THE ALL BLACK WAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 219, 16 September 1935, Page 9

THE ALL BLACK WAY.

"UNCONSCIOUS OBSTRUCTION"

McLEAN'S PLAY AS ROVER.

(Received 12.30 p.m.)

LONDON, September 15. In paying a tribute to the New Zealand Rugby footballers' sportsmanship in their anxiety to abide by the spirit of the game, Mr. Howard Marshall, writing in the London "Telegraph, states that nevertheless he considers the experiment of packing three-four failed legally and tactically. It should be abandoned, he says, firstly because the All Blacks do not appear to possess seven forwards sufficiently heavy to scrummage against eight hard workers, as indicated by McLean going into the pack in the second half. It might be different when the side is fit. In the second place McLean was certainly unintentionally offside, as he did not attempt to get onside when the forwards heeled, and should have been penalised. Then again, although he stood unusually far from the scrummage, he (although not deliberately) obstructed the Counties' scrum half. "It is difficult to see how a rover putting the ball in the scrum can avoid passive obstruction," he adds. The "Chronicle" gives the opinion that McLean occasionally bordered on obstruction.