HOME WITHOUT SHIELD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 198, 22 August 1932, Page 5

HOME WITHOUT SHIELD.

AUCKLAND RUGBY TEAM. SOUTHERN TOTTR. REVIEWED. HOW CANTERBURY WON. A team can play only as well as the opposition will allow. This Rugby truism was quoted by Mr. F. E. Sutherland, manager and sole selector of the Auckland Rugby touring team which returned from the South thia morning after their unsuccessful challenge against Canterbury for the Ranfurly Shield on Saturday. Mr. Sutherland said' that Canterbury were the better team on the day.

" If we had played as well as we did against Wellington there may have been a different story to tell," said Mr. Sutherland. " The inside backs have been accused of being the weakness, but they were not the main one. The chief weakness was our forwards. They were slow in breaking, and their slowness was probably due to a hard tour. The Canterbury forwards were always quick to break, and they swarmed round the ball all day. They swept through before our forwards were able to cover. Just as we swarmed over Wellington, Canterbury forwards swarmed over us."

Confident, but not cocksure, the Aucklanders did well in the early stages. They got a bigger percentage of the ball, but Mr. Sutherland pointed out that most tries came from the unexpected rather than from set formations. Corner was always sound. The three-quarter line played well and Caughey gave a good exhibition. It was the first "time on the tour that the team played en a solid ground—in the other matches, the greasy ball and greasy field had nullified back play. Clark and Pearson showed themselves players of promise, and Milliken sailed for the line with all his old dash and determination. Bush was dropping the ball, and he hardly took one cleanly all clay. He also found difficulty in getting the line. "Not On Their Toes." "The forwards plodded along, but they were not on their toes," said Mr. Sutherland. "The only thing that I could put that down to was continual travelling and too much play on soft grounds. We varied our tactics, but could not find a way through. Corner tried solo work and Caughey went on his own. Once Caughey was almost over. He cut clean through and a try looked certain, but a Canterbury back managed to tap his heel and he stumbled and fell. Southern officials said that Canterbury played one of the rare games that Canterbury can play. They could not be recognised as practically the same team which played South Canterbury the previous Saturday."

The tour was a great experience for the whole party, said Mr. Sutherland. The team realised that there was a great brotherhood in Rugby. No matter where they went there was always somebody to do their best and entertain them, but, above all, there was a great spirit of camaraderie—the common bond. Mr. Sutherland was proud of the way the Auckland men had played the game off the field. They had made an impression wherever they had gone. Throughout the whole tour no player on either side had to be cautioned, and this fact alone showed the excellent spirit which prevailed, although he did not wish to infer that the games were parlour games. He was still convinced that there is a very fine standard of forward play in New Zealand.

Naturally, the team was delighted with its win over Wellington, but they were sorry that Wellington had to complete the match with only 14 men. "I am more than ever firmly convinced that one," said Mr. Sutherland. "We suffered the rule barring replacements is a wrong more than our opponents in this respect, and the fact that some of the men played on with injuries only intensified their hurt, and their recovery was made ; slower." Praise for Otago. The team was proud to be the pioneer Auckland side to visit the West Coast, and the visit had certainly been made worth while. He regarded Otago as the best balanced side which the tourists had met, but some of the other provin : cial sides were also very fine. "The standard of refereeing could not be classed as high,," eaid Mr. Sutherland in reply to a question. "Some of the referees showed a lack of knowledge of the new scrum rules, and this naturally bewildered our players for a time." Mr. Sutherland paid a tribute to the splendid work of Mr. M. Johnston, thu baggage man and masseur, and also to the fine leadership of S. Hadley, the captain. A feature of the tour was the fact that club spirit was subordinated and all were eager to do their best for Auckland. All .members of the touring party had put on weight, from the manager down. The tour was probably the longest ever undertaken by a New Zealand provincial side. It lasted three weeks and a half, and over 2500 miles had been covered. Hard forward battles on heavy grounds had a wearing effect on the team.