Cymro a'r Celt Llundain

FOOTBALL NOTES AND NEWS. THE London Welsh did remarkably well during the Xmas matches. On the 21st December they heavily defeated Rich- mond, who played 16 men, by 22 points to nil, the scorers being J. F. Williams 2 tries, Maddocks 1 dropped goal and 1 try, and W. L. Morgan 1 try, Harding kicking three good goals. This was the first occasion on which the Welsh and Richmond had met, and from the way in which the game was played, this fixture should stand for many years. The weather at West Ham was not very inviting, hence the very poor gate, but those who witnessed the game had full value for their money. Boxing Day saw the London Welsh XV at Llanelly. Nine out of the team selected failed to turn up, and the result was that Captain Williams had to find substitutes for many places in his team on the morning of the game. Llanelly, who had conquered Cardiff on the previous Saturday, turned out a good XV, but the Welsh made them go all the way to win, and at one time the Londoners led by 8 points, scored by Stanley Davies (a Llanelly boy who is at Goldsmith's College), and J. F. Williams, but during the last 20 minutes the men from Sospan Town did splendidly and crossed the visitors' line three times, all of the tries being converted by Lockman, the Llanelly back, who also kicked a penalty goal for them, the result being a win for Llanelly by 4 goals (1 penalty) to 1 goal 1 try. Gabe, S. Davies, Vivian, Jenkins, Harding, and Roberts, did great work for the Welsh, and had their full side been available, they might have caused the Llanelly team and supporters a very anxious time. D. M. Davies, Lackman, and M. Williams did well of the home backs, while their forwards-so a London Welsh forward informed me—was the best pack he had seen in Wales for many years for wheeling and close dribbling. Their tackling was something to remember, but nothing dirty was witnessed throughout the game. # The Welsh, with practically a full side out, tried conclusions with Cardiff on Decem- ber 28th. Cardiff were short of Bush and Williams, and the Welsh of Maddocks and Gabe. This match was brimful of excite- ment right up to the last minute, and the Welsh played a grand game. Their forwards were much better than Cardiff's, with the exception of heeling, in which department the citizens are very hard to beat. Cardiff, in the first half, with the assistance of a strong wind, could not penetrate the Welsh defence, and the second half was well ad- vanced before Niell started his backs going from a long line out, McCreath scoring wide for them. Dyke, a few minutes later, missed a very high punt from Winfield on his line, and Powell, being handy, scored a fairly easy second try for Cardiff. Dyke had hard lines for a dropped goal, and J. F. Williams was once pulled up by the Referee when in a splendid position to score, the result being a win for Cardiff by two tries to nil. Winfield's kicking was good, but his defence was shaky. Gibbs was the best of the Cardiff backs, and should easily find his way into the Welsh International XV this year. Niell, Northmore. and Casey were the better of a good lot of forwards, but the latter appears to me to forget his scrummage work for open show. Harding, J. F. Wil- liams, Jenkins, Watkins, and J. A. Davies, did good all-round work for the Welsh, whilst Clay, Hawkins, and Coppoch, worked hard throughout, and the defeat, small though it was, was through no fault of the visiting forwards. Morgan, at half, was excellent, and took plenty of hard knocks, but his partner Pritchard was rather weak in attack. The two visiting centres showed the Welsh Union members present that there are other centres capable of upholding the honour of Wales in their Internationals besides the centres from Cardiff and Pontypool. Really Gwilym Jones and Tom Lloyd did splendidly. Neagle and L. Dyke, on the wings, were good, while J. C. M. Dyke played a fine game at back his kicking was good and his defence superb. The London Welsh in- creased their reputation by their display in Wales during the Xmas holidays. The following paragraph, written by Mr. D. H. Bowen, Llanelly, is taken from the Western Mail of 30th December :— The London Welshmen brought down a good side, but dropped some of it before they reached scarlet-town, with the result that substitutes had to be found for them. I was hardly surprised at this, for conversation with some London Welshmen went to show that there is not great satisfaction with the methods of dealing with their various teams. The members of the teams other than the first under their wings complain of want of attention. They point to too much depen- dence on outside help to the exclusion of help that lies ready at hand. These teams pay their own expenses, and think quite freely that the chance of playing for the firsts, where expenses are undertaken by the club, should be a consideration, even apart from the question of football progress. If this complaint be true, it is understandable that the first team was short of players, while London Welshmen played for other sides in Wales. The game at Llanelly I did not see, but A. F. Harding's work and that of Vivian at half is spoken very highly of by many who did." All I can say in answer to it is that the information obtained by Mr. Bowen is not. quite correct. During this season only three outsiderg have assisted the Welsh other than at Llan- elly, and two of the three were ex-London Welsh players, and were in town at the time spending their holidays. Mr. Bowen also states that the expenses of the firsts are undertaken by the club. This is incorrect to a great extent. The players of all the London Welsh teams pay their own expenses in or near London, and only when they go away to Wales, the Midlands, or the West, are the expenses paid out of the club funds. The team selected to play against Llanelly was composed of the players who have assisted the Welsh in the majority of their games this season but what was the Captain to do when he had nine refusals on the morning of the match, through missed trams and injuries, &c., but to look for local help, and three of those who assisted were London Welsh boys on holiday in Llanelly. One, Vivian, had played for the Welsh before, and is a constant member of the A team. Per- haps Mr. Bowen got his information from certain players who assisted a Glamorgan club on December 26th; if so, all I can say is, that those players have been tried by the London Welsh, and have been passett over for better men, who are also Welshmen and resident in London. The London Welsh and Cheltenham game, arranged for last Saturday, was postponed owing to frost. The next game at West Ham is on the 18th inst., when Gloucester will be the visitors. WELSH FORWARD.

"Oes y Byd i'r laith Gymraeg." TH E L. C C. WELSH EVENING CLASSES are now being held at the HUGH MYDDELTON SCHOOL* Corporation Row, Clerkenwell (3 minutes from Farringdon St. District Railway Station) Elementary Monday Evenings, 7.0 to 9.3€b Advanced: Friday n „ Fee for Session, 2s. Bd. Teacher: GORONWY OWEN, M.A. Correspondence to FF. ITHEL MORGAN, Whitehall House, Charing Cross, S.W. Bydd yn kyfrydwch gan y Golygydd dderbyr" Gohehiaethau ac erthyglau i'w hystyried, omi nis gellir ymrwymo i ddychwelyd ysgrifard gwrtkodedig.