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CARDIFF V SWANSEA.

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CARDIFF V SWANSEA. DRAWN STRUGGLE ON THE ARMS PARK. SWANSEA LOSE MANY OPPOR- TUNITIES. SOME PREVIOUS RESULTS. Oct. 22, 1904.—Swansea, 8 points; Car difi, niL j?eb. 11, 1905.—Swansea, 10 points; Car- diff, 3 points. March 25, 1905.—Swansea, nil; Cardiff, nil. Oct. 21, 1905.Cardiif, 2 dropped goals, 1 penalty goat, 1 try '414 points); Swansea, 1 try (3 points). Nov. 25, 1905.-(,4TdifI, 1 dropped goal, 1 penalty goal /7 points); Swansea, ml. Feb. 24, 3906.—Cardiff, 3 converted goals (15 pones); Swansea, 1 try (3 points). March J* 1906.-Cardiff, 1 try (3 points); Swaoap^ nil. t> £ 20, 1906.—Swansea, 2 converted jCJis, 1 p&naity goal, 1 try (14 points); Cardiff, niL .March 23, 1907.—Cardiff, 1 try (3 points); Swansea., nil. Oct. 19, 1907. —Cardiff. 1 dropped goaJ (4 points); Swansea, nil. Nov. 23, 1907.-Cardiff, 1 dropped 6,,31, 1 try (7 points); Swansea, 1 converted goal (5 points). Feb. 22, 1908.—Swansea, 1 goal, 1 try (8 points); Cardiff, 1 try (3 points). March 21, 1908.—Swansea, 2 converted goals (10 points); Cardiff, 1 dropped goal (4 points). Oct. 17, 1908.—Cardiff, 1 converted goal (5 points); Swansea, 1 try (3 points). Nov. 21, 1908.—Swansea, 1 dropped goal, 4 tries (16 points); Cardiff, 1 dropped goal (4 points). All other South Wales matches to-day paled by comparison with the contest at Cardiff Arms Park, where for the first time this season Cardiff and Swansea, the chief of Welsh teams for almost the last decade. met. Canvassed as it had been during the week by the supporters of both sides, inter- est had been raised to a fine pitch, and this was seriously damped by the atrocious weather. To the Swanseaites the quantity 01 rain which fell was of the greatest im- portance, for on a pitch transformed into a huge mad heap—the usual happening at Cardiff Arms Park when much rain has fallen—Swansea are never seen at their best, whilst Cardiff, on the other hand, have gained their biggest victories when mud carnivals have taken the place of football. So it was that the deluge of the week, and particularly of Friday, helped to make most of the "Whites" supporters very despoil- (Vnt, which in most cases was only relieved by the remembrance that W. J. Trow, the brainiest player of recent years, whose in- jury had threatened to terminate his car- eer, had so far recovered as to be able to indulge in quite a lot of haxd training. In- deed, it was stated definitely on Friday that he would play. That his presence made aJl the difference to the "Whites" need hardly be stated—the Swansea team with and without are two quite different com- binations—one full of method and with plenty of confidence, and the other lacking in initiative and playing with no reasoned system. Trew's decision to play, therefore, helped on the feeling of confidence that Swansea would win. Cardiff, too, again had—or were expected to have—the assist- ance of Percy F. Bush, their brilliant half- back, who, unfortunately, had somewhat rr-arred his reputation by the worse display of his career at Newport. The fact that he had quite recovered his health, how- ever, made the outlook for Swansea just a little darker, for in the past it is the "Whites" wiio have most suffered as the result of Bush's cleverness. Cardiff had a stronger team all round than Swansea, who were considerably handicapped by the ab- sence of George Hayward and Edgar Mor- gan, each a 14-stone player, apart from their individual cleverness. Their places had, of course, to be taken by inexperienced reserves—E. Goff and T. Morgan, both good. men, but lacking the polish of the two first men. Then in the three-quarter line Swansea had a player unaccustomed to the Swansea style, and hardly likely to fit in with the backs. Handel Richards, indood, could not be expected to do won- ders, but it was his speed which was con sidered his chief asset on this oocasion. So that taken from any standpoint Swan- sea had a side which in many ways waa experimental, and as a sequel, somewhat weak. Up to Saturday the sole defection from the Cardiff ranks was Woods, the full-back, and it was believed that his place would be taken by Tom EvaiM, a capital reserve, who had previously played at outside half and centre three-quarter. Since the earliest days Swansea and Car- diff have enjoyed periods of success, dur- ing which one or the other have piled up many consecutive vhtorief. From 1887 to I 1907, of the fifty-two matches played, Swansea won 25, against 20 won by Car- diff; seven being drawn. Between 1892 and 1897 Cardiff won nine of the thirteen matches played, Swansea winning one, the others being drawn. Between November, 1897. and November, 1904, Swansea won 12 of the 17 games played, and Cardiff only one. During the ten years between 1887 and 1897 matters were very even, Card-'ft' winning 14 and Swansea 11. two being drawn. As will be seen from the table above, however, of the last 15 games pfayed, Cardiff have won 8 and Swansea 6, one being drawn. Swanr?a scored most points, however, gaining 86 to 72. The teams .were SWANSEA.—Back, J. Bancroft; three- quarters, W. Trew. P. Hopkins, H. Toft and Handel Richards; half-backs, R. M. Owen and R. Jones; forwards, D. J. Thomas. Ivor Morgan. D. Davies, Ike Wil- liams, B. Davies, H. Hiams, E. S. Goff and T. Morgan. 