quite first-class.

At half, Evans and A. E. R. Gilligan have left a terrible gap.
But again fortune is on our side, as we have in Killick (2nd XV)
a worthy successor to the latter--very quick off the mark, and an
excellent giver and taker of passes; while Jensen (2nd XV) shows
promise of becoming a really "class" scrum worker. At present his
chief fault is inaccuracy of direction, but that will soon
vanish. Both these halves are excellent in defence. Again, Hooker
(3rd XV) is a very useful scrum half, but slow in attack. For the
full-back position we have that wily old veteran Ariffin (2nd
XV), whose kicking has distinctly improved since last year. He
tackles as well as ever. Sellick (3rd XV) is a useful back, but
weak in defence.

So, gentlemen, outside the scrum all is well. But what of the
scrum itself? This, we don't deny, is going to be a difficult
problem. It is not that there isn't plenty of good stuff. Hellier
and Gilkes (2nd XV), Hoggan, Schlund, Cat and Fischer (all 3rd
XV)--here is the nucleus of a fine pack, not to mention a host of
hefty and keen fellows as yet without colours. But the difficulty
lies in the traditions of the past. Since 1912, our forwards have
steadily deteriorated as our backs have got better and better. It
was always the way last year that, if we had a ground wet to any
degree, we were as good as beaten--look at the Easter term, for
example. Also, the helplessness of the forwards threw a lot too
much work on the outsides. This has got to be stopped. You can't
always get weather to suit your team's outsides. We must learn
how to play a forward game when it's necessary. We must learn
to screw, to wheel, to shove and to rush. We repeat, the
individuals are there, but they have to be trained into a
combination. The outsides are so brilliant that they can be
trusted faithfully to fulfil the work of passing and open-side
attack.

Our chief efforts this year must be directed to the training of
the forwards: (1) to play a truer forward game; (2) and not to
forget how to attack and adopt open-side tactics when necessary.
Once the teams have re-learnt these lessons, the games will
automatically do so. In the days of Jordan, Mackinnon and Green
we won as many matches by our forwards as by our outsides. It is