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excellent. He was awarded his colours on 29th October and on the following day he was badly concussed in a practice game. He was out of the side for a fortnight but it was some time longer before he was his old self again and the side suffered as a consequence. He and Tasker kept the middle of the field well shuttered and barred with their good tackling. Godwin always ran hard, handled well, threw the ball accurately into the line-outs and had a devastating tackle when he had room to use it.
K. Middleton did many very valuable things at scrum-Half. Often the ball came out quickly and accurately, and lie always covered very well in defence. Occasionally lie had a bad day and kicked the ball inexorably clown the right-hand touch-line but all in all he has given us two years' excellent service. His break for the line against King Edward's, Birmingham, after feeding Tod faithfully all the afternoon, won us this match in the last few minutes.
13. Scott had some good games at full-back. He took over from J. Appleton who was a very reliable place-kicker but seemed rather slow across the field when chasing a kick ahead. It seemed a pity with his weight and size not to have him in the side somewhere and such was his team spit it and endeavour that within three weeks he was a very valuable member of the middle-row with Duffy. He continued to learn with every match and thoroughly deserved his colours. Others who gained their colours in the forwards were F. Shipman and 1'. Lloyd. Shipman ranged the field tirelessly and very quickly. He often delayed the opposition until reinforcements arrived and we had gained another valuable thirty yards. Some of the tries he scored by backingup were beauties, especially against Trent and K.E.S., Stafford. Lloyd was another forward who was quick on the ball and he seemed to enjoy his tackling. He should be an excellent number eight next year. This
year, despite his lack of weight, he was a little apt to charge with the ball into the ranks of the foe instead of passing the ball out. With this curb to his zest he should prove to be a very valuable asset.
J. Boucher and P. Kenny keenly disputed the position of hooker and the problem was only solved when Boucher went to prop forward after the injury to K. Martin in the King's, Macclesfield, match. R. Brumby did a great deal of hard work at blind-side wing-forward and with more stamina-he also led the Under i6 forwards-he should be very useful. B. Tinney should also make a very good forward next year. He held his place until Appleton took over.
The result of our opening match against Adams's G.S. flattered us by the margin of our victory but it showed us that Appleton was an accurate place-kicker, without having a great deal of length, and it gave the side some confidence. After all, we had only been back at School a week. Wolverhampton R.U.F.C. tried to get us fit but unhappily the process was not completed before Ellesmere's visit. They always have a useful set of forwards and this year was no exception. In the second half they were rather on top and were quick to score when given a chance. This match was refereed by Mr A. Lees (Manchester Society), who kindly offered his services when Mr F. Parker, for once, was unavailable for this mid-week match.
The Ellesmere match should have driven home the lightness of our forwards but this did not really sink in until after the game against Mount St Mary's. We were leading 6-0 at half-time, thanks to a left-footed drop goal by Tasker and a penalty by de Ville, and playing rugger that was really good to see. Looking back it is easy to see that the writing was already on the wall in that we had failed to cross the Mount line in the face of some excellent tackling but it would have been a rash man who would