Football

FOOTBALL. 357

hands, might have fallen very flat. In her hands it became easily the best thing in the play. Mammatt, however, as Edwin Latter, was not far behind. He seems to get better every year, and the scenes between 'him and Mrs. Latter were most interesting. Mrs. Tendall, as Sylvia Latter, made an excellent selfwilled daughter in spite of her rather badly written part. Mrs. Carruthers (Mrs. Davies) gave a presentation of an unpleasant character, G. E. Cutforth, as Sylvia's lover, Cutting, was just his bright, breezy self, and very convincing. Speed (C. F. Williams) the Egyptian who finally turned out to be the murderer, was excellently dramatic throughout, though his last speech might have been delivered with a little more force and emotion. Hart, played by M. J. Bennion, was a convincing and most odious detective. We several times would have been glad if he had turned out to be the criminal as we were intended to think, for a while he was. His assistants, Hanley and Bates,. (Burrows, and Yates) were fairly adequate, Hanley producing a great deal of mirth, and Essail Aissa (H. K. Newsum) adequately filled the part of the Egyptian servant. The two blue idols, made by Mr. Potter, were pleasantly weird.

The School Orchestra, as usual, pro vided a pleasant background for the conversation in the intervals.

Those who remember " If I were King " and " The Admirable Crichton " will surely agree with us in thinking this play was below their standard, while admitting the excellence of the acting and production.

FOOTBALL RETROSPECT.

We started the season expecting to have a back division above the average, but with a certain amount of uncertainty about the forwards.

As we only lost one match, and that by a try to Durham, it is obvious that the forwards more than justified themselves as no side can win unless they gain possession of the ball. On the whole they were a light pack but very quick on the ball, sound in defence, and were generally in the right position for scoring when one of the backs broke through ; they were always kept well together by the able leadership of C. L. Troop.

The halves worked well together and J. B. D. Chapman at stand-off was always sound, often brilliant, although there

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FOOTBALL.

were times when it would have been advisable if he had passed out to his centres rather than gone on his own as we possessed two fast and exceptionally reliable centres in W. Elliott and C. Dixon, who knew how to make openings for their wings.

At the commencement of the season we had qualms about a full back, but J. D. Burrows filled the position well and improved as the season went on.

The 2nd XV. deserve special praise this year as they won most of their matches.

The forwards were very keen and often hustled their opponents, whilst the backs, although individualists, played consistently well.

HOUSE FOOTBALL CUP.

Grove v.

Rise 9.3 v. Rise School House School House 39.o v. School

Manor t , . Manor 24.o House 12-5

Day Boys

This year's matches were rather hindered by rain but were of a high standard. This year everyone was eligible for a House team and therefore each House had its best team possible. In the preliminary round the Rise beat the Grove after a close match. Both semi-finals were rather one-sided, the School House beating the Rise very easily on a field that was more like a marsh, and the Manor backs being too good for the heavy Day Boys forwards.

FINAL.

SCHOOL HOUSE V. MANOR.

The field had recovered well but was still rather wet. It was obvious from the beginning that the struggle would be between the School House forwards and the Manor backs. Both sides displayed clever tactics and it seemed at first as though the

FOOTBALL. 359

Manor would succeed as two minutes after the start, the Manor forwards heeled 'from a scrum, Pickersgill passed out to Elliott and he burst right through the School House defence. When he reached the back he passed to Watson who scored, at a walk, under the post. Elliott had no difficulty in converting. After this the heavy School House forwards asserted themselves and overwhelmed their lighter opponents. Troop and Hutton were outstanding and it was only the plucky way in which Pickersgill went down to forward rushes and Elliott's magnificent tackling that kept them out. Eventually Troop got the ball from a line out and, shaking off two or three opponents fought his way over the line in the corner. He failed with the kick. Shortly afterwards from one of the very rare School House three-quarter movements, Dixon ran over in the corner. He took the kick himself and narrowly missed. Half-time arrived with the School House leading, 6-5.

The second half was a repetition of the first. Early on, Elliott again burst through but when he seemed to have the line at his mercy, he passed out wildly to Watson who had little chance of taking the pass. This was the Manor's last chance and for the rest of the half the School House forwards kept the ball tight in their opponents' half. After a quarter of an hour, Dixon picked up in the loose, and put School House nine points ahead with a try in the corner. Shortly afterwards Curtois got over in the same place but was adjudged to have put his foot in touch. Near the end Yates got over in the corner and the " no-side " whistle went with the score 12-5 in favour of the School House.

