All Blacks' First Match Today

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29820, 12 May 1962, Page 9

All Blacks' First Match Today

’T'HE Rugby game at Well--1 ington today between New Zealand and The Rest will be the All blacks’ first match together before the tour of Australia. A shadow test 15, consisting mainly of the All Blacks who played against the French last year and a combined team of nine of the 10 remaining All Blacks and five Wellington players, will give enthusiasts some idea of the relative merits of the players. An unusual selection has been the choice of the wing, J. R. Watt, as full-back for the blacks (New Zealand), while D. B. Clarke will be full-back for the whites (The Rest) The playing of Watt me?ns no’bing. for Clarke is

certain to be the full-back for the tests in Australia. The selectors are probably disturbed about Clarke’s weight —l7st 81b —and as he will undoubtedly have a lot of running to do in the weaker side, he will almost certainly shed some of the excess weight. The clash between the second five-eighths, R. H. Brown (black) and R. C. Moreton should be interesting. Moreton, in his few games this season, has often been brilliant and if he shows his usual dash today he could be first choice at second-five-eighths for the major games of the tour. Some of the All Blacks are said to be not completely fit and the early tour can be

held responsible for this. A tour of Australia does not offer the same incentive for players to reach a high degree of fitness as would say, a tour of South Africa and the British Isles.

The forwards, if not as sprightly yet, as one would Like, are, with one exception, not overweight. The prop I. J. Clarke is about a stone heavier than last year, but the locks I. N. MacEwan, the Meads brothers and K. Barry, are as lean as I’st year. Indeed, the engineroom of the scrum looks most formidable, even at this stage and once the Meads brothers have a few games behind them the Australians can expect to have their hands full in the line-outs

and loose. The progress of the Maori No. 8, V. M. Yates, will be watched with some interest in Australia. Last year the selectors persevered with him

in spite of a mediocrej performance in the first test at Auckland and their failth in him was justified for he played a grand game for New Zealand in the last test at Christchurch.

Yates, for all his size, is very fast, an attribute which most of New Zealand’s No. B's have lacked in recent years. He went from strength to strength last year, but it is felt that he has a great deal of football in reserve: this tour should help to bring some of it out and to give him valuable experience which he will undoubtedly appreciate when he tours the British Isles next year.