Where Lions went wrong

Press, 14 December 1977, Page 52

Where Lions went wrong

PA Wellington The British Lions Rugby selectors were out-thought and out-manouevred by their All Black counterparts in this year’s test series, according to British author John Reason in his book on the Lions’ tour, “Lions Down Under.” Reason, perhaps the most knowledgeable and informed critic associated with the tour, devotes the final part of his book to an absorbing analysis of where the Lions went wrong in dropping the series, 3-1, to the All Blacks In the past Reason has made himself unpopular with New Zealand audiences because of his severe and at times, unjustified criticisms of All Black rugby and its methods This timr, though, the hatchet largely falls on the Lions and their management. New Zealand is not entirely let off, however, with referees bearing the brunt of Reason’s fury. Reason links the poor standard of refereeing with the decline in the standard of New Zealand’s forward play. “It was clear in 1977 that referees in New Zealand are every bit as inadequate as referees in South Africa and Australia,” Reason said. “And they are all inadequate for the same reason — the game in their countries is so isolated that they do not have any standards of comparison and therefore they are never made to see how far out of touch they really are.” Reason says the principle I of neutral referees, far from \ damaging their interests. > would them more good

than anything because it would give them the oportunity to see the differences of emphasis in other parts of the world. “Quality tight forward play can only be produced by precise and accurate refereeing, which in turn can only be produced by blowing a whistle to require the proper application of the laws.” Reason says, however, that the referee who is admired in New Zealand is the one who “Jets it go” and New Zealand could hardly deplore the lack of technique in its tight forwards while criticising referees who might encourage the devel- , opment of that technique. '• He said the lack of attenI tion to scrummaging laws by referees destroyed the I climate which might produce good prop forwards. Reason says the decline of tight forward play in New Zealand is forcing changes in the style of play and the most fundamental has been the shift in the point of attack. Instead of the old . style, where a running scrum-half fed the ball back to dominant loose forward combinations to set up second phase possession i through the ruck, the scrumj half now had to clear the , ball to his backs as quickly ( as possible and hope that j they could find space to iimount an attack. •‘The Ali Black i selectors this year, therefore, i decided to move the point of ' attack furtner out. To do that they had to drop Sid Going, they had to introduce a passing half-back and they (had to change the balance of their loose forward coml bination to provide more ef-

fective support for a point of attack aimed at the centre of the field rather than the flank of the scrum." “It was a decision which caused considerable upheaval and therefore which took both courage and perspicacity in the face of a lot of criticism. But the New Zealand selectors had both and they were proved to be right, Reason said. He said this ought to have meant that New Zealand had conceded victory, because they had accepted that the only thing they could do was to play the Lions at their own game. “The further the tour went, though, the more apparent it became that this was not the case, because the Lions were no longer capable of playing what had been regarded as their own game and they had no one to tell them how to do it again. “The All Black selectors made far better use of their resources. They accepted their teamS limitations and made the sensible adjustments. The Lions’ selectors did not and consequently were out-thought and outmanoeuvred.”

Decrying the decline in British back play, which he says has coincided with the change in the laws which created space in midfield, thus meaning that backs no longer have to sidestep, jink or dummy to elude opponents, Reason say the great irony of the 1977 Lions was that they failed not because John Dawes failed as a coach of forwards, hut because he failed as a coach of backs.

“His team lost because it could not do the things at which he himself, as a player, was an artist.” Reason says the days of the amateur rugby player are numbered, just as surely as the days of the long tour. “Some of the people in rugby football realise that the present situation which allows an almost totally professional game in France while attempting to halt the quite obvious advance of professionalism elsewhere is completely hypocritical. “Rugby league and rugby union went their separate ways 90 years ago on the question of broken time payments and it is not difficult to envisage a situation developing within the next 10 years when the reason for the division no longer exists.

“Rugby union would do rugby league a favour by putting it out of its misery, as it has in France, by making rugby union financially very much more attractive to play,” Reason said. “Nothing will stop the eventual reimbursement of rugby union footballers for the money they lose while on tour.”