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AUSTRALIAN REMS.

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AUSTRALIAN REMS. 3ome Doings Down' Under. BY PERCY F. BUSH. 1 I Now tha.t our very good friends the Australians are with us once more every- thing in and about Cardiff is tinged with light blue, the Colonial colour. As I write these words the very sky accommo- dates itself to the prevailing fee-Ling, and shows a bold bltte front, identical in shade with the Australian jerseys. By the time these words are being read—no light blue this time, you observe—the "Grate Fite" iei finished; the satisfied aide sits smoking serenely with the feci- Tag of complacency which cwfy victory i brings; the dissatisfied side, dark'v i dolorous, ponder gloomily over what might have been if only So-and-so had passed when he failed to pass. and if "Yo,u hadn't tried to pick up the b-ally ball. vou silly chump! Why didn't you j go on dribbling it?" And se, on, and so forth, and so fifth, if you like. The feeling which comes to me—and I expect to those otheTs watching the first game that ever wa,s between Aus.tralia and Wales; those others, that is, who have participated in international games with the Austral: airs bcivre-is. one which comes from the memory of those games. The first test iiiat-ch between the 1904 A'nglo-Auabriaiiia.n team and Australia naturally occurs to one's mind. It was termed by the press Britain v. Aus- tralia," and was played on the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday. July 2, 1904. How many footballers would care to play footbadl at all in July. let alone an international match? How would Julyke to play football yourself in thtat balmy monitth, gentle reader ? t Think tliia-t last paragraph over. You can have it for nothing, and you need not fear copyright proceedings. There were about 35,000 people on the ground, and to us tihing3 from the Old Country it was quite an experience to see stra.w hats all around the ropes, and gaily-coloured dreestes worn by the ladies. We get overcoats, mackintoshes, a.nd ■umbrellas here, yo-u see, and pleruty of rain a.nd mnd, but the only sign of iiinibreliias at Sydney t'hat. day was a parasol here and there. Afoer the Australian aide bad been selected we had some idea of wfoiat we al l We felt had to meet, bur, ail the -same,, we felt much like our little friends from "Down Under" felt for this after,noon's match. The tesMn as chosen included St,a,n Wick- ham, w ii-ol- is wstih the Wallabies tibia tour, and "Snowy' Baker, who very nearly won the boxing ohampio'iisihap at the Stadium t'other day, only being bemten by J. W. H. T. K. L. C. B. Douglas in the final. As Rusty Gabe and I were walking down George-sitreeft. Sydney, on the Friday before the ma.tch several raitther rough-looking gentlemen accosted us, and begged us to Waut till uddv gets hold cuf yon yo-u won't look I so Thait night 1 dreamed horrible dreams of being pursued, captured, an d devoured by a huge and horrid Juddv; for. although. 1 had never seem one, ye-t I j knew it mst be someithing dreadful i from tihe evident deligtht with wihicii our tormentors had tonteimplated his "geDtang hold of us." We did l't corns across him till tihe aftenmson cF the and then he I turned out to be nothing more harimful than a fcT>ww.-r-d by the name of J lld-d- Karcid, Cthr?.tam n?me. For my own pant, I never W';Il t'? mee? a c1œne.r forward, bat even r.ow I &f'te?i thin? I of that threat of being Torn by a Wild Juddy. I On the morning of the match an old ie a? ivh i(,t l-l gentleman ca.m-e to the hcntelry at which we were staying and ervgr.god us in con- verse. lIt appeared ti;1. he was from j she ''Oki and was, cnnse- q neatly. very kern that we should win. "E intend to pm;ra.t a trophy to tihe man who scores ifrst, said he, '"and I loave it to JOu" (lurmng to "Darkey" Sivriight) "to decide what that trophy j j shall