ALL BLACKS TOUR

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 285, 14 September 1935, Page 2

ALL BLACKS TOUR

OPENED TO-DAY AT DEVONPORT. PREVIOUS GAMES DESCRIBED. The 1935 All Blacks will open their tour at Devonport, where the 1924 All Blacks commenced their campaign with a haka that was greeted with applause from the spectators and derision from the newspapers. The 1905 All’ Blacks started their round of engagements at Exeter, where Jimmy Hunter, the Taranaki five-eighth, scored the first try with one of his famous corkscrew runs. In 1924 this honour fell to “Snowy” Svenson, the Wellington three-quarter, says a northern critic.

The 1935 All Bllacks will meet a combined team representative of Devon and Cornwall. Previous teams have engaged each county separately. “The Originals” beat Devon 55-4, and followed this up by trouncing Cornwall 41-0. The latter game was memorable in more ways than one for W. J. Wallace. He created one sensation by racing up from, the full-back position on to the end of the three-quarter line in a passing rush and taking the final transfer to score the opening try. This, though surprising to those unused to such enterprising unorthodoxy, did not create nearly the comment that was aroused by his action in wearing a .soft tweed hat to shield his eyes from a strong sun when fielding high kicks. The papers made such a fuss about this innovation that the famous full-back never tried it again in England. In 1924 “The Invineibles” beat Devon ll r O. The tourists were not at all satisfied with their form, their scrumming being unsuccessful, while the handling was uncertain. The first match is always a worrying one for a touring team. The players are short of match play and under a certain strain induced by their anxiety to make a good start combined with their uneasiness about just what they are up against in the class of their opponents. The most thorough training and coaching cannot eradicate the uncertainty, both in mind' and in play, which usually settles on au international team on parade for the first time. Nothing is so good for making players settle down, both within themselves and in their game, as a try in the first five minutes.

The 1905 All Blacks achieved this, and after that could not put a foot wrong, running up a score which was so sensational that many newspapers, receiving the result by telegram, concluded that the figures must have been transposed in transmission and published them the other way -round, having to make a correction the following day. Mr Meredith’s Guidance. Under Mr V. R<. Meredith, however, the players of this year will be as well prepared for their first game as it is possible for them to be. The Auckland selector has a shrewd knowledge of the game and' the knack of conveying his ideas to the players. A firm believer in the value of quick and clean heeling from set scrums and loose rucks alike, the manager intended to keep the forwards busy on, the ship with scrum work. As it happens one thing above all others which can be practised reasonably well on ship boardl is scrum work.

Running and skipping on boat decks, though of some value, are not by any means unmixed blessings, because of the tendency for over-indulgence to tie up the leg muscles. Passing and tackling cannot be done satisfactorily either, because of the danger of collisions with deck fittings. In 1924 Jack Steel almost broke an arm through striking a railing. Generally, however, the players would welcome the practice of the spare fortnight at Newton Abbot. There they would be able to run, kick, pass and tackle in a way not possible on a liner, as' well as engage in line-out and scrum practice to their hearts’ consent. The cablegrams say <c no team has ever trained harder.” The All Blacks will be anxious to make a good impression, though it is often this very anxiety which leads to a disappointing first performance. They will have the advantage, very probably, of being much fitter than their opponents. In Great Britain footballers are not working up to their best form for a month or more yet. To Meet Gombined Team. It may be an advantage for them, too, to be playing a combined team. These sides, though strong individually, are quite oftbn ineffective collectively. The players are strangers to one another or to one another’s play, and quite often have more difficulty in striking a happy combination than even a touring side. Certain it is that the All Blacks will be opposed by strong forwards. Devon and Cornwall are noted for robust packs. F. Jackson, of the Anglo-Welsh team which toured New Zealand in 1908, whose son now plays for Hawke’s Bay, was from Cornwall, and H. Rew, the very tireless and very vigorous front-row man who was in New Zealand with the 1930 British team, played for Exeter. The Devonport Rectory ground, where the match will be played, has a turf which is almost lawn-like. Given good weather it should be excellent for fast and open play. At Devonport the players will probably be driven to the spot from which the Pilgrim Fathers set-out for America, and very likely they will be taken to Plymouth Hoe to see where Sir Francis Drake played his howls while the Spanish Armada approached England. From such social pleasantries they will turn to the stern business of serious football. In that much will depend on whether they can “strike their gait” in the first few minutes of play. A good start might put them on the way to a big score.