BLACK TO PLAY HALFBACK

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 69, Issue 265, 22 August 1949, Page 2

BLACK TO PLAY HALFBACK

All Black Experiment EFFORT TO SPEED UP SERVICE (From Claude King—N.Z.P.A. Representative with the All Blacks). (Rec. 11.35) KIMBERLEY, Aug. 21. The All Blacks’ selectors have decided on the experiment of playing Black as scrum-half in Wednesday’smateh against North Eastern Districts at Aliwal North. The .great weakness throughout the tour, except for the first test, has been slow service from the scrum, partly due to the slow heeling of the ball, but mainly to the inability of the New Zealand halves to throw the ball as far or with the same speed as the South 'Africans, though their play in other departments, particularly that of Savage, has been good. In some practices Black, deputising as scrumdialf, threw out excellent long passes, and though the tour appears too far- advanced to try experimenis, the. selectors have decided on this change, as the All Blacks have everything to gain if it succeeds. The team for Wednesday’s match is: Full-back: J. Goddard; three-quar-ters, Botting, M. P. Goddard, Henderson; five-eighths, Allen and Kearney: half-back, Black; forwards, Simpson, Catley, Dalton, McNab, Willocks, Frazer, Crowey and Christian. The North Eastern Districts team is drawn from a widely-scatered area, and is generally considered the weakest in South Africa.

With such players as Kearney and Allen inside him, Morrie Goddard, who will be paying his third game in succession, should have every opportunity to attain peak form' for the third test at Durban. His dashing form has given renewed interest to the test series, and the All Blacks are hopeful that in the lower altitude for both remaining tests that they will be able to repeat their Newlands form, where they demonstrated that, given sufficient ball, they can overwhelm South Africa in general teamwork. They have only Wednesday’s , match and the return game next Saturday against Orange Free State in which to find their test side, hut a mood of grim determination prevails. A feature of this tour has been that every player has. been given a fair chance to prove his claims for :he highest honours.