Ulster May Not Be Walk-Over

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30348, 25 January 1964, Page 18

Ulster May Not Be Walk-Over

[From

T. P. McLEAN,

Sports Editor of the "New Zealand Herald”]

BELFAST, January 24. Ulster’s indifferent record for the season of only one match drawn and four lost suggests that the All Blacks ought to make “no race” of their last game in Ireland at Belfast tomorrow. This is also the majority opinion among Irish critics who lament the decline of a province which drew matches against both the 1935 and 1953 All Black teams.

Yet a survey of the team suggests that Ulster will not be easy. There are seven internationals in the team, two of the calibre of D. Hewitt and A. A. Mulligan, who shone brightly for the 1959 Lions in New Zealand. Two others are the forwards, W. J. Mcßride and S. Millar, who have also worn the Lions’ colours in South Africa or New Zealand, while the others are K, Armstrong, who won two caps as outside-half against England and South Africa in the 1961-62 season, K. Houston, who won one cap with the Irish team in South Africa, and J. Donaldson, a flank forward, who won four caps in 1958. 22 “Caps” Apiece Mulligan and Millar are highly experienced internationals who have each won 22 Irish “caps,” while Hewitt, the dazzlingly brilliant player of 1959, has also won many distinctions in his career. As a contrast to this aggregation of tried ability, W. J. Hewitt, the full-back, is yet another of the “old men” whom the All Blacks have encountered in the British Isles. Hewitt entered senior club Rugby in 1945 at the age of 17, played on the wing in the Ulster team which held R. C. Stuart’s All Blacks to a 5-all draw, and now at the ripe age of 35 is still being called to the colours. Of great significance is the choice for outside-half of the the Cambridge University player, M. H. Gibson, whom the All Blacks unhesitatingly describe as the most brilliant back of the tour, Gibson, a gifted footballer, is fighting for his first Irish cap against the battle-hardened incumbent, M. A. F. English. The match is important to both men for the Irish selection committee, headed by Dr. Karl Mullen, captain of of the 1950 Lions in New

Zealand, will be at the match to choose the Irish team to play England next Saturday. A good performance by Gibson, as good as the one he gave for Cambridge against the All Blacks, would automatically ensure his selection. Meantime, the All Blacks have passed a vote of confidence in E. W. Kirton, as second five-eighths, by giving him another match in this unfamiliar position. The gesture commends itself as an intelligent piece of selecting. So, too, does the grouping of C. R. Laidlaw, M. A. Herewini, and Kirton if the All Blacks can maintain the forward power developed against Leinster on Wednesday and exploit the advantage more effectively than at Dublin. The match could be a happy augury for the visit to France next week, Ulster.—W. J. Hewitt, K, Quinn, D. Hewitt, W. K. Armstrong, K. Houston. C. M. H. Gibson, A. A. Mulligan, J. Miller, A. Crawford, W. J. McBride, K. Mulligan, J. Donaldson, S. Millar, K, Kennedy, and R. Jones. New Zealand.—P. T. Walsh. R. W. Caulton. I. R. Macrae, W. L. Davis, E. W. Kirton, M, A. Herewini, C. R. Laidlaw, B. J. Lochore, D. J. Graham, A. J. Stewart, K. F. Gray, K. A. Nelson, W. J. Whineray, J. Major, and I. J. Clarke.