Profile: D.A. ARNOLD

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30763, 29 May 1965, Page 11

Profile: D.A. ARNOLD

TN a conformist society x individualists are regarded with suspicion. In Rugby the same thing happens also.

D. A. Arnold, perhaps the most spectacular individual in New Zealand Rugby, has more than his share of critics. If he performs some brilliant solo feat which succeeds he is cheered. If, as often happens, it fails, he is decried. If he has a match in which he subordinates his natural gifts to become a mere cipher in the back-line he is said to have lost his ability. .

Like the gambling tables at Las Vegas the odds are always stacked against the player. On the strength of a brilliant final trial Arnold was chosen for the 1963-64 All Black team to tour Britain, The reports of his first few games suggested that New Zealand at last had found a mid-field back with a genuine attacking flair.

But a succession of minor injuries bedevilled him and by the end of the tour, although he was an established test player, he never quite confirmed his initial promise.

Then last year, Arnold did not play particularly well and was not selected for any of the tests against Australia. The selectors did bring him in as reserve for the final test but that probably was just an indication to him that he had not been forgotten. Since he first played in the senior grade in 1960, Arnold has been a Rugby enigma. On his day—and they occur more often than most persons think —Arnold is peerless as an attacking back.

His quick thinking, terrific speed, instant acceleration and great determination makes him a formidable opponent. But on other days, when matters do not go kindly for him, he becomes an infuriating player. He turns the attack the wrong way; darts hither and thither; is

out of position; in short, does everything that Rugby manuals exclude. When Arnold has one of those days he aptly fits Mathew Arnold’s description "... a beautiful and ineffectual angel beating in the void his luminous wings in vain.” Pound for pound Arnold probably is the most devastating tackler in New Zealand. But once again consistency is not always pres-

ent. Sometimes his defence is sketchy, simply because his attention has ■wandered and he is somewhere else. Physically Arnold is not cast in the All Black back mould. He weighs just more than 10 stone, spread rather sparsely over an angular frame. When he gained his All Black cap his build earned him the sobriquet of “Pukeko Legs.” New Zealanders normally do not show much finesse in nick-

names and on the tour his red hair caused a change to the more conventional “Bluey.” Probably it is Arnold’s red hair which contributes to his being noticed on the football field just as some misguided but enthusiastic forwards used to wear white headgear in the mistaken belief that they then would be noticed more easily by the selectors. Unfortunately that is a two-edged sword. This season Arnold has been more circumspect than usual. The old Arnold comes out now and then when he makes one of his darting, unpredictable runs. But generally he has conformed to what is expected from an All Black fiveeighths; cool defence, steadiness, and a pass at the right time. Which is a pity. One of Arnold’s swerving runs is worth far more than an anonymous figure either kicking sedately ahead or acting as a link. Arnold’s volatility on the field does not go dormant when the match has ended. Anyone who has toured with Arnold will agree that in a bus his decibel rating would equal about six other men.

He certainly has not the dour approach of some players but in his own way he is just as dedicated. And also he has a very keen Rugby brain and is an astute judge of players and tactics.

It is a back-handed tribute to Arnold that he has been the target for some ill-natured abuse from spectators this season. A small coterie of Sydenham supporters spent most of the game between Christchurch and Sydenham exhorting their team to “Get Arnold.” Arnold may well reflect that D. B. Clarke has received the same treatment at Lancaster Park.