THE SPRINGBOKS.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 213, 7 September 1921, Page 7

THE SPRINGBOKS.

CRITICISM FROM HOME. AFRICAN INTEREST IN TOUR. SOME CANDID COMMENT. The great interest • taken in South Africa in the tour of the- Springboks is shown by the reports, and comments on the matches published in the South African papers. For the matches against teams like Wairarapa and Taranaki the metropolitan dailies publish at least a column of cable news regarding the play. STANDARD OF SPORTSMANSHIP. The Press records the delight of the people at the standard of sportsmanship the Springboks are softing. "This is far happier to us," says the "Cape Times," "than their actual victories, for it will probably do a great deal to keep the flame of the true 'Rugger' spirit burning 'brightly in a land that has 'been giving itself over far too readily to the worship of false gods in sport. The team may yet raise itself to the level of the famous fifteen of 100(>. This, perhaps, is a hope doomed to frustration, for critics hint .at a certain lack of balance about the Springboks' combination. But, whether-it is fulfilled or dies iinconsummated matters very little, so long as the players carry on the fine tradition of sportsmanship which ha« always distinguished South Africans on every field—battlefield or playing field — and which has frequently seemed to suggest that, in the happy blend of Dutch and English temperaments of which South Africanism is composed, the Union is destined under Providence to act as a solvent of difficulties in the relationship between the various units of the British Commonwealth of Nations." NEW ZEALAND GROUNDS. Discussing the factors that would enter into the games with New Zealand, one critic referred to the playingground in the Dominion. "It is grasseevered, but the heavy pumice formation in wet weather is so holding in its capacity that only a team well fitted for its conditions is' able to reproduce its true form. This is the ground that was prdbtibly in the eye of one oi the All Blacks, who, after a match on the Transvaal ground, said: 'Call it a ground! Wait till we get you in New Zealand. Why. if it rains, we will have you right up to your necks in it.' At other times, too. various members of that team were delighted to refer to the 'games in the mud' that would be played when the Springboks visited New Zealand." PRAISE FOR THE TEAM. Praise for the selection of the Springbok forwards is general among the South African Press critics, one of whom says: "It is the pack that nine out of ten followers of the game would have chosen as the ideal." The form shown by the forwards, to the date of the last mail, represented "the. turning of the corner, and the gradual settling down into their proper places of the whole team."' "Strengthen the defence at all costs" was the motto of the selectors, said one critic, who forecasted weakness among the centres, as some -possible cause of unreliability in defence. But general hopes were expressed that van Heerden, the Olympian athlete, and Strauss, the, Oriqtialiind West ldO yards champion, would "answer all the questions put to them accurately." Of Ho Koek, it is asid, "He has won his place by sheer merit, and against a good deal of opposition, thought it is but right to point out that South Africa has a lot to learn in half(back play." ''New Zealand knows to an inch," says another, "where all the weight of the South African attack will be thrown, and that is why two such hard-running wings as Henry Morkel and van Heerden have found the door slammed in their faces on the many occasions that they have gone all out for the line." REPLACEMENT OF PLAYERS. Criticism of the players, and of the rules of the game, is frequent and candid. When Gerhard Morkel, the brilliant full-back, broke his arm, and, it was thought, was laid aside for the tour, "Springbok" wrote to one of the papers, '"De Villiers' selection was always a puzzle to mc. and I make bold to say, to many others —far 'too slow to catch worms,' as the saying goes. Don't let them leave our boys to the mercy of De Villiers." WHAT WOULD HE SAY NOW? Commenting on the cabled statement, that the rule regarding non-renlaeement of injured players was causing much discussion among New Zealand Rucby circles, one sporting writer said, "That means to say that the replacement of injured players by substitutes has lieen permitted on ordinary games, contrary to the rules. South Africa merely adheres to the rules and the traditions of the game of Rugby, which is played by fifteen players each side, not fifteen plus those waiting to replace casualties."