All Blacks well aware of stiff Rumanian test opposition

Press, 22 October 1981, Page 36

All Blacks well aware of stiff Rumanian test opposition

NZPA staff correspondent Constanta, Rumania The All Blacks fly back to Bucharest today to prepare for Saturday’s test match against Rumania well aware that they will have a tough game on their hands.

Their 25-9 win over a South-east/Constanta Select XV yesterday clearly indicated the ’ strength of Rumanian rugby to the New Zealanders as well as revealing areas of weakness in the All Blacks’ play. The All Black captain, Graham Mourie said after the match it w’as obvious that the Rumanian test side would be far stronger than the Constanta team and that the New Zealanders had a lot of work to do over the next two days. “There was a lot of good stuff from us in the way we drove and the way the backs ran the ball but there was also a lot of shoddy stuff in the taking of kick-offs for example,” he said.

Mourie, who missed the game because of a hamstring strain which he described as “niggling.” will almost certainly be back to lead the team on Saturday. He decided not to risk aggravating the injury in the tourists’ first game and the captaincy was taken by Andy Haden.

In Mourie’s absence the All Blacks discovered that the reputation of Rumania in world rugby is well justified.

The Constanta team, and especially the loose forwards tackled superbly, while the backs were largely prepared to kick after an initial flurry of passing.

The All Blacks in running in four tries, discovered that the means to breach the tight defence was to take the ball wide where the wings. Bernie Fraser and Fred Woodman, crossed the line three times. The other try — also in the corner — was scored by the Wanganui half-back. Andrew Donald, who capped a good debut by scoring round the side of a scrum after a feed from the No. 8 Geoff Old.

Old had a fine game, dominating the back of the lineout and driving well in combination with the flanker, Mark Shaw. They often came close to scoring from drives near the line but stout defence kept them out on each occasion.

The Rumanian defence efficiently kept the All Blacks at bay for 40 minutes in the first half and it was only with the final act of the Spell that Fred Woodman finally rounded the last line of defence, the full-back Vasile lon.

Earlier, lon, who only marred his performance by missing one relatively easy penalty, had proved too sharp on the tackle twice when only he stood between Fraser and the line.

Fraser made up for these failures when he darted over twice in the second half from tight positions near the line. The All Blacks experi-

enced only minor problems with the hew tackle and scrummage laws under which they were playing for the first time.

Hika Reid gave away three points when he was penalised for not releasing the ball after hitting the ground — one of four such penalties against the New Zealanders — but for a first time under the rules, they did not seem to represent too many problems. However, greater concentration will be needed in the test because the Rumanians have a fine goal kicker in lon Constantin. The Rumanian backs are also likely to kick rather than run the ball but their defence and determination is likely to guarantee a close game.

The Rumanians will also have the advantage of a patriotic crowd possibly of about 60,000. The crowd at Constanta was only 15,000 but their whistling whenever New Zealand was attempting a penalty kick or conversion was quite off-putting — at least to Brian McKechnie who badly missed with two kicks after an initial success.

The All Blacks came away from the game without injury problems and the side for Saturday’s test will be selected from the full squad of 26 players.