SPORTSMAN OF THE WEEK

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27203, 21 November 1953, Page 3

SPORTSMAN OF THE WEEK

W. A. MEATES

New Zealand has produced many very fine wing-three-quarters and few better than William Anthony Meates one of the most versatile men to occupy that very important position on a Rugby field. New Zealand’s most successful wings have been noted for one ’scoring move in particular. Duncan McGregor of the 1905-6 All Blacks needed less ground than any other to work in, and the manner in which he could slip past a tackle when almost on the corner flag was amazing. Frank Fryer had speed and a deceptive side-step and swerve, George Hart and Peter Henderson depended almost solely on extreme speed, Bill Elvy was a propper and side-stepper and Jack Steel and Eric Boggs were very effective bumpers. Meates had all these attributes although not in quite so marked a degree as any one of the specialists mentioned. It is said that he had 10 different ways of scoring a try, and above all he was a team-worker ever ready to open up play inside once he found the way to the line blocked, and his well-placed short-punts gained him many a try. Like most high-grade wing-three-quarters, Bill Meates was very sure-footed. It was seldom that he went down in a tackle and even when stopped by more than one tackler his hands were always free arid the ball speeding on its way before he hit the ground. It was only in the later years of his football that he played in the wing position, for when at school, in his club football and in the famous N.Z.E.F. team of post-war years he was a centre-three-quarters. Like other noted All Blacks in Bob Scott and Johnny Simpson, Bill Meates was a product of League football for in his primary school days at Greymouth he played hockey or soccer on Saturdays and in Rugby League competitions on Sunday. It was not until he became a pupil at St. Bede’s College that he was given a chance to show his paces in the Rugby game. His early training was quickly evident in his superb handling—in later years a feature of his play—, and his preference for passing instead of kicking the ball. After a successful career in the sporting line at St. Bede’s, Meates played for the combined AthleticUniversity team with Pat Smith, later captain of the New Zealand League team, Tom Knowles and Pat Callanan. Next year he was at Teachers Training College where in its first season in senior grade football he operated with a team that played bright, attractive Rugby. When a member of the AthleticUniversity team he was a late replace-

ment in the representative game between Wellington and Canterbury which was played at Athletic Park in a sea of mud. When Meates went on the field he joined his teammates who were hardly recognisable for mud. He finished the game with his brand new red and black jersey in spotless condition. He looked “too pretty” to the other men who promptly made him one of themselves when they rolled him in the mud and slush. After playing several games for Canterbury he injured an ankle although late in the season he played against Otago. In 1945 he was a student at Dunedin Teachers College and after a few games in cricket for the Grange Club he went overseas. In the trials for the Kiwis team to tour England he was the logical choice and he became a member of a combination which delighted English critics because of the open nature of their play and brought into the limelight men like Scott, H. E. Cooke, Wally Argus, Jim Kearney, Charlie Saxton, Simpson, Neil McPhail and others.

On the Wing for Otago In 1947 he was back in Christchurch playing for University with Larry Savage, Bob Stuart and Jack Kelly all of whom have become All Blacks since then. In this year he played for Canterbury against West Coast and Buller after which he remained on the sideline with a broken leg. In 1948 he was appointed to the staff of the Ranfurly High School and playing for the Ranfurly Club in the Maniototo subunions competition, he had as a partner at five-eighths Jim Kearney who had also been on tour with the Kiwis, while Hec Wilson was one of a good pack of forwards. Apparently Meates was just the man the Otago selectorcoach, Vic Cavanagh was looking for and he was selected to play for Otago as a wing-three-qu'arters. In 1949-50 the Otago team was the, best in New Zealand and established a record in its tenure of the Ranfurly Shield. This was a really great team and 11 Otago men were selected to tour South Africa with the All Blacks in 1949. He was on the wing when Otago beat the British Isles team at Carisbrook and played in all the tests. He was not only in the Otago team when it held the Ranfurly Shield for so long, he was also in the one which lost it to Canterbury in 1950. This was the end of his big football for in the following year he played for his club in the sub-union competitions and then hung up his football boots for good. Asked to name some of the best players he had been associated with Bill Meates had no hesitation in nominating Bob Scott as the “daddy of them all.” Scott had everything that went to make a great fullback, he said. Charlie \ Saxton was a splendid halfback arid Pat Crowley, and Johnny Simpson were both great forwards. “Many are only just ning to realise how good Laurie Haig is. You’ve got to play with him to realise just what kind of player he is. All Otago boys know how good he is and has been for some years. He is deceptive in that his work is so unobtrusive but results count and no one can show better results than Laurie Haig” was Bill Meates’s tribute. “Other men I admire so much were in 'the Otago Ranfurly Shield team led by a great captain in Ron Elvidge, popular and level-headed, a hard runner on attack and as solid as a rock on defence. Harvey, Willocks. Kearney, McNab, Johnston and Skinner were all players of the highest class,” he said.

Cavanagh’s Theory “There appear to be all too few football theorists. Vic Cavanagh was pre-eminent as a tactician and coach. He had a set plan with something to meet every emergency. His play was never destructive and he would not tolerate breakaway forwards spoiling the work of the other half-back or five-eighths. If the opposing forwards were good enough to get the ball their backs should be given a fair chance to play with it was Cavanagh’s idea,” said Meates. Although the Otago team did not possess an outstanding goal-kicker, a glance through the records will show that their scoring was always very good and the majority of tries were scored by the wing-three-quarters, which dispels the idea that the Otago team played hard, dull football. The backs, however, did not pass for the sake of passing. When the ball flew out there was usually something at the end of the movement. “There is- not enough thought given to the game generally. Football is a game for 16 men. Vic Cavanagh Ts a great salesman and psychologist, but

unless the forwards can get the upper hand and hold it the team cannot hope for much success,” said Bill Meates. There is a liking for sport all through the Meates family. The father is patron of the West Coast Rugby League, Kevin twice played for New Zealand against Australia last year and but for receiving a bad injury to one of his knees in the final South Island trials he might have gained a place in the team at present in England. Vince, who is now in Wellington, plays senior grade football for the Onslow Club. He had previously represented West Coast, Wellington and the South Island in League; Jack has played League for West Coast Wellington and Auckland and according to Bill is a “good Rugby forward going to waste.” Jim played lower grade League for Teachers College and the baby of the family, Brian, a pupil at St. Bede’s College, is a good hefty boy who shows promise of carrying on the family name in the game of Rugby football.