Midland Strength; League Cupholders Lose Results of Rugby matches received, in Shanghai yesterday reveal that "Midland strength provided by three teams—Northampton, Coventry, and Bedford—probably will have a direct pearing on County Championship matches. to be played later in the season.
In the North, Rugby League results contained little in the way of sur-Prises, all the major teams gaining victories with the exception of Salford, last year's cup winners, who lost to Broughton Rangers, and Rochdale Hornets, who were defeated by Halifax. Keighley gained a fine away win at the expense of Featherstone Rovers, a poor team, while Halifax are to be congratulated on their 35-15 win over the strong Rochdale Hornets combination. The match, however, was played at Thrum Hall and Halifax are always hard to beat on their own pitch. Leeds, Barrow, Huddersfield, who defeated Barley on the Leeds ground, Oldham and Warrington all secured wins.
Turning again to the Rugby Union results and the County Championship, it appears: that the East Midlands, which is composed mainly of Northampton and Bedford players, and Warwickshire, in which side were included last season, eleven Coventry men, including Jimmy Giles, their England scrum-half, and players from the nearby Rugby Club XV, should constitute a serious menace fo Lancashire, present champions.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.