For play in the open two kinds of skill are required, skill with the feet and with the hands. At present it is the novelty of scientific hand-play which excites the most applause, but with forwards it is doubtful whether cleverness in passing should not be considered only a supplementary excellence, and the true merit of a 'brilliant forward' to lie in fast following up, clever dribbling and rapid tackling. Indeed, we are old-fashioned enough (and fashions have quickly changed in Rugby football) to think that the forward's business is to let the ball get upon the ground, and keep as close as he can behind it. Before, therefore, we discuss the subject of scientific passing - the favourite subject for the football essay of the present period - we propose to say a word or two as to the rest of the forward business.

The chief merit of a forward's play in the open is to be always close to the ball. If he is after it and following it up with a rush, as soon as it is out of the scrummage he is bound to be of service provided he can control the only fatal fault of kicking hard, and so giving the opponents' back players a chance of drop-kicking, or getting well away with a run. His main duties, then, are to know how to dribble, to tackle (and to tackle the ball and not the man only), and to keep close to the ball wherever it be. To dribble the oval ball which is used in the Rugby game is no easy task, as it is seldom likely to roll quite true, and thus in Rugby dribbling it is of even more importance than in the Association game to take short steps, and never part with the ball for even a couple of strides, lest you may overrun it. The natural result is that, with very few exceptions, the best dribblers of the Rugby game are short, thick-set men, as they can get more pace combined with safety than their longer-legged brethren, although of course they must be 'strong on their pins,' or they will be swept off the ball at the first impact.

When one gets a whole team of good dribblers who sweep up the ground with a rush, spreading out four or five yards each side of the ball and a few behind it to take on the ball in case it should be overrun, such a rush is not only an inspiriting sight, but is almost irresistible to the opponents. Like a wave the rush bears down the opponents' backs, and carries the game often from one end to another, and if captains would only coach their forwards to back up such a rush, and pass the ball with the feet when the ranks of the opposing three-quarters have to be met, we believe they would be more dangerous than forwards who play the handing game. A single error in the handing game may be fatal, and on wet days when the ball is greasy these errors are always made now and then in a match; but with a well-trained forward rush there is everything to gain and nothing to lose, for the worst that can happen is for the rush to be brought to a standstill by some opponent pouncing on the ball, when a new scrummage is immediately formed which it is three to one will be again carried by victorious forwards who are already on the spot and ready to pack at once.

The good dribbler, if he is to be of any use, must of course be good at following up, and by a forward who plays a good dribbling game, we mean him of whom it can be said that where the ball is there will he be, or thereabouts. A good dribbling forward game we shall always believe to be not only the most useful but the most enjoyable.

Every forward must also be a good tackier, a remark which can equally be said of every other player on the field. A poor tackier is almost useless anywhere, but luckily it is an art which although it takes time to learn can be learnt by anyone who has pluck and head enough to play football at all. There are usually said to be two rules, and two only, for tackling: to tackle the ball and not the man alone, and to 'tackle low,' both rules being, however, really directed to the same end, the stopping of the ball; for it is useless to stop the man who carries it if he can at once pass to a friend. What both rules really come to is this, that one arm at least of the person tackling should be thrown over the ball. The advantage of 'tackling low' is this, that when the tackier stoops to rush at the runner and grasp him tight round the body, it is almost impossible for the runner to shove him off. The novice who, standing upright, fumbles at the runner will find himself 'armed off with a well-directed shove, he totters, and the runner is away. The tackier, on the contrary, who gets himself together by stooping well as he runs, either gets both arms round the runner's trunk, or one round the trunk near the waist, and one over the shoulder, and the adversary is caught as in a vice.

To lay down any absolute rules as to how one man should tackle another running with the ball is in our opinion impossible. A big man may have to collar a little man, or vice versa; and, granting that the pair are of equal size, the tackier may have to take his man from the front, from the side, or even from the back, or his man may be standing, running, dodging, or stooping, and the tackier himself may have to 'go for his man' or wait for him. One fact can scarcely be gainsaid, that the tackier on any part of the field should seldom, under any circumstances, absolutely wait for his man; he should judge when he is the right distance off, and dash in at him. The maxim to ' collar low' also often cannot apply; a very tall man sometimes cannot collar a very small man low, and we have a lively recollection, in a match in which we took part, of seeing that smallest of clever half-backs, R. T. Finch, of Cambridge, dodging through the Oxford backs who were too tall to get down below his shoulders, which he could always free by a well-studied wriggle. Indeed, there is a rumour, which we cannot verify, that the said R. T. Finch ran between the legs of the very gigantic back whom Oxford played in one year.