COMIC RUGBY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 65, 17 March 1936, Page 12

COMIC RUGBY.

N.Z. 'VARSITY'S TOUR. jr.| —— ' .... ; , REFEREEING BY SIGNALS. :V ' SPECTACULAR, JAPANESEL i'j. There must have been a good, deal of ■ comedy for the members of tho New' Zealand University's Rugby team in the . course of their six matches in Japan, for their games were controlled by referees who could not speak English, and a system of signals for referee's .. rulings, had to be evolved. /Auckland's representatives in the team, R. G. Bush (vice-captain),. J. P. McVeagh, R. J. Thomas, E. Grant and ii'i J. D. Lewis, arrived back by the Mono- ,;■! wai from Sydney yesterday. Each was impressed with the spectacular style of ;; the play of their opponents. They ;; played seven matches, won six and drew :! one—a highly creditable record. The other members of the team returned -by the Makura to Wellington. : ' "It was a great tour,'' saidvßush..- "W u were all surprised at the,high standard of Rugby played by the'Jap'anese. They ii, play a most attractive game. thejr'backs ; are exceptionally fast'; and their, parsing is wonderfully accurate. In, ayery. team we met, their backs were much faster than ours, with the exception.-"of- J. S. Watt, the Otago wing, who :&vas .one. of the outstanding backs of?«the tour. "• Efforts are being made to-.i'send a Japanese team to Australia.and New • Zealand in 1038. I hope the'itqirC comes about, for New Zealanders will, then see ■ some highly spectacular football." J. Reverse Passing. All the' Japanese teaihsithe New Zea- •: landers met tjirew-the "ball about with surprising accuracy, said Bush. They ■ passed and reverse-passed, and kept the ball on the move all the time, but they I' did not make much progress. Laxity on i' the part of referees allowed their wing . forward to stand off-side and the New Zealanders were also troubled with the ;; Japanese first five-eighth . who often 1 stood off-side. '

" i "Most of the referees had a poor ' knowledge of the rules of the game, '< especially the scrum laws/' continued ' Bush. "They often allowed the Japanese wing-forward to put the ball behind the " feet % of the Japanese hookers when the scrum was twisted. We, of course, protested, but the referees smiled effusively and carried on. Nor were we able to understand what they said when theygave a rulihg.' "Our. fellows would stand ready to pack a scrum and find that a free kick had been awarded to New Zealand. - The I next time the whistle went they would anticipate a free kick and find th&t. a »•'. scrum, had been ordered. They would '■ have to pack down in a hurry, but by that time the Japanese were, on the move with their pack and . would push the New Zealand scrum yards. It was , easy to win the ball under those conditions.'' After the first two or three games, ■ said Bush, a conference was- called- and a system of signals was evolved so that the New Zealanders could make no 5 more mistakes about scrums and free J kicks. Better Than Nepia. *; The Japanese are reputed to be great : copyists, but here is a little stunt that is entirely original. They had in their ;; Test teams one Kasa Hara, who played in the position of "not five-eighth, but ;»! seven-eighth. He took up his position be- < tween the three-quarters and' full-back, f'.i so that in attack lie could swing easily f; to either-side. /This seven-eighth, Hara, " had amazing speed, and he moved into i action to link-up with the rest of his Jbaeks with, east, .!• > ; ~1 "He is the best line-kick I have ever '■< seen, George Nepia included," said Bush, "i ; "Only once" on the whole tour did I see j: him miss the line. He always practised j.': his line-kicking just', before a match. '/J. They have an unusual system in Japan. ii.l Half an hour before a match starts, the •IS Japanese team ' line out on the field, often in view of the spectators, or on T; 'an adjoining field, and have a hard ; work-out. . Forwards practise dribbling, ;; then heel the ball to their backs, and j) f a,way the backs go, flat out. Many a New Zealand team would npt be fit to . n . play throughout a match- after a h^j-d II > work-out such as the, Japanese • go ' through. Apart' from that work--out, these Japanese teams train for about three hours a day." J; Held Backs Together. A tribute was paid by Bush to the ;' fine football "played by C. C. Gillies, the* 1 Otago-first five-eighth. "He.held the / backs together wonderfully, and we v would have been in real trouble without him," saidithe vice-captain. "Mpst !<of the team played right up to their New Zealand form, but our main difficulty was that we could not settle down into a sound combination; because '{*■ of the unusual tactics with which we had to contend. When we played a | team at Hongkong on the way home, ' their methods were similar to ours, and « then our backs moved along beautifully. Oil that occasion we played seven forwards and eight backs, R. .Wilde, of Wellington, playing in the position 4 of the Japanese seven-eighth. He scored : two tries." -- . *■! After the first three games m Japan, v the New Zealanders played a 2-3-2 * scrum with a wing-forward, said Bush. % The tourists were always able to get a ■. fair share of the ball —after a-confer-cncc had been held on scrum rulings. How Can We Beat You? ; 4v:one feature that amused the tourists jbras the fact that Japanese pressmen 3 and,* supporters, after a Japanese team j|had been beaten, went along to the New and asked how they could their game so that they.- could of Hie highlights ofi the -tour, V • "WKsd Bush. was the manner in k.

which the manager of the team, Mr. R. Martin-Smith, of Wellington, delivered his speeches. "He is definitely an orator, and lie seemed to .be able to tell them more about Japan and Japanese than tliey knew themselves," said Bush with a smile.

Growdsj of between 20,000 and 30,000 were attracted to most of the matches, said Bush. The-prices charged were about" the same as those charged in New Zealand for interprovincial fixtures. One of the peculiarities of the tour had been the method' of entertainment after a match. lii New Zealand the placers had beer, but in Japan the 'two teams assembled in the pavilion j and. had tea. The New Zealanders later | were entertained at dinner by Baron j So-and-so, but the opposition team were not present. ! ■ Other lands, other customs! I