Rugby nearly iced out

Press, 4 December 1978, Page 6

Rugby nearly iced out

The All Blacks' frozen encounter vyith the North of England at Birkenhead Park on Saturday was almost the match that never was, reports NZPA. Frost on Friday morning and heavy snow overnight combined to put the game in doubt until the heavy ground was inspected three hours before the match by the Ail Black manager, Russ Thomas. He made the 60km round trip from Chester especially to see the ground and allay or confirm the fears of his players, who had had varying reports on the state of the ground. The heavy frost had left it

frozen in places and groundsmen had covered parts with straw and tn other areas had put tarpaulins, under which they blew hot air. Mr Thomas was also at the ground on Friday night and biting wind swept down it as he wandered out in the darkness to see if the frozen patches had cleared. They had but heavy snow fell overnight and by morning there was a covering of about 10cm. This was swept, raked, and blown off by groundstaff, who had set to work on it by 6 a.m. It did not snow again after mid-morning and the ground had only isolated pockets of snow still on it when the play-

•rs ran out into Arctic conditions at 2.30 p.m. But it was a gloomy scene during the match and at halftime the floodlights had te be switched on. If the game had been called off it would have been a writeoff. The All Blacks flew to Aberdeen yesterday and short of extending the duration of the tour it would net have been possible to play the match on any other day. It was by far the worst conditions the Ali Blacks have encountered on their tour. They have had unusually fine conditions up until last Wednesday's Newport match, when frost made the day a miserable one.