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The Spike or Victoria College Review October 1929

Football Club

Football Club.

The Football Club has to record a very successful season's activities. The actual membership creates a numerical record, and the number of teams now taking part in the local competitions is seven, consisting of one Senior A team, a Senior B, a Junior, three Third Grade and a Fourth Grade team.

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The outstanding feature of the season has been the success, for the second time, of the First XV. in winning the senior championship. The form displayed throughout was very consistent, and though perhaps the team was not as bright on attack as last year, its defensive qualities were very sound, thanks especially to the excellent work of Mackenzie, at five-eighths, and Cormack, at full-back.

The team trained assiduously during the season, and their success is no doubt largely due to this fact. Altogether the team was a very happy family and pulled together excellently. It was a well-balanced team, especially among the forwards, all of whom worked well. It must be noted that Ramson did excellent service with his boot accounting for well over 100 points for the season—a truly remarkable performance. The following players represented Wellington Province in one or other of the representative teams: Mackenzie, Mackay, Ramson, Leys, Eastwood, Diedrich, H. Cormack, F. Cormack, Blacker, Edgar, and Dixon. Leys also won his All Black cap, and is to be heartily congratulated.

The lower grade teams have for the most part done quite well; indeed, better than in previous seasons.

The most important event of the year was the visit of the Australian 'Varsities' team, when we had the distinction of being the only College to be beaten by the visitors. It speaks much for the true spirit of hospitality at V.U.C. It gave us great pleasure to entertain this team, and many will look forward to renew acquaintances in Australia in 1931. The following of our players represented the New Zealand Universities team against the Australians: Diedrich, Blacker, Edgar, Leys, Mackenzie, Ramson, and Mackay.

A team consisting principally of Senior B players journeyed to Nelson and played the Nelson College 1st XV. A report on the match is below.

The thanks of the Club are very much due to the following, who gave unstintingly of their time in the capacities of coaches to the various teams: Messrs. Martin-Smith, Glasgow, Whiteman, Turner, Goodwin and Paetz.

Senior A Team Results.

v. Old Boys.—Won 27-8. Tries by Foden (2), Mackay, Blakeney; Ramson scored a try, kicked 2 penalties and converted 3 tries.

v. Eastbourne.—Won 14-0. Tries by Mackay (2) and H. Cormack; Ramson converted one try and kicked a fine penalty goal.

v. Wellington.—Won 11-3. Try by Claridge converted by Ramson, who also kicked 2 penalty goals.

v. Poneke.—Lost, 18-14. Tries by Blakeney and Ramson. The latter also kicked 2 penalties and converted a try. A very even game. Our team was without the services of Leys, Mackay and Deiderich.

v. Athletic.—Won, 15-7. Tries by Mackay (2) and Blacker, all converted by Ramson.

v. Petone.—Won, 13—6. Tries by Grant and Mackay, both converted by H. Cormack, who also kicked a penalty goal.

v. Oriental.—Drawn, 5—5. Six of our players were absent for the Test match v. Australian Universities. Our score was a try by Grant converted by H. Cormack.

v. Berhampore.—Won, 12—11. Tries by Mackay, Rodger and Irwin, and a penalty goal by H. Cormack.

v. Marist.—Won, 9-8. Tries by Ramson, Foden and Blakeney.

v. Old Boys.—Won, 14-11. Tries by H. Cormack and Ramson. The latter also kicked 2 fine penalties and converted a try.

v. Eastbourne.—Won, 19-9. Tries by H. Cormack and Ramson, who also kicked 3 penalties and converted both tries.

v. Wellington.—Won, 6-0. Played in the mud. Tries by Foden and Hart.

v. Petone.—Lost 14-6. Petone played a very fine game and fully deserved their win. Our score came from 2 penalties by Ramson.

v. Poneke.—Won, 24-9. Tries by Edgar, Eastwood, Mackay and Ramson, who converted three and kicked a penalty. Our men played one of their best games of the season.

v. Berhampore.—Won, 22-5. Tries by Mackay (3) and Eastwood; Ramson kicked 2 penalties and converted 2 tries.

v. Marist.—Won, 19-6. Tries by Deiderich, Eastwood, Irwin, and Mackenzie; Ramson converted 2 tries and kicked a penalty.

v. Athletic.—Won, 7-0.; Foden potted a goal and Mackay scored a try in the last minute of the game.

Australian University Match.

On the 22nd May the Australian Universities' team opened its tour by playing V.U.C. V.U.C. played in white jerseys, as the visitors' colours were green. This match was well page 58 below standard, but was exciting owing to the closeness of the scores. It was not until half the second spell had passed that V.U.C. opened its account by a heady try by Blakeney. The Greens soon equalised the score by an excellent cut-in by D. Kennedy, one of the visiting centres. Play became very exciting then, with both sides out for a win. The defence and tackling, however, was wonderful, and it was not until an infringement occurred that the visitors were able to score the winning points, Lamport, the visiting captain, making no mistake with a kick under the posts. Soon after time was sounded, when the foreign green had triumphed. This was the only match they won. and though it is hard to think they won it against us, we must give them credit for the hard and fast game they played. A dinner was given at Barrett's, where, after several speeches, the visitors were taken to the Lyttelton ferry, where we gave them a rousing send-off.

