Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1938. THE ALL BLACKS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 72, 7 January 1936, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1938. THE ALL BLACKS.

No good sportsman in New Zealand will begrudge England its win in the Rugby test match on Saturday, for it was achieved by sterling play, but they will not be above wishing that the victory had not been quite so sweeping. The marked success that has attended previous Rugby teams from the Dominion has placed before our players an ideal difficult of maintaining, and judged from the ordinary standard the record of the 1935 All Blacks is a most creditable one. Of twenty-eight matches played they lost only three —against Swansea, Wales and England—and drew one, that against Ulster. No doubt the critics will thrash out the questions whether the side could have been strengthened by the inclusion of other players or whether the tactics could have been improved, but the opinion of the general public will be that the team has no reason to be ashamed. Judged on broad lines it was thoroughly representative of Dominion Rugby, and if it has had to lower its colours more often than New Zealanders have been accustomed to do in Britain the cause is to be found outside the ranks of the twenty-nine who comprised the teams. It may be that -the general standard of Rugby in New Zealand to-day is not what it was when the original AH Blacks suffered their only defeat in a "triumphant tour" by a much-debated try, or when the 1924-25 representatives won every game. On the other hand, it is evident that in recent years the Homeland has made great strides in the game—as the special correspondent of the Press Association puts it, British Rugby has improved out of all knowledge; It is plain therefore that the present All Blacks have had a harder task generally than did the representatives of 1924 or those of 1905. It is to the advantage of Rugby in the Dominion that good teams should have occasional setbacks, to prevent the development of a superiority complex which would ultimately lead to complete demoralisation. New Zealanders will waste no time in unavailing regrets or fruitless speculation as to what might have been, but will set resolutely about the task of remedying the defects and the weaknesses that have been revealed both in victory and in defeat. In the meantime, every New Zealander will find occasion for pride in the thought that our men played well and lost well. The game is all that counts, and the highest tribute is conveyed in the words or the "Sunday Times": 'The members of the team are grand fellows oft and on the field. They pleased us immensely with the spirit with which they played, which should partially compensate them for their defeats.