Worst display of tour, as All Blacks win

Press, 9 August 1976, Page 26

Worst display of tour, as All Blacks win

From

T. P. McLEAN

Springs When 76 young New Zealanders toured Pam Brink Stadium at Springs on Saturday as the prelude to the rugby match in which the All Blacks, after leading 9-3 at half-time, beat Eastern Transvaal by 26-12, they ended their march behind a banner by singing “God Defend New Zealand” with incredible lack of tune.

As things turned out, on an afternoon of brilliant sunshine their flatness set the standard for the display by the All Blacks which ranked as the worst of the tour and which was constantly impeded by errors of childish ineptitude.

Passes were dropped as ff the ball had been a piece off a meteorite just landed on the field. It was not at all uncommon, especially in the first half, for as many as three All Blacks to be beaten cold when going in for tackles. On attack, the backs lumbered forward like hippopotamuses trudging through marshland.

In such matters, as the line-outs, where the All Blacks’ superiority and clean catches amounted to no more than eight to six, amazing mistakes were made in handling and controlling the ball. An early elementary error, to which the Eastern Province referee, Mr J. SmithBelton. contributed by neglecting to observe the off-side activities of Fourie and Boshoff on the flanks of the scrum and of van Rensburg end other midfield backs

placed by Lyn Davis under considerable pressure at the base of the forward pack. Because of this harassment, Davis was much reduced from the outstanding player against the much tougher Transvaal team the week before. Duncan Robertson neglected to chip-kick to drive back over-eager Eastern Transvaal defenders. Lin Jaffray wanted sharpness in running and until he scored a glorious try. Bruce Robertson committed about as many errors in one match as under normal conditions he would have made in half a season. Grant Batty whizzed about very often in the second half into alarming clusters of tacklers. Terry Mitchell began with great spirit, perhaps because of the presence of a large band of newlyarrived supporters led by the noted Canterbury hooker, Dennis Young, and unquestionably should have been awarded a fair catch in a movement from which H. van Collet, on the left wing, scored for Eastern Tranvaal. But then, even Mitchell became infected. Altogether, it was a glum sight to see the back-line in operation and the sight was not improved by the sight of Mains moving about with a sad and solemn air which was not improved

by his failures on goal kicks made from so close in they should have been a formality. One supposed that in this twelfth game, the half-way stage of their tour, the All Black forwards felt indolent. In fact, it was not until a burly replacement, J. Pace, took the field late in the game, that the All Black pack came alive. Pace and lan Kirkpatrick, and later Bill Bush, who had replaced Kent Lambert, stirred in the pack a genuine vigour, which, had it been applied from the start of the match, would probably have killed Eastern Transvaal by the last quarter As it was, these fast, resolute “red devils” poured all over the field chasing anything which looked remotely black, and they so seriously embarrassed the All Blacks in so many ways that quite evidently the tourists will have to devise a much higher percentage of accuracy in simplicities to stand a reasonable chance of winning the second test on Saturday. For the All Blacks, Duncan Robertson, Grant Batty, Bruce Robertson and Lyn Davis scored tries, and Mains kicked two penalties and two conversions.

For Eastern Transvaal, Coller scored a try and de Bruin kicked the conversion and two penalties.