All Blacks ‘strike oil’ after slow start

Press, 7 December 1978, Page 36

All Blacks ‘strike oil’ after slow start

From

KEVIN McMENAMIN,

on tour with the All Blacks

Like the North Sea oil rigs that could be seen in the distance, the All Blacks had to bide their time before the riches they sought came their way at Aberdeen’s Linksfield Stadium yesterday morning (N.Z. time).

There was never any doubt| that New Zealand was going to win and even when North, and Midlands of Scotland; trailed only 3-4 at half-time; it was still' only a matter of| time before the “gusher”' was struck. The All Blacks added al further 27 points to finish' with a 31-3 win and while j it was hardly an inspiring! game it was a reasonably' good effort against a side which had more skill, especially in the backs, than was expected. New Zealand would certainly have gone close to scoring 50 points if Richard Wilson had not had an offday with his goal-kicking. Including a drop kick, he missed nine attempts out of 11 and he botched some of his early kicks dreadfully, the ball sliding drunkeniy off his foot in all directions. The two conversions he did land were both solid kicks, but; it was not a good game for Wilson, whose general play was also shaky. He almost] certainly kissed goodbye to l any chance he might have * had of winning a place in the 1 test team for Sunday morn- s ing. The All Blacks scored six ‘ tries and once again they did 1 not concede one — making 5 it now 10 matches since their * line was last crossed. £ In conditions that were close to pleasant, although 1 the undulating field was ali hindrance, the All Blacks jt had little more than a stiffh

tjwind to battle against in the ; first half. i; Admittedly, the tries were l.slow in coming, but with the !|plethora of possession they n had the cracks just had to ’ eventually open up in the North defence. 11 The line-outs were won, i l 2O-7 and the rucks and mauls :jat the ratio of almost four] Jto one. However, it was in the 'scrums that the visitors! ! really had a field day. On just

about every All Black heave the local scrum was sent sprawling, allowing John Black to win at least seven: tight-heads, with a similar number being taken by the] simple expedient of pushing] the North pack off the ball] after it had won the strike. ] The game w r as also overloaded with penalties. North, in nervousness perhaps more than error, gave away 22 and the All Blacks conceded

el 14. Yet even with al! these! {stoppages, the referee, Mr! e| Roger Quittenton, who will e'be well remembered as the! /.man in the middle — in j j more ways than one — 1 J when the All Blacks beat; I Wales last month, couldl ,| hardly be accused of heavys]ee jikn fact, he played f|the advantage rule to the | I limit in an effort to keep; > the game flowing. >| North had some very competent backs, who displayed The old virtues of running hard and straight. The team also had a rather remarkable! half-back in lan McCrae,! who belied his 37 years by] the alacrity and surprise ele- j ment of his movements. I North’s only score was in; the opening minute when the outside half, Colin High, potted a neat goal. | It was not until almost the last minute of the spell! that New Zealand wiped out the deficit with a try by Richard Wilson in the corner, after a strong run by Bryan Williams. Between times, New Zea- 1 land was responsible fori most of the attacking and it maintained the trendji i throughout the second spell, j |only this time with better! results. I Leicester Rutledge, who j had another excellent game, i scored just after the resumption from a line-out on the North line and then Bruce Robertson took a return! pass from Williams for the' third try. I;

i| After Eddie Dunn had! jfound the post with a drop-] kick, Barry Ashworth cele-{ {brated his return .to the! i playing ranks by making the; ■ 'touch-down for a pushover! ‘try midway through the! {spell. Ashworth gave himself j added reason to remember! his fifth appearance of the; | tour by scoring again, fol- ; lowing a forward drive, just before the finish. Between the two Ashworth tries, Robert Kururangi scored the best try of] the game, from a two-stage j {attack that swung from the {left touchline to the right {extremity. { Although Richard Wilson was well below his best.! none of the All Blacks played really badly, nor for that matter did any play! outstandingly well. Rutledge. Frank Oliver [ and John Fleming were forwards who were constantly in the play, while Dave Loveridge, if only for some lovely dummy passes, gave I the back play a pin-stripe of I 'dazzle. Dunn and Kururangi {both took the opportunity to; show that while they might (not have been great sue-" j cesses on this tour, they re-1 main sound investments for I ;the future. For the All Blacks, tries j by Richard Wilson, who also; kicked two conversions, Rut-! ledge, Robertson, Ashworth (two) and Kururangi. Dunn {kicked a dropped goal. | High kicked a dropped [goal for the Scottish team.