Mr. Wakefield on Rugby Football Rugger. By W. W. Wakefield

and H. P. Marshall. (Longman. 15s.) ONLY one man in the history of Rugby football—Mr. R. Owen, the Welsh player—has gained more International caps than Mr. W. W. Wakefield, the joint-author of this remarkable and welcome book. The book has the right spirit from beginning to end and is the best- exposition of the game we have ever read. It may be classed for quality with Dr. Warre's Grammar of Rowing and Dr. G. C. Bourne's Text Book of Oarsmanship, although we cid not pretend that it is so learned as either of those treatises. Cricket still awaits as good a book. If any generous uncle wishes to give a nephew a book which will tell the boy how to play the game—in both senses—he cannot do better than give him this. It is surprising to learn that Mr. Wakefield, who seems perfectly contented when the game is on the fierce side, originally disliked Rugby football. A reluctant or timid boy, who finds the compulsory football at his school a misery, might conceivably be helped out of that state of mind by this book. It is on record that a very unsoldierlike young soldier was thus transported by the novels of Charles Lever ; after reading those rollicking stories he, fortunately, could never afterwards rid his mind of the feeling that physical risks were a kind of joke. is well knoxin that it was matnly Mr. Wakefield who

helped England " to come back " in Rugby football. The Scottish players had learned to think of the English scrummage as tame and lethargic. They do not think so now. When Mr.

Wakefield, who is characteristically a forward—though he is as fast on his feet as many three-quarters of the first rank—

suggests developments in play outside the pack, he, of course, exposes himself to the retort,: " Well, these are the opinions of a forward." Personally, we believe that practically every- thing that Mr. Wakefield and Mr. Marshall say about back as well as forward play can be justified. Mr. Marshall, who, like. Mr. Wakefield, is a Harlequin, is known to be an exceptionally

good judge of the game. Nothing, indeed, could be more

absurd than the retort we have imagined. If a critic were entitled to speak only on that part of the game which is pecu- liarly his own it would have to be confessed that the aim of a Rugby side was not unity but particulariSm. Besides, Mr. Wakefield is a supremely good captain, and as a captain has not only a right but a duty to speak:

Mr. Wakefield's entertaining reminiscences are chiefly of Sedbergh, of the R.A. Force, of Cambridge University, and, of

course, of International matches. He thinks that Association football at preparatory schools is a valuable- preparation for Rugby football, as it necessarily teaches foot control. He meditatively remarks that within recent years his own style has changed, and the meditation implies a self-reproach, for he finds that he does less dribbling. It was when he was captain of Cambridge that numbers were first worn by the

players. There was a certain amount of objection on the- ground that numbering the players was a professional idea,

but Mr. Wakefield's experiment has stood the test. It is a

great pleasure to old members of the University to know,- without having to ask, who the players are. He gives a.

generous account of the notorious incident in the New Zealand match when a member of the New Zealand side was sent off the field. " There is no getting away from the fact," he says, " that Freethy [the referee] had warned both sides three times, and it so happened that a New Zealander was the next offender. It might just as well have been an Englishman, though as I.

did not see the actual incident I can say nothing of the rights

or wrongs of the case." As regards the New Zealand formation of seven forwards and eight backs, he believes that there was

nothing in the formation itself which accounted for the New Zealand successes. He looks for the explanation rather in the earnest spirit in which the New Zealanders played, their inten- sive backing up, their perfect training, and their unrivalled combination.

Now for the controversial parts of the book. Some people believe_that Rugby football has developed to such a scientific perfection that every innovation henceforth must be retro- grade. They also think that the game is so fast that if it becomes faster nobody could live the pace and the game would be ruined. Mr. Wakefield's answer seems to us complete. He says that there can be no finality except for mental sluggards, and as for speed it automatically regulates itself, so that the danger of urging more speed is quite illusory. He and Mr.

Marshall are hot in their defence of the wing-forward. They strongly deprecate the " superstition " that a " winger " is only another name for a shirker. In blunt terms they describe the complaint that a " winger " breaks up a scrummage without shoving as a mere confession of ignorance. They even go so

far as to say that the whole modern theory of the game is

based upon intelligent wing-forward play. Other assertions by the authors. which some critics will no doubt call unsound are that one of the best methods of attack for the wing three- quarter is cross-kicking, and that the embargo against throwing the ball in straight only when it- has been punted full-toss into touch ought to be removed. _ The authors are to be heartily congratulated on this stimu- lating book. They surely must be right in thinking that the game will go on evolving. It has developed amazingly since

the game described in Torn Brown's School Days, when apparently such a thing as a pass had not been thoright out, and an arrangement between two boys to make a pass was enough to win the match ! The game cannot suddenly have run hopelessly ahead of human ingenuity. That is incredible. Mr. Wakefield and Mr. Marshall are gloriously helping it on its way. The reader must be almost half-witted who cannot nliderstand the explanations and admirable diagrams in this book of how to play.