KIWI CAPTAIN PROBLEM

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30803, 15 July 1965, Page 17

KIWI CAPTAIN PROBLEM

(By Our Rugby League Reporter J One of the New Zealand Rugby League selectors’ greatest problems when they announce the touring team on Sunday is the choice of captain.

The same three candidates who were in the running for the position against the Australians—W. L. Snowden (Auckland), G. M. Kennedy (West Coast) and R. D. Hammond (Auckland)—still have the highest credentials. Snowden's appointment against Australia had made him a warm favourite to be retained but his performances in the tests have changed that attitude in many minds.

As a scrum-half, Snowden has given New Zealand great service since 1959 but the

Australians themselves did not consider him the most polished scrum-half in New Zealand. Snowden did not really impress as a leader. He made nd great errors but he does not have the individual brilliance of a Cooke or a Baxter to spur his players on by example. His test position has been seriously challenged by R. S. J. Irvine (Canterbury) and it is a toss-up which will come back from Britain and France as the No. 1 scrumhalf.

■ Hammond and Kennedy !have also represented New Zealand since 1959 and all three toured Britain and France in 1961 and Australia in 1963. Thus, in experience, they are each other’s equal. But there is one advantage that Hammond holds over the others. He was the captain on the 1961 tour and he achieved surprisingly sue-

cessful results with that team. However, he has since lost the Auckland and North Island captaincy to Snowden and is apparently out of the running. This leaves Kennedy, who was probably the only captain in New Zealand to have the edge on M. L. Cooke. Twice last season Kennedy showed a better appreciation of the conditions and outmanoeuvred his rival. As a player he has no equal in this country for steadiness and versatility: as a captain he has a cool head and never allows himself to become flustered: as an ambassador he would be a great success. Snowden is a very likeable person off the field but he is not a good speaker. Kennedy, a school-teacher, would probably be the more successful. And Hammond, a great player in his own right, would be an ideal vice-cap-tain and forward leader.