0A"RDIFF.—Back. R. Williams; three- quarters, J. L. Williams (cant). W. Soiller, D. M. Dyke and R. A. Gibbs; half-backs, W. L. Morgan and P. F. Bush forwards, J. Brown, D. Westacoft, F. Smith. J. P. Casey, J. Pugslev, J. Brookman, W. Jen- kim; and T. W. Gacoon. Referee. Mr. T. L. WiHiams ,Newport). Touch judees. Messrs. W. E. Rees and J. Games (W.F.U.) It was unfortunate that :'ie bad weather I continued. It had been hoped that all the pain of the week would at least have meant a fine Saturday, but this morning broke in the same dreary fashion as did the days which preceded it. a heavy drizsle of rain making the conditions 3J1; unpleasant as nossible. it this affected the Swan- sea proportion of the gate need hardly be mentioned. As a rule the meetings of Swansea and Cardiff in the Bast means the withdrawal from Swansea of a rather large contingent, but the trains to-day, and es- pecially the earlier ones, were nothing like so crowded as is usually the nape. The weather, indeed, must have meant many pounds to the Cardiff committee. THE SCENE ON THE GROUND. At the last, moment the officials at High- street Station decided to Mnd off three trains instead of one. Swansea thus supply- ing a good proportion of the atter^r^ e. The ground did not look so wet n-c war., the grass having been allowed kv giow a I little longer than usual. The confidence in Cardiff was surprising, and this was pos- sibly born of the weather, which most cer- tainly favoured the homesters. Edgar Morgan had sufficiently recovered to be able to journey up with the players. The at- tendance was the largest of the season, and was believed to number about 20,000. When the team fielded. Wood stood down from the Cardiff team, and his place at full back wa* taken by R. Williams, of the Seconde. The change was not expected to have any par- ticular effect. Thn teams fielded as sel- ected, except that Haydn Evans stood down from the three-quarter line, in which Handel Richards and H. Toft were the wings. At the last moment of the selected nine forwards for Cardiff, J. Brown stood down TREW RECEIVED A REMARKABLE RECEPTION when he led on the Swansea players at 3.30, but the roar of cheering increased when the Taffsiders appeared Swan/sea played from the river end. Oar diff kicked off, and exchange shou followed Sargt. Smith's send-off. The first scram was formed at the centre, and Cardiff. J quickly heeling, Morgan screw kicked to I touch, but Ivor Morgan, following tip a loose kick bv Owen, lost the chance of a life-time to start the scoring. He short- kicked to Williams, the full-back, but the latter misjudged the ball and it rebounded in the direction of Morgan, but he just missed taking it, the bail going over his head, and quickly all the danger to the Cardiff line was eaeed by the forwards gathering round. But the"danger was evert yet not quite absent, for Bush was tackled in possession, and quickly lot"t thi ball. But there was really no opportunity for Swansea to take advantage of. 7o this Cardiff replied with a rush, and Trf-w had a kick charged down. Bancroft saved piuckily, when the whistle hrunded. Back to the Cardiff Ivne the S\vans'ta men went, and it seemed 1:f, rf the lin* would be six times crossed, but Cardiff again eased the pressure. The hall agryn get- ting jooee, Phil Hop-kins, in a gV)d posi- hon. took a pot shot at goal, fie leather going wide. Swansea were ore'ing a de- cided surprise by the strength of their at- tack, and agiin they came within striking distance Suddenly Toft whipped in. and eathei-ing the ball shot out t M leather to Dick Jones. Trew was i'< the best of positions, whil„> he had tw 1 men out-fade with only two men to be? t. The pass, however, was missed. aW a. great chance went astray. Cardiff, p'-jfiting, rushed up the field, only to .1>4 jwit back once more to their own t»«flfy-five by a. great kick bv Bancroft. Swan.s.ea forwards were '0- ing grandly at this early juncture, and were heeling in better fashion than Cardiff. Owr- was outplaying Morgan. It was clever work by Sp:t)er alone whioh next gave Cardiff a chance to attack. Then the forwards came away in a .body, but Phil Hopkins effected a grand save, and keeping up a continuous pressure Swansea for the sixth time in fifteen minutes swept down on to the Cardiff line. This time the All Whites had cruel luck in not scoring, R. C. Gibbs kicking the ball dead just as one of the forwards was falling upon it. In the next moment Percy Bnsh almost gave the visitors a try, his cross-kick going straight in the direction of H. Rich- ards, but, unfortunately for him, the ball re- bounded badly and ha could not get at it. Then came a positively great chance, Dick- Jones getting clean away at halfway and giving it to Handel Richards, when the latter HAD ONLY THE FULL BACK TO PASS. Unfortunately for Swansea, the Ammanford man possessed no swerve, and he was pulled down by J. L. Williams. A roar of protest from the crowd against what was considered a rough tackle of Trew resulted in what looked like an injury to Trew, but the skipper esooa resumed. Within a few min- utes Jack Bancroft missed a penalty from, however, a none too easy position. So far Cardiff had very little of the game, and had done little ^'se but defend. Owen soon afterwards beat the Cardiff