Weather conditions prior to the match were all but good. It had ruined steadily two days before the game, and the morning of the con-fest dawned grey "and threatening. Although the rugby pitches on the: Race Course were under water, the: superior drainage of the Canidrome ground, kept that pitch in fairly good wick, on Bldwell's wing, ran hard for the line and was difficult to. stop. Blackwood had his hands full' marking K. A. Munro and. honours for the day were about even.
Roe and Tarr were up against two experienced players in Grieve and Bidwell and did well to hold them defence. In attack, however, they Were prone to crowd one another and Tarr was gullly of hanging on to the ball too long. Roe had bad luck on more than one occasion in not shak-Ing his way through the defence.
J.P, Whitham the Hongkong full-bade played well but was on the slow side, Of the threes "H. D, Bidwell was the best with his side-stepping and swerving running which had the local defence bewildered.
Grieve backed him up well, and hand-lod successfully, and G. K! Chadwick was the better of the wings, exhibit= ing a fine tum of speed, to D,.H. Stewart's detriment. K. A. Munro of, the other wing was useful with his weight but was not very fast. A. H. R. Butcher combined well with Bon-har, exhibiting a safe pair of hands. It was noticed that in contrast to the Shanghai players, he got the ball out quickly, and' there was no time allowed: for the opposite number to Ret up to his man before he received the ball J. 1, Bonnar played a good game at the base of the serum and made several dangerous runs on his own, particularly "in the second half. Of the forwards, A. F, Walkden, Hongkkong's captain, and K. A, Watson were much to' the fore in' the loose.
45. Bowerman and A, G. White were the' two best men in the Shanghai team. White overshadowed his eaptain by his consistency. Te made no mistakes with his handling and kicking, and while he may not. have gained the length of Taylor's Demonstrating their superiority. in no uncertain manner, the visiting Hongkong Football Club Ist XV ran roughshod over the Rest of Shanghai in their meeting on February 13, and defeated the local side by a goal, 2 penalty goal and six tries (20 points) fo'a try (@ points). Only a" small crowd turned out at the Canidrome to see the touring team's second and concluding match, the visitors again impressing with their excellent handling" and three-quarter" movements, in contrast to the Shanghai team's weakness in this type of play.
The Canidrome. pitch had lived up to ils. reputation and remained drier than any other in town, but the cold snap overnight had frozen the turf, end the morning sun had failed to thaw much of the surface moisture, In consequence. play was started on a fairly hard surface, but as the frost thawed, the eld became muddy and the ball developed a slight coating of slippery mud making. it diMeult to hold, while the ground under-foot was getting more and more soft, Nevertheless, it was enough for the outsides In both teams to go through open movements
shone, in this respect Hongkong again As in the case of their meeting with the Shanghai Interport XV, Hongkong failed to get going well atthe "start, and the Rest en-Joyed the better of things for the earlier minutes. But this was only 2 flash in the pan. for the Colony team soon settled down and scored their "opening try, followed by a Penalty goal, and another try to give them a 9-0 ead at the interval, In the second half, the local team fell away badly and the visitors piled fon iry afler try, a relief coming When the Rest gained. their only score of the maich—a try brought about by a fine three-quarter movement. At this period the score stood at 15-3, but Hongkong were not to be denied and they went on to increase the margin to 20-3 when the whistle for "no side" went Hongkong F.C. ist XV—J. P_ Whi ham it. Van "tgeuwen, WB Grove, He". idwell. G- ko. Chadwick. A. Bonnar. EP. Mum:
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.