RUGBY IN ENGLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 284, 30 November 1928, Page 8

RUGBY IN ENGLAND.

A VERY HIGH STANDARD. OXJ> AUCKLAND PLAYER* VIEWS. GAME ON THE BOOM. "The standard of Rugby football in Britain at the present time is about as high as that of New Zealand and the Anglo-Welsh or Anglo-Irish-Welsh team that will be sent here in 1930 will be a very hard one to beat." This is the declared opinion of Mr. J. A. Jordan president of the Tauranga Rugby Union and a vice president of the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union, who has spent nearlv two years in a visit to Britain. Mr. Jordan is well known in Auckland football. In 1896 he was a member of the Citv senior team, which was then in its heyday as a Rugby side. . Speaking as one who has followed New Zealand Rugby enthusiastically for many years, Mr. Jordan states that he was genuinely surprised and pleased by the standard of Rugby he saw in Britain. He found the game booming everywhere and the keenest competition to get places in the leading clubs. It was only by solid training that players could get and keep their places, and there was no question that English players now trained hard, and played the game hard all through. In England and Wales he had taken every opportunity of seeing club, county and international football. His personal observation was that in all, parts of Kngland and Wales there «ere doyens' of young players fully the equal of the well-known' international "layers, and pushing them for places ;ii the international teams. After seeing the English form and standard, he expressed surprise that the All Blacks "f iy-24 had g>ne through their tour uniefeated. On that point he was told by ' ng'Uh enthusiasts that the All Blacks had two outstanding virtues, which had given them their undefeated recordphenomenal strength in the forwards, and such good all-round standard that the reserves were practicallv as good as the so-called crack players. The Waratahs played great football, whidi was wonderfully attractive, and thenbest side would fully extend the All Blacks. But their reserves were w* of the same calibre, and this was the cause of several defeats they suffered. '•I was fascinated by the wonderful open nlay and combination of the Waratahs," declared Mr. Jordan. "If anything, thev ! carried combination a bit too far, and lost some of the individuality that helps to make the game attractive. All the same they're a great team, and I intend to be at Sydney the next time they play the All Blacks. Commenting on the Waratah individuals, Mr. Jordan said he was greatly taken by Lawton, whom he considered really a great five-eighth. Malcolm, Ross, Wa'llace. Towers and E. Forde struck him as very fine backs. The forwards all played as one man. a wonderfully even lot, with, perhaps, J Ford standing out above the rest. Among the Home players he regarded Yonn« and Delahay quite out on their own as ha If-hacks. The boom in Rugby among the public schools was remarkable last year, and there was a similar club boom", even up in the northern counties. Attendances at big county and international games had gone up with a bound, rising to 70.000 in Scot'and, 60,000 in London, and 50 000 hi Wales.

Hard Times in the North. Mr. Jordan declared that simultaneously with the Rugby boom there wa* a decided setback noticeable in the Rugby League game. In Wales the Pontyprydd Club had gone into liquidation and cancelled its fixtures, and a club started at Carlisle in Cumberland had similarly gone to the wall. While he was in England the Rochdale Hornets, one of the old-established clubs, which had one of the finest grounds in England, had heM a meeting to consider ways and means. In addition, the club final, which corresponded with the Rugby international*, had averaged for the last four years an attendance of not more than 33,000. Thit in a territory with a population of twelve million people. Of course, the League game did not have any real international game in England. The "international" match, England v. Wales, played last year, was a match between English professionals and Welsh exflea who were playing for English dubs as professionals. It was, said Mr. Jordan, this shrinkage of the gates that had, in his opinion, been the cause of breaking the agreement with the colonies, as the English clubs were forced to look for new players as attractions. For the same reason the League had proposed to play a big match in London, with the idea that as something new in a great centre of population it might draw a great gate. But the clubs eventually turned the proposal down. "Of course," remarked Mr. Jordan, "I am a strong Rugby Union supporter and am to that extent prejudiced, but the failure of the Carlisle and Pontyprydd Clubs, the .inlculties of the Rochdale Hornets, and the general falling away in attendances are facts beyond dispute. "But make no mistake about the next English team that comes here; it will be «Jl trong one »" concluded Mr. Jordan. The English Union has a keen appreciation of what the All Blacks did for Rugby, and is a very strong friend of New Zealand. It is determined that New Zealand shall get a visit that is overdue, and by a worthy team. The Welsh and Irish players also are keen on the New Zealand trip. And, as I stated at the outset, I am certain the New Zealanders will be greatly surprised at the high standard of players rrom England of whom they had never before heard."