This was the best game seen in the House Finals for years and both sides are to be congratulated on a fine display. For the School House all the forwards played magnificently, Troop, being outstanding. Crosthwaite played the right game at scrum-half. The threes had little to do. Dixon was always dangerous at stand-off half, when he got the ball and he tackled well. The Manor forwards put up a plucky fight against a much heavier pack. Pickersgill and Elliott both played a fine game among the backs.

Teams : School House :--C. H. Prince ; T. B. J. Eveleigh, G. D. Draffan, P. M. Perry ; B. V. Rhodes, C. Dixon, R. C. H. Crosthwaite ; G. M. Curtois, W. G. Hutton, C. L. Troop, C. G. Rob, J. C. Yates, J. B. Pickersgill.

360 FOOTBALL.

ST. PETER'S v. KING'S SCHOOL, CANTERBURY.

When the team arrived at the Rectory Field, they found the ground in a very bad condition. There had been a hard frost overnight and it was still freezing at mid-day. However, as both teams had come a long way, it seemed a pity to cancel the match, and it was eventually decided to play the match on the first field.

The whole of King's School had arrived (complete with straw hats) to support their team.

From the start York were hard pressed and our forwards had great difficulty in holding the Canterbury pack (which was much heavier) in the tight scrums. They took longer to settle down than their opponents, but when they got used to the conditions, they began to heel the ball and give their backs a fair share of the ball. In view of the frost-bound ground, the falling and tackling of both teams was excellent and nobody hesitated to go down to a forward rush. Although our forwards had no advantage in the tight scrums, they had the pull in the lineouts and nearly always got the ball from their taller, but rather clumsy opponents.

Behind the scrum we had a considerable advantage and whenever the threes got moving they looked dangerous. Pickersgill at the base of the scrum played a plucky and clever game and gave Chapman plenty of chances to open out the game. His judicious kicking to touch saved his forwards a lot of hardwork. Chapman played a good game but was inclined to overdo his kicking instead of passing out.

However he must be congratulated for completely subduing his opposite number, T. W. Cooke, the Irish International schoolboy. He " shadowed " him so well, that he never gave him the remotest chance of breaking away.

Elliott and Dixon were on the top of their form and combinep well with Chapman. Elliott in particular brought off some unforgettable tackles and probably saved the School from defeat by his constant turning up from nowhere and collaring the odd man. Dixon was very fast and easily outpaced his opponent and some of his runs were very spectacular. Douglas and Rhodes on the wings made the most of their chances and always went hard for the corner-flag, but did not get many opportunities.

Burrows was very safe at full-back and always went for the man with the ball. His kicks to touch always had good length.

All the forwards played very hard in the pack. Troop and Haigh-Lumby were always conspicuous in the loose and Biscombe displayed an astonishing turn of speed when he got the ball.

THE GAME.

The School attacked from the kick off but we were driven back and Canterbury would have scored from a three-quarter movement but the final pass was dropped. Midfield play followed the game being fought at a tremendous pace which looked as though it could not last. By a series of wheels, Canterbury forwards gave their threes a chance and Cooke darted round the blind side and passed inside to Tripp who was well up and went over the line carrying two opponents with him. The goal-kick failed. [0-3. York retaliated immediately and a few minutes later Haigh-Lumby picked up and raced through, scoring an excellent try. Elliott converted with a fine kick from near the touch-line [5-3]. We were now definitely superior and it came as no surprise when Chapman cut through nicely and gave a good pass to Elliott who ran over under the post. Chapman had no difficulty in converting.

Half-time score, St. Peter's, 10 ; King's School, 3.

Soon after the restart snow began to fall which made conditions rather unpleasant for the players. Canterbury attacked and Grey handled in the scrum. A penalty was given against us in front of the posts, which was easily converted [10-6]. After this , for some time Canterbury kept up a continuous attack and we had great difficulty in keeping them out. Chapman and Pickersgill repeatedly saved their forwards with long kicks to touch. Eventually Dixon broke away and took play to Canterbury's " 25." From a line-out Troop broke through and fell over the line but the try was disallowed. A few minutes later, however, he picked up in the loose and forced his way over the line, ten minutes from the end. Elliott failed with the kick [13-6]. Canterbury played desperately hard to save the match 4n.d five minutes from the end were awarded with an unconverted try after a forward rush [13-9]. This completed the scoring and when the " no-side " whistle went we were attacking again.

Final Score : St. Peter's, 13 ; King's School, Canterbury, 9. * * * * * * *