be." The skipper refused to have anyttihmg to do with it, but- the old gentleman would not be aatii-lrd u-ntol j we had agreed that the first man who scored should go to Jeweller Kerr and select something from his stock. "Darkev" S. remarked that. he didn't Kerr a,bollt it a,t all, but, as his accent justified t,be rotten attempt, we let him live. I mention this to give or slip, or cover-point, or something to what comes now. The crarfty Ruatv Gabe, always with an eye to busri.neis, came up to me' after the old siport had taken his silk hat away 1 with him, and said, "Look here, Trix" —that was me—"let us go into partner- ship over this, shall we? If either of us two scores we will snag* the. trophy. So you a.nd I w keep an eye on each other, if you agree." Rusty evidently snap-acted that I .m.igbt possibly get the ball before he did, and establish a. permanent holding on i.t; for I I'm frightfully selfi-h, you know, on t'he field. A good judge of football wrote that about me one day, so I know it's true; he is a g-od judge, too, because he says so himself. Anyway, I agreed, and so replied, "Very well, Rice"—he is aiwiays am noyed i,f you call h^m that— "we will snaig." And thereby is I attached a narrative. The game was a, ding-dong one for a. long time, but the Blues had rather a ¡ lot of lemon, or pumniiat. at half-time, and we lasted better. The s??o'.d r:.¡f w&s about nf??en minutes old before that trophy looked like materialising, and then it did so quite • unsxpecit-cxrly. Aui-itra-ha were attacking, and a ai-rcag rush carried the bill over our 23, and straight for t,he goal. But thc.t Rusty henelh.ma.Ti, Gra.be, dropped from the skies, "piniahed" the j ball, and wa. off up the field like a oamel looking for water in the desert. Teddy Morgan his game, thought of the troprhy, and rushed after him on the Qpen side. Percy Buah £ -a.w his game, thought of t,he trophy, and cantered after hi.ni on the blind .side. Verge, tihe full-ba,clc, j waited for the trio on the verge of the halt'pay line. Rhys Gabe saw Teddy and Percy following, and, knowing that Teddy was yards farter, he melD,t to pass to him. But suddE,nh he heard a small, pan-ting voice: Risty!" "Re-member the trophy. Rusty!" The temptation was too great. Rutty reached Ve-ge. and handed the ball over to the Trophy-hunter, who ran about five miles a.nd scorod in t.he earner. The moo- it w.as that by tihe TVeMi Union rules we found we were unable to accept our reward, and Rhys wias quite concerned tihat he hadn't made Teddy a, present of that, try instead of giving it to the other rascal. After this we got a dropped goal, and then Willie Batch Llewelyn get a. couple of con verted tries, and we won by seven- teen points to nil. It is i niter eating to kuülv what men played in that game, the first test, fo.r Great Britain, so here tihey a.re: —■ Full Hack: §C. F. Stanger-Leaiihes (dubbed "Strange Le,aitilier," by the "Ba rnJl.:lkcrs"). Tiiree-qiiartter backs: tE. Morgan, tR. T. Gabe, §A. B. O'B.rien, and fWillie Lknve-h'in. Half-backs: Si". C. Hulme and tP. F. Bush. F?'-??rds: "D. R. B?MI-?ivri?t, tA. F. Hording, §D. D?o.n, t?vd Bcv?n. §B. J. SA.ar.moli, ?J. N. Ciowtlh-^r, :D. H. Traill, -aiicl --NlcK. Saunders. § EtJigJa nd. J Sent la nd. t Wales Not a bad tea.m, mv roasters, and &ix We!clli3rs in it! 0 There's little more to be -c;cl about tfeat match, and that lit-t-le -iLi keep for anouher time. "J. M. 8." is waiting for this copy so as to embellish it, and now you have read it y-ou cam comfort your- selves, wbatever may be your ideas on the game played this afternoon, that Welshman had more than a little to do with the down, tail c.f our doughty a.nd sporting kinsmen, not only in the match I have spoken of, bidt I ii the orher two te'?ts played be?tw?en Au?'ti?alLa and Great Biutain. (*Hobro'.v for "aha-re and sibare alike.")

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