FIRST BIG HURDLE.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 225, 22 September 1924, Page 8

FIRST BIG HURDLE.

WESTERN COUNTY CHAMPIOMS

WHAT THE ALL BLACKS MET,

The Somerset county team, which the All Blacks defeated by the small margin pi six points to nil, is accounted one of the strongest county sides in Britain to-day. They were the county champions the season before last, and last season they were champions of the western counties and missed being in the county final rather unluckily, as the result of being unexpectedly beaten by a. very small margin (something like 8 to 6) by the eastern counties champions, Kent, in the semi-final match. Some information anout the Somerset team was given to a "Star representative to-day by Mr. W. H. Spiller, now of -Auckland, who was a Somerset county player and has been a resident of NewZealand for only three years, and has kept up with the game in England in addition to watching with interest the Rugby played here. Last season, lie says, it was fully expected that Somerset would carry off the county championship, but the semi-final was a midweek match played in London, making it difficult for Somerset to get all their players away, and Kent brought off a close and unexpected win. The result was that the county championship went to Cumberland, the Northern champions.

This particular game of the All Blanks was watched with especial interest by Mr. Spiller, for "he had seen the match against the 1005 team, and had an idea that it would be a particularly solid test for the 2sew Zealanders, seeing that they were up against the champion team of the Western counties. Some idea may be gained of what a solid team the Somerset side would be from the fact that the year before last. Somerset, in the semi-final, beat Kent by 12 to 5, and Leicestershire (always one of the county leaders) beat Cumberland by 17 to C-, and in the final Somerset beat Leicestershire by Bto 6. Last year Somerset missed their chance in the manner stated, but it can be assumed that the combination fielded against the All Blacks was as formidable a lot as they could get together. In passing, it may be noted that the English county competition is played off in four divi-sions—South-western, of which Somerset is the present champion; Midlands, with Leicestershire as the leaders', South-eastern. <.f which Kent is the outstancHng side: and Northern, which provided the All England champions last year in Cumberland. In Wales, the outstanding club last year was Newport, which went through the season with an unbeaten record. Among the English clubs, Mr. Spiller selects the •universities as likely to stay the victorious record of the All Blacks, particularly Oxford, which last year supplied the tbreequartcr line for Scotland and was generally held to be the greatest team that had ever represented the Baivorsi if.

Conditions Against Them. Reverting to Saturday's game., Mr. | Spiller stated that he "deprecated the j tendency in New Zealand to decry the present young- team because it had not won by a large number of points. He noticed that the cable mentioned that the game was played on a wet ground, and such being the case the conditions would be entirely favourable to the j Somerset team and unfavourable to the All Blacks. A wet ground was essentially the conditions for Somerset, for the home team was always a side of tine forwards who kept all the time on the ball in hard, close dribbling. Somer. set always played a hard forward game, and rather neglected their backs. They keep the game at their toes in a style that is never seen in New Zealand, and the New Zealanders had probably never experienced that kind of game before, as it was not played by Devon or Cornwall, and takes a great .deal of stopping. It made a very hard game, in which ' there was not much scoring on cither I side, for there was little chance of openI ing up back play or of scoring from j mistakes as was the case when the ball I was thrown about a lot. lt was not a Ipretty game, but it was the Somerset j game. and. in the circumstances he was jsatisiied that the young All Blacks did very well indeed to come out of their I first experience of the kind so well, when the conditions were all against, them and |in favour of the other fellows. A Generous Appreciation. i lie recalled that in I!K_ the All Black,s did not meet Somerset until the eleventh game of the tour, when the New Zealanders were at the top of their form, and had been wonderfully bucked up by piling up huge scores against weak teams. As a spectator at that game he remembered that the forward game of Somerset unexpectedly held up the All Black forwards, and at half time, and on till within ten minutes of the finish of the match the Ne. Zealanders had a lead of only 10 or VK points. Then at the end they piled on points, winning by 23 to nil. It was a tradition at Taunton, where the game was played, that the referee's watch had stopped, and that the game was played ten minutes overtime. He could not say whether or not that was true, but if so, then the score iv favour of the All Blacks when the match should have finished would have been only 10 or 12 points—quite a change from the hujre scores they had piled up against every team but "Durham to that time. And on that day the conditions were dry.

"Considering everything, I think your young team should be given every credit for their win against Somerset on Saturday," said Mr. Spiller. "1 notice that Mr. Donne, who was president of the Somerset Union last year, and is now president of the English Union, was of the same opinion that it is unfair to compare this team with the 1900 team under the conditions. Air. Donne is, I happen to know, a very fine judge of football, and when he says the team is a good side you can rely upon his statement. I think his acknowledgment of the merits of the All Blacks is a very nice appreciation of the team, which should be appreciated and accepted as a genuine and sincere expression of opinion 'by one who knows." Hard Game This Week. It was added by Mr. Spiller that in all likelihood the All Blacks would have another very hard match .on Thursday against Gloucester, who"were run-ners-up to Somerset in the western divisSon, and played much the same style of football, and had run Somerset very close for the honours. He did not anticipate that they would have a great deal of difficulty" about Swansea on Saturday, but he was inclined to pick Newport club as a very likely combination to lower the All Black colours. He could not undertake to say anything about the matches in Ireland. Newport had gone through last seaaou with an unbeaten record, and all the members of the team had been presented with a gold watch as a memento, which would be remembered as the starting of a controversy with' the Scottish Union, the latter holding that the presentation was an infringement of the amateur rules. Results to Date. For the benefit of those who quite naturally wish to compare the present team's performances with those of the 1905 team, the results of the equivalent games by the two teams are given below. At the same time the comparison is given only as a matter of interest, for tho conditions of the two tours art anything but parallel. In 1905 Rugby was almost a moribund game in all parts of Britain but Wales, and the All Blacks' tour created a wonderful revival. TMs was followed by two tours each by Australian and South African teams, and by the competitive games among the military service teams of all the Dominions and Britain, as well as visits by French international team.'. Thus since 1005 the game in Britain has been stimulated, and the players educated in a manner that few other games have had the advantage of, and the present team is meeting British Rugby at its best, ■whereas the previous team took their opponents almost completely t5Nr surprise. The figures arc: — 1924 1005 Devon (W) .... 11—0 (W) 55—4 Cornwall (W) .. 29—0 (W) 41—0 Somerset (W) .. ti—o (XV) 23—0