BID BY MEADS

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32359, 27 July 1970, Page 24

BID BY MEADS

(From T. P. McLEAN)

PRETORIA.

The All Black lock forward, C. E. Meads, is to have a plastic encasement fitted on his broken arm. If it feels well he will attempt to play for the All Blacks as soon as possible. Meads yesterday said: “The people in Johannesburg are all ready to help me. I have arranged with them to have the plaster removed from my arm.

“This is the first step. If with the plaster off, the arm feels O.K. I will then get the plastic fitting put on. “This takes only two or three hours. If that feels all right then I am heading for Port Elizabeth by the first plane so that I can get stuck into training. “I’ll stay there until the boys arrive from Kruger Park and then I’ll see how things go"

After the test loss Meads, who watched the Springbok trial, said: “I don’t think .anyone in our party really believed me when I talked about the Springbok loose forwards. I told our blokes that Greyling, Bates and Ellis were sensationally quick to the loose ball and kept it up all day. “I sensed that they were saying ‘loose forwards, well, what the hell.’ “Well, you saw for yourself how those three dominated play by getting to the loose ball far more quickly than we did. “That was the start of things, the rest followed on. And because of that start we made all those bundles of mistakes.”