Brilliant tries, ferocious tackling help All Blacks break ‘jinx’

Press, 23 October 1978, Page 20

Brilliant tries, ferocious tackling help All Blacks break ‘jinx’

From

KEVIN McMENAMIN,

on tour with the All Blacks

Three spectacular tries and a defence which was quite outstanding made it possible for the All Blacks to shatter the “Welsh jinx” at the Arms Park yesterday (N.Z. time).

By beating Cardiff, 17-7, the All Blacks became the first New Zealand team since the Second World War to win the initial club match in Wales. After a scratchy start, the!. All Blacks settled down to do exactly what their coach,! Mr Jack Gleeson, has given; as his blueprint for the tour' — eliminating mistakes and grabbing chances. When the! chances came they were; seized upon avidly and while! perfection is still a long way! off there were certainly 1 signs that this team, which; left New Zealand so unsung,! just might have greatness in As at Cambridge in the opening game last week, the line-outs were again a cause lor concern. Admittedly Cardiff had a line stacked with _ jumpers, but it was only in the last quarter that »ny New Zealanders took the ball cleanly. Previously they knocked more ball the opposition’s way. But the tries and the tackling, especially among the midfield and outside backs, was the feature of the play. Bill Osborne, at centre, must 1 have rattled the teeth of his markers by the way he zeroed in on them with ramrod force. Lyn Jaffray, too, knocked over his rival with the power of a John Wayne punch, while both wings,I Stuart Wilson and Bryan j Williams, made some timely' h terventions. Il

Williams, celebrating his. 100th game for New Zealand — a mark previously reached by only Colin Meads and lan Kirkpatrick — was made a special presentation on the ground just before the kick-off. The team, too, was keen to make the occasion even more memorable for him by sending him iway for a try. It was not to be, but the three that were scored all!

had a special quality. Wilson got the first in the twentyeighth minute when he pulled down an intercept inside his own half and raced 70m in splendid isolation to dot the ball down under the bar. The second try, 2min after half-time, was a gem. From a scrum. Eddie Dunn chipkicked — a ploy he used most effectively — Jaffray made the catch and then drew the full-back before sending Osborne on a 45m dash to the line. The last try, in the sev-enty-fourth minute, could have come straight from a

text-book. Andy Haden timed his line-out jump superbly, the ball was swung through the back-line, with Williams in from the blind side, and Wilson was not found wanting when faced with a man to beat, an outside swerve leaving the hapless fellow stranded.

Cardiff, which even before the match was not given much chance of success, nlaved a peculiar game. There seemed to be very little faith in the three-quar-*ers. although the centre, Pat Daniels, was desperately unluckv not to score when a (weaving run shortly after half-time took him to within (centimetres of the line.

There was obvious class in the inside pair, Terry Holmes and Gareth Davies. Holmes possibly took a little too much on himself and was often wrapped up by the New Zealand flankers, Graham Mourie and Leicester Rutledge, but Davies is undoubtedly a player of the future and one who will further the lineage of brilliant Welsh fly-halves. But the Cardiff plan was clearly to take on New Zealand in the forwards and in the line-outs they enjoyed a marked superiority. But elsewhere, given that New Zealand conceded the only tighthead, the Ali Blacks were rarely in trouble. The pack held firm in the scrums, drove spiritedly in broken play and came together in some tidy passing rushes.

Behind the scrum, Dave Loveridge was a ball of constructive energy and he chose his options with wise judgment. Dunn also had a very good first game for New Zealand. His balanced running and clever use of the boot made him not unlike Davies in style and it could be that these two young men will face each more than once again before the tour is over and, perhaps, again in the years to come. Clive Currie was another to make satisfactory debut. A poster denied him a 50 per cent goal-kicking return, but his punting in the first half was long and sure and he covered ground well to largely eliminate the threat posed by Davies’s angled kicking. But New Zealand committed one bad blue, one that was inexcusable. A try was narrowly avoided when the Cardiff hooker, Mike Watkins charged down a clearing kick. The next act was a line-out just out from

the corner and New Zealand opted for a short line-out, with most of its troops spread across the goal-line like track runners.

The long throw-in was safely taken by Jaffray, a maul then formed and by some mysterious means it was the black Cardiff flanker, Car) Smith, who detached with the ball and he had no trouble scoring. For New Zealand, it was all very reminiscent of the tactical blunder that allowed the Australian, Greg Cornelson, to score at Eden Park last month.

It was undoubtedly an excellent win for the Al! Blacks. Both in degree and execution, and in attention to basics, it was a much improved performance on the one at Cambridge. Frank Oliver, in his first game for six weeks, gave substance to f he view that he could become the star of the pack, while Mourie, Rutledge and Gary Knight were most competent. But this was not a great Cardiff side and while a solid foundation has been laid it will take equally good wins against stronger sides before Mourie and his men can substitute confidence for expectation.

The All Black manager, M<- Russel] Thomas, probably summed up the game best when he said that he was pleased, but not excited, by the victory. “Playing at Cardiff is a great experience for any rugby side and a win makes it all the more memorable. But we still have a lot more hurdles to clear,” he said. For New Zealand, tries by Stuart Wilson (2) and Bill Osborne. Clive Currie kicked a conversion and a penalty. For Cardiff, a try by Carl Smith and a dropped goal by Gareth Davies.