Long Grass, Says Clarke, Affecting His Kicking

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30288, 14 November 1963, Page 20

Long Grass, Says Clarke, Affecting His Kicking

(From T. P. UcLZAN, Sports Editor of tht “New Zealand Herald’’] LONDON, November 13. Although he has established records which are unlikely to be attacked for many years, D. B. Clarice still cherishes the hope of a fairy-story 7 ending to his career. He would like to be the man to kick the winning goal for New Zealand in the rubber match with the Springboks in the test series of 1965.

Clarke made it plain in an interview that he does not cherish this ambition for reasons of personal glory. He regards the South Africans as perhaps the world's greatest Rugby players, and certainly as the most formidable of New Zealand’s rivals. It would be the summit of his career if he could help the All Blacks to defeat them in the crucial test on a New Zealand ground. Surveying his career, Clarke feels that he has received disproportionate publicity for his scoring efforts for New Zealand teams. He has always regarded the scoring of goals as the job he has been required to do in support of 14 team-mates and he deprecates any suggestion that he has been the comet and the rest of the team the tail. Pained by Jealcusy It has, therefore, pained him to discover at times in New Zealand some jealousy of his attainments—some quite bitter jealousy, by the sound of his guarded comments. “Having had the luck to have a good kick,” he said, “I have always thought it my

duty to kick as well as I possibly could for the sake of the team.” Although often portrayed as completely lacking in temperament Clarke at the moment is sensitively aware that his goal-kicking is not being as much of an assistance to the All Blacks as it should be. Distracting He offers no excuses but thinks it is possible that the length of the grass on British grounds may be affecting his accuracy. Even at Twickenham last Saturday, so he said, the grass reached about a third of the height of the ball when it was placed upright for a kick at goal and this somehow seemed distracting. As for his general play, about which there are frequent references to his slowness, he is quite happy with the standard he has reached. “I like people and the press to keep talking about my slowness,” he said. “Actually I was fat and slow until I made the acquaintance of Arthur Lydiard and learned from him the importance of keeping in constant training for the sake of good health. “I have never been fitter than I became after Lydiard had put me on to jogging. Perhaps it’s true that I am a yard slower than I was—but after all I am now 30—but

when you've been playing for a long time you learn the short cuts. I feel that at the moment my general play is as good as it used to be.” Heroic Figure Clarke acknowledged that one of the greatest difficulties associated with his elevation by many of his countrymen to the status of a heroic figure was “keeping the feet on the ground.” “A few years ago,” he confessed. “I really did get to thinking I was the cat’s pyjamas but while it’s wonderful to be an All Black in New Zealand there’s also a responsibility about it. “After a while you learn that people regard an All Black so highly that they feel very keenly about anything he does which suggests he is letting them down. “The more you become aware of this attitude the more your feet cling to the deck—and I think I can say now that this realisation cured me for good and all.”