BRILLIANT DISPLAY BY SPRINGBOKS

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28057, 27 August 1956, Page 8

BRILLIANT DISPLAY BY SPRINGBOKS

Maoris Overwhelmed By 37 Points To Nil SOUTH AFRICAN BACKS DOMINATE GAME (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND August 26. With a brilliant display of open Rugby, the South African touring Rugby team had no trouble in beating the New Zealand Maori side by 37 points to nil at Eden Park yesterday. The Maori team, for which high hopes were held, were beaten in every department and could do nothing to prevent the Springboks from dominating play for almost the entire 80 minutes of the match. This was easily the South Africans’ best display of the tour, although one of the main reasons for the high score was the lamentable standard of tackling by the Maoris. The crowd of almost 60,000 must have left the park feeling well pleased that they had seen so much good football, and very disappointed with the Maori team. The Maoris held the Springboks to a 13-0 lead up to half-time, but in the second half the Springboks did almost as they wished. Ag a tonic for the jaded Springbok team, the convincing win was appropriately timed, and it must make the players more optimistic of their chances in the fourth and final test at Auckland next Saturday. The Springbok captain, S. S. Viviers, had a good day with his kicking, notching 16 points from five conversions and two field goals. T. Briers (3), J. J. Nel, D. S. P. Ackermann, D. F. Retief, and J. T. Claassen scored tries. This was the Springboks 1 second highest total in New Zealand; only the 41 at Nelson beating it.

The teams were:— South Africa: S. S. Viviers; T. Briers, A I. Kirkpatrick, K. T. van Vollenhoven; J. J. Nel, B. F Howe; C. F. Strydom; D. F. Retief; D. S. P. Ackermann, J. A. du Rand, J. T. Claassen, J. Starke; H. N. Walker, A. J. van der Merwe, H. P. J. Bekker. New Zealand Maoris: M. Walters; D. F. Menzies, P. T. Walsh. T. P. Katene; W. N. Gray, J. P. Taitoko; K R. Davis; A. Pryor; H. Potae. S. F. Hill. H. Hiha. K. Emery; C. Hohaia, T. Kite, R. Clarke Mr W. H. Fright (Christchurch; was the referee. The Springbok inside back combination, Strydom and Howe, started off uncertainly and for a while it looked as if this pair might experience the same unhappy time they had against the Universities side, but once they had settled down —and that did not take long—they were the spearhead of the Springbok attack. Howe played an outstanding game He was aided greatly by having an inexperienced nrst five-eighths, Taitoko, opposing him, but the way he played ne would have been a handful for anyone. It was easily Howe’s best game in New Zealand. His pace was one of his greatest assets and several times he ran through the Maoris without a hand being laid upon him. Strydom, playing behind a greatly superior scrum, was not bothered throughout by the Maori forwards and consequently his backline saw far more of the ball than they have done in other matches in New Zealand. The failure of the Maori loose forwards Emery and Pryor and of Taitoko and Davis to get on top of the two Springbok inside men was one reason for the Springboks’ handsome winning margin. Only a couple of Maori forwards played with any vigour at all. No Incidents The match was played in the friendliest of spirits and there was not one incident to mar procedings. Boln sides went out to win, but there was none of the rough and tumble there has been in other games. There were a few injuries but none of them through any rough play. Apart from a rain storm of subtropical intensify 10 minutes before the match, the weather was fine. Both Howe and Strydom had a hand in most of the tries. Howe’s

tactical kicking was first class and at least two of the tries came from these kicks. Two of his midfielq breaks were almost copybook Rugby and it was he more than anyone else that showed up the weakness of the Maori defence, which for most of the second half was almost nonexistent. The two All Blacks in the Maori back-line, Walsh and Gray, were as guilty of slipshod tackling as their team mates. Behind the Maori scrum, Davis was good on attack and sent his backline away several times but his work on defence was very weak. Taitoko also showed up well on attack, but the gap between him and Davis was just what Strydom and Howe needed. Gray’s handling again let him down and several times he flasned through a gap but dropped the ball. He and Walsh, however, were the side’s best attacking backs. Gray would have done much better had he passed to his outside men on a number of occasions instead of taking the gap. Walsh, who was looking for work, was starved at least three times and so the scoring opportunities were Walsh broke past Nel and Kirkpatrick several times but the frequency with which they broke past him or, more corectly, broke away from his tackles more than squareq the ledger from their point of view. Kirkpatrick Injured Kirkpatrick and Nel were the lesser stars of the backline and did some fine work. Kirkpatrick broke his nose in the second half of the match, but carried on after a few minutes of sideline treatment Briers had a good day and was more than a match for Menzies. His three tries were all first class. Van Vollenhoven and Katene had an even struggle and the honours rested with Katene. He was cheered a number of times for his forceful bumping runs and was unlucky on a couple of them not to have scored. Van Vollen-. hoven never got away from him and Katene also did some valuable covering work for his non-tackling team mates Viviers, having his seventh match in succession, made only a couple of mistakes throughout and on the day finished far ahead of the Maori fullback, Walters. Apart from his goal-kicking, Viviers drove the Maoris back time after time with his steady and accurate line-kick-ing. His two dropped goals were excellent. One of them came from a

snap kick after he had weaved his way past four or five Maori forwards. The Springbok forwards laid the foundations for victory well and truly by beating the Maori pack in all departments. Their big weight advantage ensured for them an almost monopoly of the ball from set play and from rucks. Claassen and du Rand, the test locks in the three matches of the series so far. were outstanding in the line-outs. It was from a line-out that Claassen

scored his try—the first points Hte has got on the tour. As a gesture to him Viviers told Claassen to try converting his own try. He just missed. In the loose, Retief was very prominent and he got his man just as often as Pryor missed his. Bekker was terrific in the tight and not long before the end of the match he bolted through the tackles of half a dozen Maoris and all but scored. Most of the hard work in the Maori forwards was left to Hill. Clarke and Kite. Hill, vice-captain of the side, tried hard to rally his men, but he was fighting a losing battle almost from the start. He and Hiha tried hard in the line-outs, but without much success. The Play Retief was the first to score 10 minutes from the start after a break by Howe. Viviers converted. The next try was one of the best of the match. It started from a scrum on the Springboks’ twenty-five line. The ball was whipped out to Howe. He broke through cleanly and ran for about 50 yards before inpassing to Starke. In turn he gave it to Nel, who scored wide out. Viviers missed with his kick. A minute before half-time Briers scored after Kirkpatrick had kicked ahead. Briers took the ball well and raced to touch down under the crossbar. Viviers converted and the first spell ended: South Africa 13. New Zealand Maoris 0.

Ten minutes into the second half Ackermann scored under the posts after another Howe-Retief break. Viviers converted. Two minutes later when Howe cross-kicked for the corner Howe took the ball, beat Menzies and Walters, and scored wide out. Viviers converted. Briers scored again after a fine round-the?scrum break by Strydom, which was carried on by Nel. Viviers converted. Then Viviers kicked a long field goal after he had gathered in a clearing kick by Katene. Soon afterwards Claassen scored his try. Two minutes before full-time Viviers potted another goal to make the final score South Africa 37, New Zealand Maoris 0.