TOUR HALF WAY RECORD All Blacks Not Wanting In Enterprise

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30317, 18 December 1963, Page 20

TOUR HALF WAY RECORD All Blacks Not Wanting In Enterprise

tXMM T. ? MeLEAW, 5 porta Editor of the “New Zealand Herald"] BRISTOL, December 17. Having scrambled over a few hurdles and. cleanly jumped a good many more, the All Blacks in their course around the British Isles and France now approach the biggest hurdle of all—up to this stage of the tour at any rate.

The Welsh record against the previous New Zealand teams of three victories in four fixtures naturally compels the warmest respect.

Additionally, the Welsh teams the All Blacks have met on this tour have disproved the profound state of pessimism which grips the country as a whole over the present state and the future hopes of Rugby in Wales.

Other teams, notably in England, which was the champion country last season. have packed up in the last 15 or 20 minutes of their matches with the New Zealanders. This the Welsh have never done.

There is perhaps a lack in Welsh Rugby of the moment of that fertile genius which produced such backs as Cliff Morgan. Bleddyn Williams and the famous Jones boys. Ken and Lewis. but there is an abundant suppl" of courage It would need only another Morgan to light the Celtic fire which has vanquished New Zeeland teams of the pact. Critical Comment As the tour has progressed ths AU Blacks have collected the proportion of critical comment which seems to be the due of any sporting touring team of these <teys. Some has been Jusufled. for there have been matches when the AU Blacks to a dastressmg degree have failed to reach the tactical or technical level which may be expected of an international team. Bat the critiaem that has imputed a deliberate policy of negative Rugby in the team has not been justmed It is interesting that at this the half-way stage of the tour the All Biecks have scored 283 points while conceding 61. Compare this performance with the grand totate of the 1953 team which scored 446 points against 129 and the 1935 side which scored 431 against 180, and one sees that this latest AU Black aide has not been wanting in enterprise.

Ft is perhaps even more revealing ait this stage there have been 57 tries against the tour total at 88 in 1935 and 80 in 1853. There would have been many more if 75 per cent of opportunities bad been taken, and perhaps the scoring record would then have been recalling the efforts of the 1924 team which scored 1”5 tries in its 30 matches. But whart has been established is that in spite of a fundamental and purely comparative weakness at what the British call the half-backs—-the half and the first fiveeighths—the team has gone on chasing the points.

Hie record of points compared with the 1935 and 1953 teams proves conclusively that this pursuit has been ait the very least reasonably successful. The problems posed for K. C. Briscoe and C. R- Laidlaw immedisteiy behind the scrum, and for M. A. Here* wini, E W Kirton and B A. Watt at five-eighths have been considerable. When the 1953 team was ending its tour the manager, Mr J. N. Millard, succinctly remarked that the wing forwards had become “kings of the game” in British Rugby. They Still Are What has been made evident by this tour is that they still are. It was perhaps not a coincidence that in 1953 and subsequent years New Zealand Rugby was also bedevilled by a concentration upon defensive play. This phase of New Zealand’s Rugby development became accentuated with the discovery of D. B. Clarke as the greatest goal-kicker in the history of the game. But at this present stage of New Zealand's development, and particularly since the soul searching which followed the tour of South

Africa in 1960, there has been a distinct breakaway from defence as the first object. The example set by the Auckland Ranfurly Shield team exerted a powerful influence upon provincial Hugby. It is to be observed in this team which, as Auckland used to do, concentrates the keenest attention upon the procuring of what the captain, W. J. Whineray, invariably describes as “good ball.” Whineray is fully prepared to have his men run the ball from the very first scrum or check of play, so long as the ball • they are making play with is "good ball.” Forward Smashes In the normal course he asks the forwards for 15 or 20 minutes—and against the Welsh and the Irish the period needs to be longer—of concentrated effort in forward smashes and plunges in which great use is made of drives upon K. F. Gray, at No. 2, or C. E. Meads, at No. 3, or D. J. Stewart or R. H. Horsley, at No, 5. At this stage the task of the backs is to keep the forwards in the game on a level of physical attrition. Then comes the break-out phase in which use is made of what is called “the willie away,” otherwise the long throw-in to No. 6 and a charge by Whineray himself or C. E. Meads towards the inside and midfield backs of the opposing team. It was this move which so greatly depreciated the stocks of the celebrated English flyhalf, Richard Sharp, when the All Blacks beat SouthWestern Counties. Command Of Loose In this phase the object is to keep the ball in movement through the forwards, who do it very well indeed, or by the backs, who, because of the comparatively uncertain quality of the half-backs, are not so adept. Command of the loose scrums is sought so that when the ball is good there can be a flip this way or a switch that way, and command, too, is sought so that as necessary the opposing loose forwards must be compelled into the ruck. If everything goes according to Whineray's ideas —and his is the principal and the commanding brain in the tactical developments—the phase which succeeds is the kind of pure and brilliant exploitation which enraptured the [ crowd at the London Counties match and which has been most successfully served up elsewhere.

More might be done, more could have been done if the hinge between the backs and

the unexpectedly fine strength of the three-quarters had turned out to be more reliable. But what has been done has been, on over-all balance, pretty good. M. J. Dick, at this stage of the tour, has scored as many tries as R. A. Jarden managed in 1953, and he is within four of T. H. C. Caughey, who was the leading try-scorer in 1935. More Enterprising Moreover, while the All Blacks have been trying much more conscientiously than has perhaps been realised to bring all arms into the fight, British teams, without fail, have never departed from a state of ultra-cautious defence. The present AU Blacks may never have the luck to be hailed as a great side, but as an interim judgment on a tactical level they are far, far more enterprising on attack than any team they have encountered in the four countries.