It was most unfortunate, to start with, that so many prominent French players should have found it impossible to make the long Journey to Belfast, where, ay a matter of fact, no French international side ever had—appeared before. As the team took the field the three-quarter line was come posed entirely of reserves, for the tone survivor, Pascot, had to. move up into the" stand-off—half-back position in order to fill the gap left by Clu Manoir's defection. Frenchmen may be left to estimate precisely the loss to their side of men like Besson, Behotéguy, Jaurregu, and Clu Manoir. Loss of invaluable experience and scoring] power there must have been though it is only fair to the reserves to add that they did quite honourably well. Graule, one of the centres, proved himself, in fact, to be an aggressive player of great possibilities, his cuts-through never failing to have the Irish defence in a tangle, fortunately for his side, the only men to support him at all effec tively were the two forwards Bioussa and Piquiral, who, on one occasion, had rather bad luck not to gain'a try between them. the rightwing one noted the remarkable speed of Revillon, not in attack so much as in defence, An Exciting Eh Revillon's pursuit, of Cussen, fter the latter had intercepted a pass and found the open, was the great moment of the second half—indeed of the match. Cussen one:
Know was a sprinter of repute and ready in the match had shown is paces without any luck. This time, however, his intelligent incussion into midfield to help break up a very wild round of passing by the Frenchmen seemed to have produced a certainty. Having leapt: for the ball, his speed carried him ina swerve towards the left wing and well past the full-back, It was only then that one noticed: Revillon speeding back, but apparently ten yards too late. The French wing' miraculously gained, ay, eight of the ten yards, and spread out a hand, There was no touch, and Cussen reached so near! to the goal-line that a yard or so more and then a final fling must have given him a try that Belfast] would: have remembered and talked: about for years. Instead the French runner made, perhaps, the great] athletic effort of his life and sprang forward and collared his man from behind. It was the perfect low] tackle, and Cussen fell at the spot here his left foot rested for the sixtieth of a second on the ground.
Better team work and a sounder Knowledge of the game brought the Irish victory, which, though) well deserved, was hardly com ing, against a side who had" had to make so many changes. Fieree rushes, so typical of Irish forward play, were conspicuous by. their absence, while slaverly heeling by the pack in the early stages made the task of the half-backs a difficult one, George Stephenson, who, with! achieved a personal triumph ' in scoring both tries and kicking a penalty goal.
Tt is hardly necessary to describe} the play itself in any detail. France kicked off against the wind and though Crawford nearly dropped a goal for Ireland the game was mostly in the Irish half for the frst 20 minutes, but eventually France was penalized and Stephenson just missed getting a goal.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.