side with a thumping pass. Then in succession Ben Davies and Ivor Morgan handled, and the latter made a gallant attempt to force his way over. But as he got within a few yards of the line he slipped, and Williams had no difficulty in bringing him down. So far as the actual play was concerned, Swansea was deserving of half a dozen tries. The forwards did as they liked with the Cardiff pack, two of the latter winging in the most approved fashion. Then followed a period of scrappy play, in which Cardiff showed up somewhat better, but Swansea. afterwards held the whip hand, Phil Hop- kins and then Ivor Morgan getting clean away, only to be called back by the referee. In every department indeed Swansea were bettor, but the crowd were again on their pet shouting, particularly when Trew beat the defence in the cheapest fashion, swerv- ing and doubling like a deer. But he was only allowed to get to the line, for it was there the final pass went astray. Harder lines for not eworing no team could have had than Swaaisea experienced, BUT IT WAS MORE R AD LUCK than the skill of Cardiff in defence that accounted for it. Swansea heeled from eleven out of twelve scrums, and heeled in such fashion that made it plain that they were having the easiest of tasks. Just before half-time Dick Jones broke clean through, but Toft, on this oooasion, was over before he ooutd touch the ball. As the whistle went the Cardiff pack healed for the first time in twenty HALF-TIME SCORE: CARDIFF—Nil SWANSEA-Nil. PLAY IN THE SECOND HALF. A succession of forward passes helped Swansea considerably on the restart, but they were at last ptilled up when Ike Wil- liams was almost clear. Swansea's for- continued to heel in grajid fashion, and so well did the team back up each other that mistakes did not result in much ground being lost. Once Goff made a capital opening, but the ball wae badly sent out to Handel Richards, who did wefl in screwing to touch. Bush had been very little in evidence so far, but he had had very little help from the forwards. For some reason or other Swansea ooakj not score. Dick Jones sent a pass to Trew which fell at his feet, and the captain at that time had an aibeolutaly clear course. The game in this half was much more coil- fined to the forwards than in the first half. The home pack, finding they could not heel, changed their tactics, and a couple of wing forwards came round each time the ball was put in. This, of course, affected Owen and Jones, whilst the fact that passes were being missed with alarming persistency, seemed to suggest that Swansea, too, would have to change their tactics if they hoped to score. On one or two occasions Rush gained ground with long punte, and after one of these the Cardiff men got away in fine fashion, but this allowed Bancroft to effect a grand save. A movement which aJ- most had the desired effect was contributed bv Tre^v, Toft a.nd Ivor Morgan, the line being actually crossed, but the referee ruled a scrum outride. A series of scrums which followed were strenuous in every sense of the word. Trew and DxJ: Jonea tried their beet to cross, but to no purpose, and this was followed by Phil Hopkins bursting through to the full-back, only then to be brought down by Williams. For nearly twenty minutes Swaowea ke^i on the Cardiff twenty-five line, but every movement attompte.1 failed. OWEN HAD SUSTAINED AN INJURY to '»ne of his legs and was limping, but this, d!id nüt to affect bis play a.t all. So hard pirensed were Cardiff, indeed, that they could only gain relief by kicks, but when at last the Swa.n«*»a backs did g"t under way, all handling except Bancroft, it seemed as if a soone must come. The ball sailed along beautifully all along the line until it got to Handel Richards, who only bad one man to boat, but he hesitated, and was lost, being knocked over when as a amtter of fact had he gone straight on he would almost, certainty have scored. Cardiff relieved for a second, and then the whoh of the Swansea, team rushed over the Cardiff line oniy to find Reggie Gibbs touch down. Another effort by Trew re- sulted in his being grassed when crowung. Then there was an extraordinary transfor- mation Owen tried to break through, but failed and Gibbs dribbled to Swansea's ''E1W. Then Handel Richards whipped across and saved. In the next minute Cardiff were given a penalty right IN FRONT OF THE SWANSEA POSTs. Bush book the kick, and it Jool*^<I as if it was all over with Swansea, but his effort was a poor one, faJJing wide and short. Within a minute SwaJiiseia were again back on the attack, and in succession Trew, Dock Jones and Owen were pulled down when all seemed ciea<r. Handel Richards on one occasion used his speed to much ad- vantage. Now that time was drawing near Swansea redoubled their efforts. A dra- matic movement occurred every second. Trew made a mistake in not pj^SKing when he txtk a long pass from Toft. There were two men to pass to, and only one man to beat, but he tried to double through, but slipped inches from the line. and the BEST CHANCE OF THE MATCH went astray. Onh. two minutes remained, and ptav came back to midfield. One minute later and the whistle blew with the game in the Cardiff twenty-five. l FIN AI. SCORE:" SWANSEA—Nil. CARDIFF—Nil,

J NOTES BY "WATCHMAN.''

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