THE COTTONIAN
have predicted our defeat. Anyway we did lose and did so deservedly. The Mount forwards came to life and bustled our tiring forwards off their game. Their three-quarters kicked ahead and worried Appleton repeatedly. They scored one try because our two centres converged on one opponent, then one of our half-backs was clearly offside and within a few minutes of half-time we were losing. This was a very good game of rugger which-from our point of viewsuddenly went wrong but much of the credit for the Mount victory must go to their wing-forward Robinson, who gave Middleton a terrible time in the second half and completely upset the rhythm of our game. The photographs we took of this match came out very well.
We also lost the next match against King's, Macclesfield, but this was not really due to the skill of our opponents. They had a rugged set of forwards who kept the ball very close and our own forwards revelled in the robust play which the referee saw lit to allow. The result was that the ball rarely saw the light of day in the second half when we had the advantage of the slope and were only trailing by two points, thanks to a try by Middleton round the side of the scrum.
the the Stafford match we played inspired rugby on a muddy pitch with a ball that should have been very difficult to handle. Three days later we were still playing the same kind of football and visibly shook the Moseley Public Schools' side for we were leading at half-time by 16-0. On the day of the Newcastle match Tod was away for an interview at Oxford but even his absence, or our own play, does not explain our defeat here by 5 points to 3. The Ratcliffe match has already been mentioned. Tod and Middleton scored two tries in the first half and we looked forward to some good rugger in the second half. We were sadly disappointed. The forwards on both sides
enjoyed themselves but no one else did, including Mr A. Cotterill, who refereed. Godwin mysteriously received the ball on one occasion and scored.
Last year King's, Macclesfield, gave us a good drubbing. This year, in appalling conditions, it was the turn of Nottingham High School. With a big pack of forwards and a splendid back row directed by Hayward, who kicked a sixty yard penalty goal against us two years ago, they rightly chose to keep the ball close. We had to try to get it out because our forwards were completely out-weighted and of course that meant far more mistakes on our part.
It was quite clear that our forwards had learnt a great deal from the Nottingham match when we played Trent. With the same strong wind at our backs that had tormented us a few days before, we proceeded to give Trent the same treatment that Nottingham had given us. Tod and Middleton each scored three times, Godwin and Shipman twice each. Trent fought back gamely but the first half had put us in an unassailable position.
The game against King Edward's, Birmingham, proved a very even, enjoyable affair. We were once more running well with the ball but bad handling on our part and good tackling by King Edward's kept us out. They were the first to score, after about twenty minutes in the first half, and they held on to their lead well into the second despite a try by Brumby and it was not until the last five minutes that Middleton stole away to put de Ville over. King Edward's then launched some furious attacks on our line and there was some careless play on our part until Tasker received the ball in the last moment of the match and ran very determinedly to score in the corner.
Our visit to Oscott was as enjoyable as ever despite our lack of success on the field where we were rather taken by surprise. We narrowly managed to reverse the decision