The All Blacks.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19285, 14 April 1928, Page 14

The All Blacks.

The farewell to the All Blacks, who left Wellington yesterday for South Africa, was carried out with a solemn seriousness appropriate to an occasion of national importance. The Prime Minister, in an almbst Roman strain, spoke gravely of the difficult tasks ahead, and even the leaders of the New Zealand Labour Party paused in their work, of encompassing the s doom, of Capitalism to confer their blessing. It is a matter for regret with some people that New Zealanders as a whole are more conversant with the merits -and demerits of the three-two-three scrum than with the problems that vex the politicians, and that Mr Maurice Brownlie eclipses Mr Coates as a figure of national importance; but the complaint is a carping one. No doubt* it is. desirable that we should become known to the world by some other activity than liugby football, but there is no need to blush over the fact that we have won a place in the sun on the football field as well as on the battlefield. Besides, Rugby as played in New Zealand is extremely interesting and reaches a high standard of excellence, which is more than .can be said of politics as practised in New Zealand. Apart from this, however, we might" well be excused for making a little too much of the 1928 All Blacks, since they have-left to take part in what is probably the greatest series of contests in the history of the game. It is perhaps too much to expect that they will come through such a gruelling tour as is before, them with a record such as was established by the team that toured Britain in 1924-25, for playing conditions in South Africa differ widely from those in Britain and New Zealand, and football in South Africa has reached a higher standard

than in Britain. But whatever the results may be, we have sent a team to South Africa fully entitled to represent us, and we shall be content to have New Zealand's reputation for football and for sportsmanship judged by their performances.