1912–13 Volume 37 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

THE SCROLL. 21is ad-vanced by straight end running and line plunging, shifts, tricks,and frequent kicking, especially when favored by the wind, or astrong punter.The centre rush, supported by the two other scrum men, holds theball, erect on the ground, ready to kick it back with his heel whenthe signal is given.The other scrimmage men line up in close order, receding fromthe centre trio slightly in a very wide angle., Close behind theheeler back is the quarter, and thfe other four backs are in differentformations, depending upon the nature of. the play about to be executed,but generally consisting of three men in a line back of thescrimmage, and the fourth man out towards either wing, or perhapsfar beyond it, as in some of the American trick plays. The wholeidea of the Canadian game is for the backfield play to be fast andentirely open, so the formations are much more indefinite and looserthan the American, to the great benefit of the spectator. The signalis given for a plunge, the quarterback reaches under, and fakes theball from the foot of the heeler, or center, and turning tosses it tothe first of the three backs in line, immediately he starts for the line,pushed along by his two companions, or perhaps it is the middlewing who comes around the outside wing pounding behind him withhis hands on his waist, and they plunge into the other side of theline. Any player who would attempt to stop one of these bucks inan old womanly fashion, would surely be a much surprised andtrampled individual. It takes the hardest kind of a low tackle tostop them at the line, indeed it was this feature of combined attackthat was considered too dangerous and eliminated from the AmericanRugby some years ago.A second and more spectacular mode of attack is the kicking game.The Canadians kick more frequently. There is never the specialformation and pause attendant on the American punting. The ballis passed back to the fullback and he gives it a boot, often runningnearly to the line to give him momentum. The result is that whilethe kicks are rarely spirals, they carry forty or fifty yards on anaverage, and being often unexpected are hard to get under. Thenthe speedy outside wings are always down the field with the ball,and as the waiting halfback is unprotected a fumble is often fatal,the wings however are required to give the man catching the ball hisyards, or are to stay at least five yards from him until he has attemptedto catch or has touched the' ball. Not infrequently, howeverthe halfback will catch the punt, elude the outside wings and makea twisting, dodging run back through a broken field that brings thespectators to their feet. In my opinion Canadian halfbacks aresuperior to Americans in running through a broken field, probablybecause they have more of this kind of play.Beside the obvious advantage of a fumble there are three well