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Welsh Rugby football on Saturday achieved a triumph of incalculable value in this the crisis of its fortunes. For the decisive, and in some respects brilliant, defeat of the Scotch fifteen cannot fail to induce a rally of patriotic sentiment in favour of the code in which Cymric endeavour has been niofit resplendently ble"s?d with victories, And the eireet will appreciably help clubs exposed to the rivalry of the Association game, with its superior organisation and alluring appeal to the public. The moral value of the win—which excited an enthusi- asm amongst the onlookers that later in- I focted more or less all Welsh lovers of l sport—is only to be appraised by taking into account the probable fleet in the present circumstances of a proved inferiority of Cymric sides in the international tourney. E&ca<pe from this contingency is somewhat of a surprise, for, judging by every avail- able means of comparison, Welsh Rugby had struck a lean patch-made worse by the de- predations of the Northern Union clubs— and the general disposition was to antici- pate the worst in the encounters with tke chosen of England, Scotland and Ireland. The match at Twickenham quite unex- pectedly revealed so high a standard of efficiency in the Welsh forwards that. de- spite the practical' collapse of the third line, the critics with one voice declared the wearers of the Scarlet jersey deserved the victory, only lost by a single point. W itn only a couple of changes amongst the three- quarters, by the displacement of two players by others quite as new to international foot- ball, a, team was pitted against, the Scots v hioh f-o completely overwhelmed them that the latter, in tfie closing stages of the growe, seemed hatf-paralysed. They could neither attack nor defend effectively, and in the ex- pressive language of an old international had not "a gallop nor a kick left in them. This was the more astonishing because Scot/ land, in Siewart, Will and Sntherland. had probably the three fastest three-quart n-s ever played together, any one of whom was capable of showing a clean pair cf heels to the fleetest of the Welshmen. In the course of the first three minutes a perfectly executed movement by the Scotch backs, which placed Stewart. their speediest man, in a position to use his pace, resulted in a goal. This appeared to demonstrate the soundness of the view that the Scotch forwards were not to be hustled as were the English at Twickenham, and that the Welsh defence would be unequal to the task of holding in check the fleet-footed Scotch backs. But the try which, by the apparent ease cf its accomplishment, spread consternation amongst the Welsh spectators was destined to be the only success of the visitors. The Welsh forwards, settling down to their game, asserted a superiority which became more and more marked the Welsh halves outplay d—as they were ex- pected to—their opponents, and the third line, composed entirely, of youngsters, im proved as they gained confidence in their ability to frustrate the formidable quar- tette, rightly believed to represent the chief .strength of Scotland. Only in the case of Wallace, the full-back, were Scotch hopes realised the Cantab was splendidly resourceful throughout. But for him the score might 'have beei colossal. The manner in which the total of 24 points was made up discloses the secret of the Welsh success. When it was 15 points every possible kind of score under Rugby rmles, namely, a dropped goal, a, pen- alty goal, a converted goal, and a try, had been made. Afterwards came another dropped goal and a zoil from a try, the conversion of which, from a moft difficult angle, was Bancroft's most noteworthy con- tribution to the Welsh victory. For it was in what the "Times" described in advance as "quickness in perception," the distinc- tive quality of Welsh rides, and opportun- ism in seizing chances that the fifteen re- presenting Wales excelled. The drops for goal—there were several that failed deplor- ably of effect, which set on edge the teeth of pro-Welsh spectators--testif-ed to the re- spect for the stopping power of tve speedy Scotch backs And this was not unwar- ranted. for only thrice was the Scotch line crossed, despite the big adverse score, and only once wae the defence really beaten in a frontail attack by. the Wesh backs ex ecuted on orthodox lines. The determining factor in the match was the overmastering influence of the Welsh foi wards, wiio not only controlled the scrim mages throughout, and in the loose were m-arly irresistible, but were also so quick in breaking up to help the backs in steriiis- ing the speed of the Scotch three-quarters that the latter were rarely allowed a chance to get into movement. Under the favour- able conditions thus produced the Welsh third line, made up of comparative novices, gained confidence, and with Lloyd and Lewis Mhe latter really splendid in defence as well as attack) serving them well, rendered in- ocnspicuous their inferiority in speed and experience to the Sooteh quartette. If ;here had been on Saturday a four for Wales oqual to Nicholls, Gabe, Morgan and Llew- .Jlyn the score would have been doubled, if not trebled, so frequent were the chances provided by a tireless and triumphant pack and a clever pair of halves. This conclu- sion implies no reproach to the four young- sters composing the Welsh third line. They performed uhcommonly well, especially in defence, and when thev have acquired more experience may serve Wales finely. But one ilmost shudders in thinking of the possibil- ities if the Welsh forwards had failed and th0 Scotch halves had been able to feed swiftlv and often three-quarters of the cali- bre of Stewart, Win and Sutherland. However. there stands the fact indisput- able of a defeat of Scotland by 24 poirr- íi ',c--th{'h{'a ,it 3L on record. It is 22 years since the Scotch won a match on Welsh [ soil. Only once in the last ten years have they succeeded anywhere against the elsh. The record appears the more as- tonishing because Scotch -nfluence on the British Press outside Scotland is such that every season Scottish ducks are made to appear as swans. Fore and aft the pick of Scotland have nearly always been routed by the Welsh, but without disposing of the le- gendary superiority of the sons of Scotia. EHm Saturday's crushing defeat, follow- ing many others, will probably fail to shake this belief.

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