ALL BLACKS' PROSPECTS

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 283, 28 November 1924, Page 7

ALL BLACKS' PROSPECTS

" THEY WILL BEAT ENGLAND," CHANCE OF UNBEATEN RECORD AN EX-AUCKLAXDER'S OPINION. "They are a greater team than th« 1905 team, and will win every match. You can't form any idea of tho twe teams from the Ecores, because football in England has come _on a very great deal since 1905. I have been in Britain for the past two years, and have seer all the big games, including two against France, and after seeing the All Blacks in four of their matches, I formed the opinion that the only team likely to stop them was Oxford University. Now, since the result of that game favoured the All Blacks as it did, I am convinced they -will win all their games. They will beat England.' , In these words of emphatic enthusiasm tho. question which the bulk of New Zealanders are asking today, was answered according to the judgment of a New Zealander, who should know what he is talking about. This keen admirer of the All Blacks is Mr. G. Barclay, of Hawke's Bay, who returned to his native land by the s.s. Rimutaka, bringing with him a Rugby trophy, in the form of a football used in the Leicester match. By the way, this football souvenir stunt seems to have been the subject of a deal of forethought in various parts of the Dominion. . A ball ■was cent from New Zealand for use in the opening match of the tour, and was used and later autographed by the members of both teams for the purpose of being sent back here as a souvenir. It was very nearly lost, for a bid was made for it by the Devon players, and much trouble and energy had to be used by Porter and Mr. S. Dean to recover it. This ball is now in Wellington, while there are two souvenir footballs in Auckland, one used in the North Midlands game and brought over in the Athenic by Mr. J. Donald, and this one brought along in the Rimutaka, by Mr. Barclay. Nepia the Big Star. Chatting with a "Star"' representative, Mr. Barclay explained that he was an elder brother of W. Barclay, a wing-threequarter of this year's Maori team, and one of the unsuccessful candidates for a place in the All Blacks' party, while he had himself played football in Auckland in 1906, as a wing forward for the Grafton Club team. His family has property interests in Ireland, with which he is concerned justnow, and after a brief visit to his old home in Hawke's Bay, Mr. Barclay will catch the Rimutaka for the return trip to take up the management of "nic property in Ireland. So comes it that he knows both New Zealand and British football, and is ' qualified to express an opinion on the All Blacks from a New Zealand point of view. In his comment on the players it will be observed that he regards the Hawke's Bay element as a tower of strength to the team. "Nepia is the finest footballer that this country has ever produced, giving Asher and all the others in/ he declared, while he considers as the outstanding forwards, Morry Brownlie, Irvine and West. He saw iSteel in England for the first time, and the West Coaster elicted his unstinted admiration. "It was wonderful to see teel go over the line- in the Leicester match with four 'tigers' hanging on to him, and unable to stop him," enthused Mr. Barclay. The Newport Game. So far as scrum work is concerned, he remarked that it has to be remembered that the Home players now know our scrum formation very well, and it was only to be expected that so far as getting possession of the hall was concerned three good hookers would beat two in the majority of cases. He did not expect the occasional loss of control in the close scrum to greatly influence the results of the games against the All Blacks. He had not been greatly impressed with Porter as wing forward, and was of opinion that in the Newport match Porter's style of play, and his tendency to get offside was a decided handicap to the New Zealanders. At the same time the side as a whole failed to take advantage of opportunity after opportunity, that ordinarily they would have availed themselves of. On the whole he was rather inclined to discount the Newport match as an indication of the comparative abilities of the two teams In other words, the result, in his opinion, distinctly flattered the Welsh side so far as ability went.