Home Side Scored Two Tries To Nil In 1921

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30811, 24 July 1965, Page 11

Home Side Scored Two Tries To Nil In 1921

BEFORE the 1921 match between Canterbury—a team with only one AU Black and that of eight years previously—and the behemoth Springboks, there had been very little opportunity for the present-day fever to establish itself. A fairly typical man in the street was "not going to see the Canterbury crowd stouched 30 or 40 to nil.” But at the end of the tradition-setting match, when Canterbury had become the first New Zealand combination to beat South Africa in this country, most of the crowd of 10,685 invaded the Lancaster Park Oval and, making the players feel “pretty silly,” carried the heroes off. Canterbury won, 6-4, tries by Wilson and Ford, to a dropped goal by Strauss, and the Springboks were to lose only one more match on the tour, the first test. Canterbury teams have now a famous tradition of rising to the occasion against touring teams and although matches against overseas combinations had been played for about 30 years, this was the real test The Canterbury forwards averaged about 12st 121 b to about 15st but the 2-3-2 scrum hooked the ball with remarkable skill and speed. On a number of occasions, it came through on the Canterbury side with such speed, it went straight through the legs of the halfback, Mullins .And this was in spite of the absence of B. V. McCleary, one of the regular hookers and a 1924 All Black. The key to Canterbury’s victory lay, as it usually does in Rugby, in the performances of the forwards. The mud and greasy ball were, at that stage of the tour, just too much for the

big, fast Springboks and the home forwards were in their element. As a unit, they were superb and equally tireless but the names of the captain, Murray, a grand leader and the old war-horse and only All Black, W. Cummings, are perhaps best remembered. At times, the the Canterbury pack was rolled back in the scrums—once the Springboks started moving forward, the Canterbury players could not keep their footing—‘but it held a firm grip on the game in the loose. ft was not a day for back movements but one player, the young Canterbury fullback, Evans, distinguished himself in no uncertain manner. In fact, it was said “. . . no finer exhibition of fuM-back play has ever been seen at Lancaster Park” and this tribute speaks for itself. By comparison, the great but ageing South African, P. G. Morkel, was often at sea in the heavy mud and too slow to the loose bail. Two errors he made led to the Canterbury tries. Canterbury’s first try came after Colin Deans, a brother of Bob, of 1905 Cardiff Arms Park fame, toed the ball through. He bustled Meyer and Morkel, the ball slipped out to Wilson who, hardly able to believe he could score, fended off Morkel and dived over. Strauss’s dropped goal was a particularly fine effort. He

received the ball at top speed and all expected him to pass. But he reached the Canterbury 25yd line, in the centre of the field and suddenly pivoted and flashed over a magnificent goal. But Canterbury was not to be denied and three minutes after the start of the second half, Ford scored. Deans again followed through a kick and bustled Morkel into a weak clearing kick. The ball fell into Ford’s arms on the sideline and the tough, wiry wing, beat two or three men before going over in Morkel's tackle. And although Evans went off injured with 15 minutes to go, the Springboks just could not score again. And so Canterbury won—deservingly, according to both the opposing captain, Pienaar, and the touring manager, Mr H. C. Bennett—and one of the biggest graveyards for touring Rugby teams received its first important head-stone.

Teams:— SOUTH AFRICA P. G. Morkel; W. C. Zeller, W. Clarkson, S. S. Strauss,, C. du P. Meyer; J. Tindall, J. Michau; T. B. Pienaar (captain), W. H. Morkel ,J. J. van Rooyen, J. M. Michau, R. Morkel, M. Ellis, N. du Plessis, F. Mellisli. CANTERBURY.—C. E. Evans; G- R. Wilson, J. McCormack, W. A. Ford; C. Deans, R. Evans; H. Mullins; E. Cummings, W. Cummings, C. R. Murray (captain), K. Henderson, E. C. Peterson, E. 11. Ellis, H. G. Munro.