The San Francisco call., 1913-11-01


Rugby-the real genuine article-or
the idea OF giving the public a. goo
it a ssnothering gane.2s
Both teams: can play the open !
teams imagine. that by making .the
the other fellows passing rushes
opposition .fsom scoring. That. has
tlng OF the great majority OF games
VARSITY. 6 =; = /.
"A The idea is wrong and the':wof
demonstrated that..the. only. way. 10
play Rugby is to let the other sfal-
low try. and open TIP the game, and
then your own teams wiil get the: same
chance, and under these, conditions II
is a situation where attack proves to
be the best defense.
The play of the California team last
Saturday against New Zealand in the
first half amply demonstrated that the
blue and gold does know how to play
the open game. The California back
field men when they did get the ball
showed wonderful ability to carry and
advance the oval through the New
Zealand defense. s.
90 STRONG IN BACK FIELD
It was great piece of work that
California put up for those few min
utes and if the. blue and gold. shows
the. same passing ability and keeps
up. the good work for more than the
few minutes spasm that held sway last
Saturday. the Stanford team is going
at6. be hard pressed. to stem the tide
'of. attack that wiil be hurled on their
Zine.
3: Stanford. like California, has shown
splendid back field work and the early
season games were something that
proved worth while f5.om the bleach
5ers point of view To-Day the students
at Stanford are Of the opinion that
their. back field Is the fastest and bet
:.ter attacking side of the two.
;.sTo' those who havesseen both teams
play and studied their methods the
work Of the Stanford men needs some
2 Improvement. II Stanford's backs field
can get into the stride it hit in the
early games wnen Danny Carol was
playing hve-eighths with Austin. then
the adherents Of the cardinal .,woI2ld
have a chance to uphold the reputa-
ton that the studies at present give It.
College pride and patriotism at both
vafsities is naturally so great stAat
Che average student can not sseee the
other fellows side Sf the argument
until the game is over. This self
same pride, etc. makes Stanford men,
fail to see where the California back
field is better than their own. and in
cidentally the same pride prevents
/ The California fellows from seeing
lthat the Stanford back field ~stlu has
I. chance TO come back. -
PLAY "SMOTHERING GAsrEg
Stanford has "a reputation of. com
ing back strong in the last week of
practice and tbe whole student body
at the farm rs thoroughly. con
WINGED and satisfied that the men. will
rise u the OCCASION. and put.up a game
that will bring: victory TO the cards. ::
. Both teams play.'what the New Yea
slanders call thee .snothefings game"
). In other. words the BACK field is mot
-Fsrven an .oportInfty to get under way
..and sthis naturally takes away from
stae. real Rugby side. Of the game and
,.Filakes the. game more Of a. scramble.
sTith kittle SCIENCE AND. less head work
If this method is adopted next Satur-
day: the play. 5viIl favor the heayier
calif6rnias forwards.
: The best: exhibition. of Rugby foot
bali thas. has been played between
Stanford and California was.the game
'in' 1909: when California won after a
= long series OF. .reyerses... That was an
open. game. and. plainly. showed. Call
g-fornia the advantage, of opening up
the. play:
.sFt was old Billy Howe'ss master
mind; that. won that game, and his
metRods. were noticeable in the play
Throughout :. A few more games like
that 1893 affair. with both teams real.
oizing that the open method is the
count. to win, then Rugby. will make
giant strides,
FkST w02Ixs. WILL COUNT. 80
New Zealand. players. claim that
theys have met the. best hook ers: on
front ofankers cam live up to 9the rep
. utatjon given them sby the New Zeal-
anders in the game next Saturday,
the Stanford backs Will have an ideal
opportunity to- get.e into action ana
.1pen up the game With a good set
1 of ahookers ohalf the battle is won,
but there as still the other half to
win "Possessfon. Is nine epoints of
the law" sand the saying holds good
with the securing of the ball in the
If Stanford is able to SECURE the
ball in the serum X wills' have the
opening Ip'stha' play Then. it will be
up to the. aialfback TO. feed his backs.
II thee: Stanford haifback can show
his ability to shoot the ball out to
the ifves. quickly and accurately. then
it axills be fp- 70. the other back field
men TO s..come through sand play the
game that. the Stanford students at
present give them ecredit for.
REFEREEs roo: LENIENT
The one thing that usually spoils
the game locally is the breaking of
the scru7ns too soon. California and
Stanford serum 1nleno are no. excep-
tien 10 this rule, and in aeverys game
played the forwards are seldom on
side orsce the ball gets past the front
row men.
Local referees do not interpret the
rules strictly enough on this point,
and the consequence is that the game
naturally develops into forward
scramble, with Illegal interference of
the opposition back field and smoth-
ering OF the passing is result
Referee Billy Hill is too wise a
bird TO miss this sort OF stuff. and
thereby hangs tale.