Bookshelf

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31277, 25 January 1967, Page 11

Bookshelf

trying hard to be fair, cannot help but compare A- E. I. Pask with M. J. CampbellLamerton as a captain. Indeed this is the theme that runs right through the book —the virtues of Pask as a tactician, forward and captain. But it is felt that Thomas has overlooked some factors in Pask’s play. He mentions that the only times the Lions cut loose were in the Universities and Waikato matches when Pask was captain but omits that Pask was captain when Wellington thrashed the Lions. And not many critics would agree that Pask was the greatest

But unfortunately there is not really an attempt to analyse why the Lions played such indifferent Rugby on the tour. The oddities of selection and captaincy may have been a root cause but it Is not said how these problems might have been overt come. Thomas has toured New Zealand before, with the 1959 Lions, and because of this it is distressing to read the number of factual errors in the book. Carisbrook becomes Carisbrooke Park, W. A. Hadlee "W. A. Hadley” and hardly one provincial match escapes having players names misspelt.