GREAT SEASON ENDS

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20914, 20 September 1939, Page 10

GREAT SEASON ENDS

TRIAL TEAMS PICKED NORTH-SOUTH MATCH PROSPECTS The Rugby season in Hamilton will close on Saturday when the final of the Stag Trophy competition between City and Old Boys will be the chief attraction. The curtain will ring down on one of the most successful seasons ever experienced in the Waikato, and the various clubs in the Waikato who were competitors in the Stag Trophy games must be given sufficient recognition for the part they played in improving the standard of play. Although the country teams did not do as well as was anticipated they certainly made the competition very keen and interesting, and with the experience they have gained should do even better next year. The excellent standard of refereeing lias also had a very beneficial effect on the standard of play, sportsmanship of the teams and the public attendances. Inter-Island Contest The main topic of conversation, apart from the Stag Trophy final, is the inter-island match to he played in Wellington on Saturday. There is a considerable amount of disappointment being expressed in the Waikato that W. J. Phillips is the only member of the team with J. M. Taylor an emergency. There is no question but that Phillips is still one of the best wing threequarters in the Dominion, hut as this is to he his last season it appears as if it would have been better policy to have given a younger player a chance. G. Perkins, the City captain, is one who would have done justice to the position and his display would have given the New Zealand selector the opportunity of seeing a young prospect for the scheduled South African tour. The position of the. hooker for the North team is in a similar category. Lambourne is undoubtedly a line rake but E. H. Catley, of Waikato, is, perhaps, just as good and he has youth on his side. It was considered in the Waikato that both Catley and Taylor were practically certain for the front rank of the North Island team and it is difficult to understand why they have been overlooked. Uneven Front Row As it is the selectors have a badly balanced front row with Jackson, Lambourne and Carson. Jackson played in Hamilton last Saturday as a member of the All Black Maori team, and he did not play any better a game than Catley, Taylor or Flannagan have played at Rugby Park. He is of short stature, and with Carson such a big man the front row will not he properly balance and it may prove difficult to get a good pack to get down behind it. With Taylor, Catley and Carson in the front row the North Island would he just as well served and the possibilities would have been for a better pack. Another surprise to Waikato supporters was the failure of All Black J. G. Wynyard to secure a place in the North Island team. Two Solid Teams However, the inter-island match is not regarded as a trial for future All Blacks hut a struggle for supremacy between the two Islands. In view of the smashing defeat indicted on the North Island by the South last year the policy of the selectors in picking me strongest team they could with players who have proved their worth getting preference, ran he understood, bul the elimination of Wynyard,

Tetzlaff and Perkins front the trials, with Taylor also not mentioned in those for trial, is a great disappointment to Waikato supporters. The South Island team comprises eight ex-All Blacks and the forwards look capable of giving some excellent backs ample support. There are nine players in the North Island team who have represented New Zealand, and the match should he one of the best for many years. An Excellent Game The match between dhe Technical Old Boys first XV and the veterans of the Technical Old Boys’ Club, as the curtain-raiser to the Test last Saturday, was a bright exhibition of Rugby. The veterans team put up a great display, and on the run of play many of the veterans were as good as if not better than their opponents. The display of G. Porteous, at centre for the veterans, was lull of merit and with another run or two he would he in line for representative honours. He is one of the players who retired too early. The same could he said of several of the other players, and it was only the superior physical condition of the Technical team that carried it to victory. Surprise Omission Surprise is expressed in Wanganui at the omission of F. J. Callaghan from the All Black trial teams. Last year Callaghan represented New South Wales and was an emergency for Australia for the Tests against New Zealand. He was considered the next best hooker in Australia to A. 11. Stone, and had lie not returned to New Zealand he might have been a member of the Australian learn to tour Great Britain. Callaghan played in all representative games for Wanganui this season, except one when lie was not available because of a family bereavement, and in each match he has taken the hooking honours, although in nearly ewry match he has been in the lighter pack. FIXTURES FOR SATURDAY Two important Rugby matches will he played in Hamilton on Saturday, the allocation ol" grounds being:— Final ul' Slag Trophy championship: City v. Did Boys, No. 1 Rugby Park. 2.30 p.rn. Semi-final of the Morris Cup (interhouse; : Railway v. Power Buurd, No. 1 Rugby Park. 1.15 p.m. CAMBRIDGE RUGBY VISIT OF UNIVERSITY JUNIORS PRIM-ARY’ SCHOOLS SEVEN-A-SIDE (Special to Times) CAMBRIDGE. Tuesday. A meeting or the Cambridge Rugby Sub-union was held on Monday night when the president. Mr D. Bourke, presided over a good attendance. The ofTer or the Auckland University junior A team to come to Cambridge next Saturday was accepted. The meeting arranged a good programme lor next Saturday, portion of tbe

net proceeds to be donated to the St. John Ambulance Brigade. Schools Seven-a-side Messrs L. Bear and C. G. Wallace were deputed to arrange a district seven-a-side competition from primary school teams. These matches will probably commence at 12.30 and continue to 2 p.m.t when University will meet the Cambridge junior representatives. The band and lire brigade team Is again to be Invited to stage a fancy dress match with the union referees and officials. Mr T. Reilly donated a silver cup to be held by the winning tearq In the schools seven-a-side competition, and Mr E. Scott generously donated trophies Tor all members of the winning team. The donors were accorded hearty votes of thanks. Mr G. Clayton was appointed manager of the Junior representative team. Prize-giving Dance To wind up the season it was agreed to associate with the Hautapu club’s social committee in a wind-up dance in the Fencourt Hall next Saturday night. The trophies won during the season will he presented, and the visiting University footballers will be invited to attend. Champion Teams to Meet Hautapu, the Cambridge junior champions, were granted permission to play Technical Old Boys juniors at the Square on Saturday, September 30. Junior Representatives The following will be the Cambridge junior representatives against University junior A at Cambridge on Saturday:— Forwards: 11. Arnold (captain), S. Frazer, T. Chard, 11. Hubert, K. Arnold, A. Viekers, A. Ramsay, R. Jones, H. Fostrom, W. Sutherland. Backs: I*. Shaw, F. Jones, G. Bartlett, R. Arnold, A. Sutherland, G. White, R. Buttiinore, A. Siegal.