All Blacks uncork tried old formula

Press, 28 August 1978, Page 17

All Blacks uncork tried old formula

By

KEVIN McMENAMIN

The 1978 All Blacks gladdened the hearts of some of| their 1928 forebears — who were gathered together in the stand as part of their reunion — when they employed traditional New Zea-, land forward power to beat the Wallabies, 22-6, in the ; second test at Lancaster' Park on Saturday. The win clinched the I three-test series for New; Zealand, and at the same; time offered renewed hope; for a successful tour of Brit- j ain later this year. Not everything in the Alli Blacks garden was rosy, but] it was certainly a vast improvement on the first test display at Wellington a week earlier. From the very first maul it was obvious that the All Black forwards meant business. And they never relaxed, driving and foraging with dreadnought power and winning a steady — if not always tidy — stream of possession. It was too much for an Australian pack of limited resources to contain; while the tourists earned plaudits for the manner in which they stuck to their task and, in the second half, cut their way deep into New Zealand’s half, they were but a distant second. The writing was on the scoreboard wall at half-time, when New Zealand led, 9-6. New Zealand won the toss and gave Australia first use of the stiff southerly. There was no way that the All Blacks, playing as they were, could be beaten when they turned to play with the wind three points up. Their coach, Mr Jack Gleeson, predicted all last week that his team would improve and his after-match reckoning of a 75 per cent improvement was not far astray. Forwards like Gary I Seear and Barry Ashworth; may have gone closer to 100; per cent, so much more life and constructive toil was there in their play. Seear dipped a little when he missed one or two tackles in the second spell, but the errors only levelled out his performance, after being New Zealand’s best forward for most of the first spell. Ashworth kept coming , with such fire and determi- ; nation that it seemed hardly ; possible he was the same man who wandered aimlessly around Athletic Park the previous week. Canterbury’s John Ashworth, too, was an entirely

different player, solid as a rock in the scrums and lending a useful hand in broken play. Notwithstanding Mr Gleeson’s wish for a dry ground, i the soft surface did serve New Zealand’s interests. Its forwards adapted far better than did their counterparts, who are less accustomed to such a field; once the pattern of the game had been • established the All Blacks, I very sensibly, kept the play ; close to the eight men who i were giying such yeoman service. i The lineout play was still nothing marvellous, but with a 20-13 advantage, from 49 lineouts, New Zealand could feel reasonably satisfied. It

also held sway in rucks and mauls—a 14-8 lead from the 30 contested — and it took the scrums 20-18, with a tight-head apiece. Australia had an edge only in penalties, 12-8, and eight of the 12 came after halftime, when New Zealand received only three. But admidst all the backslapping, one nagging worry remained. Mark Donaldson was again slow and inaccurate clearing the ball from half-back. While the All Blacks were never seriously embarrassed because of him, the great shame is that he is playing well below his potential. Mr Gleeson admitted as much after the match, but his faith in Donaldson is unshaken. “I still think he is the best half-back in New Zealand and is just going through a bad trot. He did some things well, and I am sure he will soon get his whole game right,” he said. Outside Donaldson, the j other backs showed their fair share of the new spirit Mr Gleeson had injected into the forwards. Doug Bruce was, as always, his team’s Admirable Crichton until a knee injury forced him to leave the field 14 minutes into the second spell. Further out, Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson atoned for their mediocre performances at Wellington with displays that were far more inspiring. Unfortunately, play never ran well for Bruce Robertson and Bryan Williams, but if their brilliance was dulled, their competence was not. At full-back, Bevan Wilson

was everything that a good full-back should be: safe in The face of both high and low kid s, and with return punts long enough to win him the undying gratitude of all big forwards who know only too well what relief they bring. But with three goals from seven attempts, Wilson has still to establish himself as a trusty goalkicker. Frank Oliver enhanced his reputation as a talkative captain, but he led the way by more than just words alone, together with Andy Dalton, another forward unrecognisable from the first test, he was quite outstanding in the latter stages. Leicester Rutledge was

not the dominant character he was at Wellington, perhaps because the other forwards came closer .to his level. He worked just as tirelessly in the way he pursued, then upended, the Australian backs. The Wallabies were much shorter on heroes. With eight forwards of the style of Greg Cornelson they would have made New Zealand’s job a lot tougher, but there was only one Cornelsen, as game "as Ned Kelly they say — and probably twice as tough. The rest of the pack got lost a little in the rush. Only Peter McLean distinguished himself through athletic line-out leaps, sometimes to the ball.

John Hipwell was a tradesmanlike half-back, but not the little general he was at Wellington. Once the ball got greasy late in the second spell the Australian inside backs were too prone to error to be of any account. Ken Wright, the first fiveeighths, was not completely foxed by the slippery ground and his beautifully-balanced running was the shop window of Australia’s performance. The others made the odd dabs, but never in concert.

Not unexpectedly, Paul McLean’s knee injury recurred, and he was replaced after 33 minutes by the tourists’ latest recruit, Jeff Richards, who looked a fine player and, as one who has played most of his rugby in England, comfortable in the conditions. It was sad for the Wall-

abies that New Zealand should score its first try in the time between McLean’s leaving the field and Richards’ taking his place. Seear made the initial thrust and Bruce ran one way and then the other before giving an inside pass to Taylor, who had a clear run to the posts. Seear, mustering strength some may have doubted he possessed, bullocked his way over for the second try. Although this was scored just four minutes after half-time it took New Zealand, after Wilson had added the conversion, to a 15-6 lead and almost certain victory. The third of New Zea-, land’s three tries was a strange one. Stuart Wilson, going like an express train, took a pass from Donaldson and made about 15m before being stopped. A maul was in the process of being formed when Wilson shot out of it and continued his sprint for the line. Later Wilson paid his forwards a real compliment by saying that it was the force with which they got in behind him that ejected him from the net of Australian arms. Both teams opened their scoring with dropped goals, Wright for Australia in the thirteenth minute and Bruce for New Zealand in the sixteenth. Both were from handy positions. Wright kicked a penalty of about 38m just before half-time, and Wilson one of similar distance just before the end. Bryan Williams had one long penalty attempt into the wind, and it shaved the left-hand upright. Wright had good cause for wanting to kick himself after he missed the easiest shot of the day, a penalty attempt just out from the posts half-way through the first spell. He seemingly tried to lift the ball over the bar, rather than kick it over, an just spooned it weakly in the intended direction. The kick, if successful, would have given Australia the lead, 6-3, but it is most c.ilikely that it would have changed the course of the game. For New Zealand, tries by Tavlor, Seear and Stuart Wilson; Bevan Wilson two conversions and a penalty goal and Bruce a dropped goal. For Australia, Wright a

penalty goal and a dropped goal.