RUGBY LEAGUE TOUR.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 99, 29 April 1927, Page 13

RUGBY LEAGUE TOUR.

THE MANAGERS' REPORT. REASONS FOR FAILURE. WEAK SPOTS IN TEAM.

A fairly wide variety of reasons for the failure of the New Zealand Rugby League team's tour of England last season have been given in a report by the managers, Messrs. E. H. Mair and G. H. Ponder, which has now been released by the executive of the New Zealand Rugby League. The four main reasons are stated to be:—The coal strike in England; adverse press criticism at the beginning of the tour; the prices of admission charged; the internal trouble that the team had. p _ The report says that the coal strikes greatly affected the gates," and that the prices for admission to games ranged as high as 5/9, this being for reserved seats on a grandstand. In any matters of international importance New Zea'and had only one vote, the same as an English League club. The report attributes the lack of success against the English clubs to: — 1. The lack of a hooker. 2. The failure of the forwards to pack properly and put their weight in the scrum. 3. The failure of the forwards to adapt themselves to English conditions by remaining as forwards, breaking-up too quickly, and being too eager to function as backs. 4. The failure of the backs to adapt themselves to English conditions, particularly in defence, due to the formation. 5. Bad goal-kicking. 6. The failure to secure the ball from the scrums. 7. The lack of keen team spirit, due to internal trouble in the side.

Dealing M-ith each point in turn, the report states, inter alia.—'"When we left for England we took with us only one hooker of the old school, a hooker who stood up to do his raking. We were under the impression that a hooker who went down on one or both knees, or one who knee-trapped, was not allowed to function. In our very first match the hooker was allowed to do practically what he liked in this direction, and the outside man was lifting his leg before the ball was placed in the scrum. The referees in this and all other matches failed to penalise for this offence. This left us in the position of practically being without a hooker during the whole of the tour. The report proceeds:—"We had been getting the ball on an average of only one time in ten when J. Parkes volunteered to function as hooker for the team. After one or two matches he proved the most successful hooker we had on the tour, but even then he did not get his fair share of the ball. The hooker never received the assistance necessary to obtain the ball because the pack, heavier than any we met in England, could be frequently pushed about the ground. The position was acute, as it showed that our players were not giving of their best in putting their proper weight in the scrums. This may probably be the most serious phase of the cause of our defeats, as our backs were always chasing the English backs. Practically all our scores came from snapped-up opportunities in the loose. "As far as the failure of the forwards to pack properly is concerned, this position is more or less subsidiarv to the previously mentioned factor. Our forwards very rarely went down as one man. Hence, they were pushed off their mark, the chief cause being that they were not in position when the scrum went down. The average weight of our forwards was far in excess of that of the English packs; yet, so eager were they to break into the open that thev invariably forgot the first duty of a forward to put all his weight into the scrum to get possession, even to the extent of pushing the other side off the ball." The report adds that for defence purposes the New Zealand back formation was inferior to the English style, and surprise is expressed at the failure of the New Zealand goal-kicking. In conclusion, the report expresses appreciation of the English spectators, who were impartial.