Te Aute Game.

On the 28th of August a team comprised of Junior and Third Grade players played their annual match with the Te Aute first fifteen and were successful in winning a hotly-contested game by 9 points to 6. The teams were as follows:—'Varsity: Read, Hislop, Mulcipell, Gully, Webb, Osborne, Turner, Steele, M'Lure, Sykes, Banks, Foote, Davies, Henderson and Thomas. Te Aute: Thompson, Hunter, Ruru, Kihi, Heperi, Durie, P. Gemmell, Tibble, White, Keritene, Karaka, Paenga, Aupouri, Paerata, Pohokura. The match was played as the curtain-raiser to the Wellington-Southland game on Athletic Park, and was generally considered to be a better game than the later match. The game was fast and open, and our team was lucky to keep Te Aute out in the later stages of the game. Still, the defence was great, and our men showed that they were as good as Te Aute in attack. The forwards packed well, which is a thing they never bother to do in club matches; while the backs, from full-back to half-back, showed that they were well worthy of their places. Gully on the wing played well, scoring two tries while Read, at full-back, played soundly and made some good openings with his kicking. Henderson, M'Lure and Davies were outstanding amongst a fine pack of forwards, while Steele, at wing-forward, was a constant source of trouble to the Te Aute backs. The pick of the Te Aute backs was Ruru, who played a very clever game. He made the most of two excellent wing three-quarters. The Aute's two tries were real beauties. No one on our side seemed to be able to catch the man with the ball. Their short passing movements were wonderful to watch and terrible to cope with. For V.U.C., Gully (2) and Dyer, who replaced Hislop, scored; while for Te Aute, Durie and Keretene scored tries. All our tries came from movements on the blind side, while Te Aute's came from passing movements in which the whole team participated. After the match Te Aute delighted the crowd with a haka. A dinner was given to both teams at Barrett's Hotel after the game. After a short introductory speech by Professor Murphy, Turner proposed the health of the Te Aute team. This was replied to by the captain of the Te Aute team, who also lead the team in singing several Maori songs, which were greatly appreciated. Mr. Sharpe, the master in charge of the boys, made a short speech and stated that he hoped our team would be able to come and stay at the college on the occasion of the next match. The evening was passed by both teams at the De Luxe Picture Theatre, where the Te Aute team heard its first "talkie."

Australian Universities' Team.

We have had with us during the present season in New Zealand a team representing the Universities of Australia. Although the team was almost a Sydney University team (there was only one Melbourne University man—Nairn—and no Brisbane University representatives) the fact that a team representing the Commonwealth Universities was sent shows that Rugby Union is at last getting a foothold in other parts of Australia as well as in Sydney.

Mr. Morey remarked on this progress at the welcome to the team on its arrival in Wellington. "Rugby football in Australia is improving by leaps and bounds, I can tell you honestly," he said. "Last year put the New South Wales Union on its feet, and this year, with the Sydney Cricket Ground now available, and with all but two of the Waratahs still playing, there was every prospect of the Union enjoying one of its best seasons."

The team comprised :—Full-back: C. McMullen. Wing-threequarters : G. G. Dangar, D. Nairn, A. Kennedy. Centre three-quarters: D. Kennedy, C. Rountree, J. B. Barker, F. S. Flynn. Five-eighths: J. G. Nicholas, R. Maclean. Half-back: N. K. Lamport. Front row forwards: M. M. Ramsden, H. C. Wiseman, M. Morton, W. I. B. Beveridge. Second row forwards: C. Aherns, C. R. Neild, M. Cay. Lock forwards: M. R. Morey, A. Robertson (also second row forward). Breakaway forwards: C. A. H. Dezarnaulds, W. D. Cunningham, and D. Joyce.

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Of these, several were well-known players. N. K. Lamport, the captain, had before the tour represented New South Wales, and he again represented his State against the All Blacks this year in two out of the three games played by the State against the tourists. D. Nairn has represented Victoria several times, and he also played for the Australian side which met the All Blacks at Melbourne this year, whilst D. and A. Kennedy, after the tour of New Zealand, were given a chance in the Sydney University first XV and gave very fine exhibitions, A. Kennedy, the winger, scored five tries in the first two matches, and his brother, the centre, making many very fine openings.

However, the team did not fare too well in this country. It opened the tour with a win against Victoria College on Athletic Park, the final score being 6—3 in favour of the visitors. It was a close and good game, and there was not much between the teams on the day. With that game the visitors' success ended. Otago University and Canterbury College beat them by wide margins, and Auckland College managed to head them, while in the Test Matches they cheered last every time,—losers by big margins, being no match for the New Zealand University Test sides. Their playing record was thus:—Played, 7 won, 1 lost, 6.

The tour, nevertheless, was a great social success, and the members of the local senior fifteens, while the visiting team was there, lost for a time their place in the sun so far as the members of the opposite sex of the Colleges were concerned.

The following members of the V.U.C. fifteen gained placed in the Test Fifteens :— J. D. Mackay, R. H. C. Mackenzie, E. T. C. Leys, E. E. Blacker, R. E. Diederich and J. M. Edgar.