Rugby would benefit from defeat of New Zealand

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32077, 27 August 1969, Page 11

Rugby would benefit from defeat of New Zealand

(\F course you play Rugby v well at all levels in New Zealand, but with the attitude of the population as a whole, and the facilities available, so you jolly well ought to. Apart from that, Rugby has a national significance and this drives the individual even more to improve the quality of his play. I heard much about schoolboy and lower grade Rugby as it is played in New Zealand, and I certainly was not disappointed with the standard reached

at all levels of ages from eight to 18. Your players were fitter, stronger and had a higher degree of skill and finesse than their counterparts in the U.K. There was a greater urgency in team practices and an intense desire for individuals to be selected and indeed to improve their particular skills.

In England I have to “dangle carrots” to get young men ( perhaps not all) to practise what I would call the more routine and boring skills. In this country these skills such_as line out work and goal kicking are not considered a bore and there is a general air of exdtment in this work. The nearest we get in competitiveness and in standard at the schoolboy level in England would be first fifteen teams; that is, the 16 to 18 age group. There is nothing more competitive than two public school sides meeting on a cold, crisp November Saturday. For instance, when my school side plays Harrow or Wellington, the boys play with a high degree of skill and ferocity which is often almost frightening to watch, and a determination to win at all costs.

The reasons for this keenness would be the same reasons that drive your schoolboy teams. That is, the players have trained and practised together for a long period of time. In fact, many of these players will never train or practise as a team again so much. They know each other well, both on and off the field, and this ensures a high espirt de corps. To play in a school first fifteen would be looked upon by masters, the staff and the headmaster as a “good thing.” To win would be considered important by these people, and indeed by the parents of the boys that are playing, and thus you get

a sort of tenseness and indeed purpose to the matches. However it is only in that level , that you get this sort of set up, except possibly in the Oxford and Cambridge match and the London Hospitals Gup. | I am not certain whether I would like to see such pressure' as indeed it must be, put on boys at a lower level. Football at school should only be considered as one of many activities and certainly not more important than anything else that a bey might do. Indeed games are considered as a mental relaxation from class room work. Because of this the standard of teems is not so high be-

cause the skills of Rugby football are not considered an important part of the school curriculum. At times you do see a schoolmaster driving his 13yeartold team to such an extent that he loses all sense, I believe that this sometimes lessens small boy's enthusiasm for the game and that, worse still, they become frightened to-lose because of the anger displayed by the coach. The things have got out of hand. I would not be prepared to criticize the Rugby set up in this country. I say this because the methods you use have grown up as a natural course of events. Such methods could not be implemented on the English scene. Neither boy nor adult would accept them. Your practices are indeed regimented and thus one could argue that this kills all individuality. This tends to be the pattern adopted by AU Black sides, and it is unusual for a coach to break from that pattern. Unfortunately, we in England are trying to adopt an AU Black pattern in our own footbail sides. I would like to see New Zealand tides beaten by a completely different pattern so that world Rugby does not get bogged down by one style of play—the style which you have been successful with. I hope, and I think you really want this to happen some day soon, whether it be by a schoolboy team or a national side from the northern hemisphere. We will come to this country and beat you. This will be good for us and indeed I think it will be good for you and Rugby as a whole. Champions you are but champions faU, and this will happen here as well.