing forwards to cross the line, Cvnningbam gaming the try. So the mateh ended with the New Zealanders the winrcrs by four tries (12 points) to one dropped goal and a try—??.points. Th . moral of tbg game is that we can produce forwards that are able to . beat the New Zealanders at footwork, and if one of our teams liked to play five " Soccer" forwards and two Soccer Jialves in the pack, and - sonnd' defenders behind the scrum, the composite " fifteen " might win. This is no idle dream, and we have history to remind ns how the Corinthians once beat a powerful Rugby team at the carrying code. The New Zealanders easily won their twenty.first match on Wednesday, at Glasgow, beating a strong West of Scotland side by 22 points to nil.