The mystery of the long casualty list

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33693, 16 November 1974, Page 18

The mystery of the long casualty list

(From T. P. McLEAN)

BELFASI

In the face of sinister events — not forgetting a sharp urst of machine-gun fire and the crash of a grenade the .During All Blacks have, so it seems, descended to the curious pastime of kicking each other during play.

It may even be said that they are in “the land of the flying footwear.”

This is the interpretation that the coach (Mr J. J. Stewart) places upon violent criticism made of the team's : play against Leinster on | Wednesday. i Many critics, including the I most respected of them in Ireland. Edmund van Esbeck, have charged that the All Blacks during the game deliberately kicked their opponents.

In the “Guardian,” David Irvine said that the All Blacks’ energies were usually manifested in late tackles and dangerous footwork in the rucks. fey a curious chance the sick parade of the AU Blacks after the match yielded the following items:—

P. J. Whiting had to be sent to sleep with a dose of pethedine because of the extreme pain of a deep wound below the right knee—suffered from the deliberate kick of an Irish boot. Whiting’s fellow lock forward, H. H. Macdonald, could not join in training on Thursday because of a severe shoulder injury —inflicted by a boot.

During the game the captain, A. R. Leslie, writhed in pain after being kicked in the back. The flanker, K, A. Eveleigh, limped and was obviously in pain after several kicks, including one in the chest. The buttocks of W. K. Bush, the prop, were black. I. A. Hurst could not train because of a stiffened calf muscle, and the fullback, K. T. Going, trained at half speed because of a long, deep scrape on his left calf.

“We must be the maddest team in Rugby history,” Mr Stewart said. “According to some of our friends in the press we inflicted heavy damage upon the Irish players. They did nothing to us. But here we have a long casualty list of our own men.

“The only possible inference is that we did the booting of ourselves.” Mr van Esbeck depicted the Leinster players as having

i sullenly trudged from the j field, saddened by an un- ! deserved defeat. GESTURE i Mr Stewart’s memories of ! the minutes after the game jdo not quite chime in with this picture. ! “I saw Fergus Slattery ; rushing his men from the J field so that they could form I two lanes by the gate leadI ing to the dressing-room,” he said. “As our All Blacks left I the field the Leinster men jmost warmly clapped them, lit was a princely gesture. I “Somehow I don’t think it ! would have been offered if we had behaved as regrettably as some writers would have you believe.” BULLETS Half an hour before the All Blacks crossed the border on Thursday a burst of machine-gun bullets and an exploding hand grenade peppered the wall of a police, station at Newry, five miles' to the north. One of the team’s security officers, John Thompson, a huge man of 20st who used to play top-level Rugby, was in the station at the time. His usual duties are in Belfast. Ke considers that to be a comparatively quiet! life. “When this thing happened at Newry,” he said lightly, “I was not quite at my best I Everyone else in the station! had hit. the deck long before' I even registered. 1 just kept |

e ; on standing there while those i-1 bullets were flying.” Security at Dunadry. 12 miles from Belfast, where i the All Blacks were put up Ltwo years ago, appears to be e even stricter than it was T then. All police carry Luger f I pistols in shoulder 'holsters, e and the number of uniform ijpolice in charge of vehicle •jmovements around the hotel s is much larger than before, t!