Welsh Newspapers

Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles

Hide Articles List

19 articles on this Page

Scotland versus Wales.

News
Cite
Share

Scotland versus Wales. I HE LNTERNATIONAL MATCH AT EDINBURGH. "Welsh Athlete" Comments on the Play and Thinks Scotland had a Lucky Win. That little-to-be-desired trophy, the "wooden spoon," ieems in a fair way once more taking up its abode in the land of leeks. For the last couple of seasom we ha.ve leen 111 fairly well 'rid of it—rid of it, I had hoped, for good a.nd all. Two seasons ago we ware at the top of the tree. Last year we shared the honour (?) of its possession with Eng- land ajid Scotland, but this year, I am sadly afraid, we shall drop back to the old position,, at The bottom of the list, and hold undisputed possession of a, trophy which eaoh of the four nations strive so vigoursly to be rid of. Still, ii is the fortune of war—iff fortune it may be termed-and, a-s such, we must accept in the best spirit possible undor the eircuiiisnances* In speaking so. I am, of course, admitting: tha Irishmen to be as good as last year, in the event of which it appears to me that they and England are the country likely _o tight out the battle of supremacy. Scotland I certainly think will be beaten by England, for their tao- tics are practically similar, that is to say, open da.sb''na:, forward play; and drawing a line through the Welsh pack, I must at once admit that to my mind the English eight, on their Swansea performance are infinitely the better tight, whilst their back division, as a whole, certainly ranks a bit ahead of the Scotsmen. Ire- land 1$, of course, the only cc untry wo aire in the dark about. and only have the assurances of the Irish press that the forward line is even stronger than that of Irust year. If it is, the game between the wearers of the sham- rock and the rose at Dublin on Saturday ehould be the most sensational match of the year. Our game wich Scotland on Saturday will from tho score suggest itself as being one in which the play was fairly evenly balanced. Such, indteti. was the case, and, as 1 stated at the close of my remarks OIl Saturday, a draw would moie than anything else have correctly shown the state of the game. The try, for example, which Gowans scored wa.; one uf the luckiest things imaginable, and might just as easily have been a touch-down by one of the Welshmen. »vho were all on their own line, a-s a try by the Scotchman. It was a bit of bad luck, pure and simple, although every credit be gm.n to the Scotch forwa.rds for the brilliant manner in which they were, following up. It occurred after a lot of loose scrambling just in front of the Welsh goal. Two or three of the defending side made attempts to drop on the bail, hut each was charged off it. Bancroft picked it .up in the loose very cleverly, but the Scotchmen were so close on him when he tried to get in his kick that the ball rebounded off one of the forwards back over the Welsh line. Only Gowans seemed to realise where it had gone to. He made a. dart for it, and, although several of the Welshmen were closer to it than he was, he shot past tlu-m and just managed to secure the try which, as events proved, won the match. A- t) the Scotchmen scoring by the aid of their back division, they never seemed anything like it. Certainly Elliotr got- over once ir the first half, but that was after a palpable irregularity had occurred, and no determined, effort was made on the part of the VVVsh'tiei. tc stop him, for the reason that the whistle had gone. Their three- ounrter line, however, was of a very so-so description. They had far more chances than the Welsh four had. but their attempts I' at a is expounding the four three-quarter system were of the crudest description, and in a manner justified the claims of a portion of the Scottish press who all along have decried the departure of their countrymen from a system which they well understood to one with which thev are imperfectly acquainted. •H! the Scotsmen are not likely to be dis- couraged in their attempts to perfect the system, for they have seen enough of it to know that three three-quarters cannot reasonably hope, in the matter of defence, to cope with four who know their business. If any possible reason could be given why ve were defeated on Saturday I should say. iirst, that the Scotch forwards, as has invariably been tha case in the past, were too clever and vigorous for our men in the open. Secondly, that the Scottish three- quarter line. realising how dangerous the Welsh three-quarter attack would be if allowed to fairly start, exhibited those ofF-sid tactics- which, unfortunately, referees seem unable to stop, and nipped all our attempts at three-quarter play at the very outset. With the exception of the footwork men- tioned above and the slight superiority at the line-out, there waa very little to choose between the two packs. When it came to fair, honest scrinunaging. as we in Wales understand it. the Welsh eight secured the bail equally a, often as the Scotch pack did. I might even go further and say that out of every eleven serums we got possession six times. I'nfox-tuaateiy, however, vi! were able to do little )c nothing with the «:dvantage gained. For example, time after time the Welsh scrimmagers would gather tx the ball and come round with a swing in the v hefl. but, somehow, the Scotsmen seeemd to have a. happy knack of nut only stopping the dribble in its initial stages, but, further, on many occasions they appeared