Bruce kicks All Blacks to deserved, but close, win over Ireland

Press, 6 November 1978, Page 32

Bruce kicks All Blacks to deserved, but close, win over Ireland

Irom

KEVIN McMENAMIN,

mit lour with lite All Blacks

Doug Bruce will never, in all honesty, be able to number the test against Ireland at Lansdowne Road yesterday morning (New Zealand time) amongst his great rugby displays, but it is, nevertheless, a game for which he will long be revered.

The Canterbury first five-' eighths contributed six points with two dropped ' goals — becoming the first! All Black in history to kick! two in a test — and it was] another misjudged attempt! that set the scene for New! Zealand to snatch a 10-6' victory in injury time By his own impeccable! standards. Bruce handled and kicked indifferently and' it was a dreadfully bad pass' by him — both in timing: and execution — that! wrecked one of the Alli Blacks’ best try-scoring-chances. But his ’wo dropped goals j were both sweetly struck.; The third, which flew wildlvj across field near the end. was given value when Brvan; Williams, who took the field; in the fortv-eighth minute as I a replacement for Brian Ford, pressured his opposite, I Tern' Kennedy, into a hasty clearing kick. From the re-; suiting line-out, Mark Don- ] aldson broke on the blind-] side and in-passed to Andy! Dalton, who flung himself! through a narrow crack in* the Irish defence to score'; the winning fry. The All Blacks breathed al huge sigh of relief, for al-: though they were clearly thei better team, victory looked; to have slipped through, their fingers. Apart from Bruce’s bad j pass — to Stuart Wilson in the first half — two other] good try-scoring chances; were lost in the second] spell. The first was when Wilson; ignited a great, sweeping movement of nearly 50m I and then, with the New Zea-! land backs having a numbers] ascendency, Donaldson rolled his pass along the ground.! Mark Taylor very nearly re-'

deemed the situation with an; intercept which would prob-; ably have brought a try. but; he juggled the ball forward. Then a few minutes later, the thirty-fourth to be exact, another good build-up gave ; New Zealand another over- ' lap. this time on the short 1 (side. However Donaldson de-i Icided to cut infield, taking] \ the play away from Wilson, ] [the man who New Zealand!

!should have been channel-]; !|ling al] its running play to-!I Jwards. ] Despite some dire warn- ] lings of 10-man rugby earlier jin the week from the All i ! Black coach, Mr Jack GleeIson, New Zealand played a i | fairly fluid style and Bruce, ' ] in fact, passed as often as i he kicked. The manager, Mr Russell 1 Thomas, had a broad smile I on his face when he told rej porters after the game that I obviously the All Blacks : iwere still going to run the ! i ball, regardless of what i 'some people thought. He 'was reacting more to the ( ; press comment that greeted .] Mr Gleeson’s statement than the comment itself. II Mr Gleeson said he was ihappy with the win. He be-, • llieved the Al! Blacks had'

.played with the urgency that. ]the situation demanded. ; However, he lowered his voice into a ’barely-audible mumble when the line-outs •were discussed. It was not that New Zealand lost the line-outs — they actually dominated them three to one ] —but much of the ball so I superbly won by Andy i Haden in particular was lost I in the transfer to the half- ] back, I As was the case against! : Munster, Donaldson contin-| ually had to try and pluck] ithe ball from the toes of ■’lrish forwards. i The New Zealand scrumimaging, too, was disappointing and it was late in the game before the All Blacks countered the Irish; tactic of screwing the] scrums and squeezing half] the New Zealand pack away] from the shove. The All Blacks nearly paid] dearly for the one tight-head they conceded. It was after | just 13min and the blind-side ’ .break that resulted cost New i Zealand more than 50m and was as close as Ireland came ] in the whole game to scoring a try. There was a bit of a flur-i ry in the dying minutes! when Mike Gibson, who had! acted mainly as a link, made] a wide-sweeping dab but]' the New Zealand defence! was quickly into position. Although there were a few,' tackles missed — Kennedy got round Williams very; easily on one occasion —. the New Zealand tackling]’ was generally safe. With the]] exception of the tight-head upset the All Blacks played a very good first quarter. They kept Ireland pinned down in its own half and Glive Currie had nearly ‘lsmin to settle down before

..he was seriously in the play Later Currie won high : marks for his courage under > the high ball but his entries : into the back-line were not well timed and by missing : two reasonably easy penalty attempts at goal plus the : conversion he had more reason than most of the other All Blacks for delighting in Dalton’s try. Williams and Seear each Imissed longer penalties.' 'Clearly goal-kicking remains ithe All Blacks' Achilles heel. I Donaldson, for the sharpness of his breaks, and Os-] borne, for the forcefulness| of his running, played well] in the backs but it was Wil-] son who really captured the] imagination. Playing on the! I right wing this time, which: seems to suit him better, he] [made some exciting runs,] ] creating simply by speed of I movement gaps as wide as al (cathedral door. The All) Blacks must concentrate! more on turning the plav to-1 wards him.

The All Blacks succeeded! in their most important pursuit of tying down the Irish fly-half, Tony Ward. For I most of the first half Ward | was kicking largely from I defensive positions and he ] was pressured into mis- ; cueing his two attempts at idronpe.d goals. : rhe Al! Black flankers,! ; Graham Mourie and Leices-I ]ler Rutledge, both hounded' Ward unmercifully and Rut-' ledge had a particularly! 'good game. He was as lively! .as a firefly around the field! land no AU Black was as! [safe on ibe tackle.

Haden, according to some' long-standing All Black I watchers, had his greatest] game in the black jersey. He I certainly towered like a co-; lossus in the line-outs and I his running on to kick-off] and drop-out ball was quite! magnificent.

But perhaps the forward who shed the most honest sweat was Frank Oliver.! When he hit rucks th-y shuddered and both in the tight and the loose his contribution was enormous. It is frightening to think of this All Black side without a competitor like Oliver.

Gary Seear went a long way towards silencing the critics who argue that he is not a No. 8. His assiduous covering saved his backs frequently and with the ball in hand he was a dynamic figure. As expected, Ireland endeavoured to play the spoiling game. Ward’s inability to establish a platform for his forwards was a] I severe handicap but in forwards like Shay Deering,] Donal Spring and the very! mobile Fergus Slattery there] was plenty of fire. Fortun-I ately for New Zealand, however, the flame was nowhere near as intense as the one fanned by the men of Mun|ster last Tuesday. So by the skin of their mouth-guards the All Blacks won the first test of their tour. And that they deserved to win increases the satisfaction. Scorers.— For New Zealand, trv by Andy Dalton (after 81min), two dropped goals by Doug Bruce ( 19min and 44rhin). For Ireland, »wo penalties by Tony Ward (20min and 50min). Cricket.— Otago cruised to an easy win against Southland in a limited-over cricket match played at Logan Park. Dunedin. Otago 133/5 beat Southland 101/9. Boxing.— Muhammad Alt has dismissed reports that he would defend his world heavy-weight title against (he new light heavyweight champion. Mike Rossman, in Buenos Aires in th® New Year.