SOUTH AFRICA TOUR

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29324, 1 October 1960, Page 7

SOUTH AFRICA TOUR

Report Given By Managers (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON. September 30. “I can assure you that not only the council and the New Zealand union but also. I assume from reports, everybody in New Zealand appreciates the job you did in South. Africa," said the chairman (Mr C. S. Hogg) in welcoming to today’s meeting of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union Council the managers of the touring team in South Africa. Messrs T. H. Pearce and J. L. Sullivan. “We congratulate you,” Mr Hogg said, “upon one of the best tours we have yet had. You not only had a good playing record, but also you placed relations between New Zealand and South Africa on the best basis they have been in my experience. Both on the field and off the field you did a great job,” he said. Verbal reports on the tour of South Africa were given by Messrs Sullivan and Pearce, and they made the following points:— The team left New Zealand in some uncertainty as to- how it would be received, but all doubts were quickly removed. The team was rather surprised to find themselves quartered near Sharpeville on arrival, but the colour question had never intruded during the tour. The training facilities were good, and some early difficulties in obtaining massage facilities were soon removed. ' The team was exceptionally fit on arrival, and that fitness had meant much to it in its early games. For a start the altitude did not 8 seem to have much effect, but it was certain in the finish that it did affect the team to some extent. After the first few weeks relations between the All Blacks and their hosts took a decided turn for the better, and they were satisfied that, by the end of the tour, relations between the two countries were the best for many years.