to recover them- selves, and, getting back, not only stopped the ■wheel, but robbed the 'A* eizht of the hail. .In footwork, however, 't "lusc he admitted that the Scotch right. were distinctly the superior. I Again, at half-back, Wales must be said to have had, if anything, a little the worst rf the light. A must, of course, be made for the injury ::stamed by Parhtt at an early stage of the g«mm which injury neces- sitated his retirement from the play for a lengthy period in the first half. Under the cir- cumstances it is hardly to be wondered at that I'arfitt was not seen at < tx-st. although every credit must be given to the Newportonian for having struggled on gamely through the second half in a dazed condition. Jligg¡;, under the;¡e drcumstaates. had not the opportunitIes given him that would. oeihaps. otherwise have f,e..n the case. In Elliot iuci Si upson, however, the Welsh halves had to rot it end w:r)) a very smart pair. The first-mentioned was distinctly the better man of thw two, and. besides showing considerable resource, gave his passes in a ■wonderfully clever manner. He has, I learn, been playing a grand game for his club for the past couple of seasons, anwi has figured promi- bci tlv in all the international triad matches in which he baa taken part. His omifistoit from til? Scotch team appears to have been solely owing' to the fact mat he is a working man— a state of affairs that we in W ales can hardly understand. The Scotch three quarter line. as I say a.bove, I gleanei no great opinion of. Neilson was the best, but even he did not exhibit any particular amount, of resource. Next to him came Gowans, of whose abilities we have had the chance of judging on one or two occasions. He was. the best of the three, and, of course, came into prominence by reason of hi? scoring the only try of the match. He was nothing particular, however, as a centre player, and both took and gave his passes in- differently well. The whole four redeemed their reputation, only when kicking and in defence, although, in the latter respect, they gained a somewhat unfair advantage by stand- ing for the greater part of their tifue otf side. The Welsh four had -very few opportunitief- not more than half a dozen throughout the whole of the game, and only on one occasion when Gould and Pearson came away on the right- wing did they seem anything like scoring. Gould played with his head in all his old style, and if he had had more to do the result might have beeai better for his side. Pearson. of necessity, also suffered ill this respect, and had but a couple of chances of attack; during the match. The pair, however, olfered a really sound defence, and let nothing pass them during the game. On the other wing. Badger and Evan Lloyd played as plucky a game ai anyone could have wished for. Still, as I anticipated, they were a bit too light to success- fully withstand the rushes of the burly Scots- men. Lloyd, especially, tackled fearlessly, and 'is Y' would never be shaken off, but he was hustled along, and lost ground on several occasions. Bancroft played a much better game than he did at Swansea. One can hardly Mamo him for the occasion oil which his kick was trged down snd Gowans scored the try.. The Swan- sea man's kicking preserved, with the exception of the first fifteen minutes, excellent length, but he did not seem able to find touch so accurately as of old. His defence, too, was better. Smith, the Oxford custodian, played fully up to his reputation. His kicking wa" clean aaid yell judged, whilst he got out of two or three tight comers in a wonderfully clever manner. In ccnclusion, I cannot, do more than repeat my statement, that a draw would have neeu a much better indication of The state of the play than a wwi for Scotland, and with this, I thwk, eie-i the Scotsmen themselves will agree. The North v. South Association match at the Roath-road Ground provided some fairly good play, though the game was spoiled to a certain extent by the heavy fall of snow, which was not all cleared way. This, however, did not prevent the players putting m some pretty play at times. The North men shoved a decided superiority with re<_rurd to combination, their parsing being very cleanly and smartly executed. Myt-ton, at centre forward, wa,3 a host in himself, and nearly always was tl)e means of initiating the attacks made by his side. Winter was about the smartest man in the South team, and his play was almost perfection. Time after time, when the North forwards were going down the field with their superb com- bined rushes, he wond break up their passing, and relievo the pressure. Bownas also showed splendid defensive play. In the forwards Be a? ley wa- about the best of the five, and had Adan son. ill the centre, but fed him more, the South team would, probably have done better. Adsnv-ou setmed to be the olllv real failure amongst the Southerners. On many occasions the ball was centred to him splendidly, but, except, when lid managed to put one through towards the close of the game, lie always failed to take advantage of the chances offered him.

THE GELLIGAER CHARITY.

MASONIC BALL AT NEWPORT.

WONDERFUL ESCAPE AT BARRY.

GLOVE FIGHT AT SWANSEA.

DISTRICT NEWS.

[No title]

I Welsh Sunday Closing. i

Advertising

COLONEL VINCENT.

CONSERVATISM IN MONMOUTHSHIRE

MONMOUTH GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

FATAL LAMP ACCIDENT.

Advertising

Story of Three Friends

Advertising

PRESENTATION PASSES TO THE…

[No title]

I Welsh Sunday Closing. i