ALL BLACK TOUR OF BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26869, 23 October 1952, Page 5

ALL BLACK TOUR OF BRITAIN

RUGBY FOOTBALL

ITINERARY CRITICISED MR MARK NICHOLLS’S VIEWS (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, October 22. “The first thing that impresses me about the arrangements for the All Black tour of Britain next year is that no preliminary shakedown tour has so far been arranged as was done in 1924, when we went first to Australia,” said the famous All Black, Mr Mark Nicholls, discussing the itinerary today. “It is unfortunate that the Australians will be in South Africa, but it is also a pity that some such tour could not be arranged for this team before it leaves for Britain I think that, in the absence of such a tour, the manager and comanager should be appointed before the trials start. They would thus be in a position to pick the best team for the first match. “I don’t believe in flying the team Home,” he added. “The players will have a full season here, then hop on a ’plane and have three or four days under plenty of strain before they land in England. If they should then strike a wet season they will know all about it. "I also think a mistake is being made in sending the team to Eastbourne to preEare for the first match. Eastbourne is a ig town and there will be too much entertainment available.” Mr Nicholls criticised the decision to send the team four times to Wales, twice to Scotland, and only once to Ireland. “It’s a wonder to me that the Irish do not complain about it,” he said. “The British Isles is not a big place, only about the same size as New Zealand. What would we think if a team came here and was sent four times to the Auckland province?” Mr Belcher’s Views Mr A. St. C. Belcher, chairman of the management committee of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union, however, is pleased that the team is to fly to Britain. “It will enable the team to leave much later and thereby avoid disrupting our season,” he said. “The quick trip, too, will overcome the difficulty of the players putting on weight, as they invariably do aboard ship. “We think that . the choice of Eastbourne for the team’s headquarters during the settling-down period will prove a much better proposition than Newton Abbott. “I consider the three visits to Wales (four including the Barbarians match) an improvement on previous itineraries. There are no easy matches in Wales, and this arrangement will allow the fitting in of some easier games between visits/’

VARIED OPINION IN DUNEDIN FORMER ALL BLACK CAPTAINS (New Zealand Press Association) THTNETHN, October 22. It would be better for the All Blacks to travel by air rather than ship, said Mr C. K. Saxton, the captain of the Kiwi Rugby team which toured the United Kingdom in 1945, commenting on the opinions of Mr Mark Nicholls. Disadvantages of shipboard life, Mr Saxton said, were seasickness, cramped quarters, rich food, “terrific” entertainment, and poor facilities for training. He thought that one trip to Ireland was enough, considering the small Rugby population in that part of the country. Wales was a “tough proposition,” and he thought it a good idea that the- tour should be broken up so that the team could return to Wales after matches in other parts of the country. “The Kiwis did it that way, and found it quite successful,” he said. “For the team to visit Wales and fulfil all its commitments would be far too strenuous.’’ Mr J. E. Manchester, captain of the 1935 All Blacks, said that the actual matches being played were very similar to those of his tour. “I feel that this team, as with ours, is to be called on to do excessive travelling, and it would appear that the main consideration in arranging the programme is not playing too many matches in too short a period in proximity to one another. In other words, the gates are being considered to too large an extent, and too much is being expected of the players.” IMPROVEMENT SEEN IN ITINERARY (Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) LONDON, October 21. v The All Blacks’ itinerary “shows a general and sweeping improvement on some arranged in the past,” says the Rugby correspondent of the “Evening Standard.” He adds: “It is, however, to be urged that, for once, the farewell match against the Barbarians should not necessarily be played in Wales. This might well be the match of the tour, as it was in the case of the Australians a few years ago. The Barbarians are not a Welsh club, and the same gate could be taken at Twicken-

The correspondent also says that the fact that the All Blacks will begin the tour against the minor counties will delight Devon and Cornwall. “They have long protested at being regarded as the tour guinea pigs, being expected to meet the tourists before their own season has got into swing, or the counties have even played a championship match. And Scotland will be grateful for not playing the first international, which is quite a change.”