THE FUTURE OF RUGBY

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 284, 26 August 1922, Page 18

THE FUTURE OF RUGBY

WANTED, RECRUITS FOR BACK PLAY A QUESTION OF NEW ZEALAND POLICY.

Never since New Zealand was thrown into a ferment by the visit of the Springboks, who successfully challenged our Rugby supremacy, has public discussion centred on any topic associated with our national winter pastime so much as on the established weakness in the back play of our Rugby teamsIf we had any doubts as to whether tho falling-off in the standard of back play was only a temporary lapse, they have been set at rest by tho lamentable display of the national representatives last Saturday against the Maoris, when only one cf the backs, Steel, camo well up to international standard, and, o. tho remainder, none but Ford gave any indication that they were capable of reaching that level. The problem was before us last year. Tho records of tho Test matches against tho Springboks show what difficulty tho Now Zealand selectors had in choosing the backs. Kingston represented Now Zealand in the full-back position in all ’ three Tests, but a serious accident put him out of the game this season, and doubts of his future playing have not yet been authoritatively set at .rest. Steck play’d wing three-quarter in all three Tests. M. Nicholls played fiveeighth in the first and second, and, in tho shuffle for position in the third, he was brought into tho centre position, in tho place of George Aitken, who admitted at Auckland that his play in the second Test match there deprived him of any claim to inclusion in the third. Of the backs playing last Saturday, only two went through the series last season. The selectors were experimenting in 1921, and failed to secure the material warranting the title of New Zeaalnd representatives. This year they went a step further, and boldly confirmed tho decision of the North Island selectors that youth must be served. Youth was served, but tho quality was not unearthed. In a lesser degree, but no less unmistakably, the forwards, on whom New Zealand had to rely during the tour of the Springboks, liiavo fallen below the standard of international Rugger. Only one forward in Saturday’s All Black team went through 1 the' Springbok Test series. It was a keen disappointment to every lover of the game that Richardson, whose record in Australia was wonderfully sound, hkd to retire early in tho game, through injury.

Two Years’ Training. There" are the facts. Let us look them boldly in the face. The position is not desperate- We have just two years to recover our international repute. It will survive the shocks of last year, and the dreadful set-back it got at the hands of tho representatives of New South V ales, wnere the game is gallantly fighting its way through public apathy to the supreme status it is destined to recover. But a lead must bo given, and it must come from the central authority controlling tho game in the Dominion. There is an extraordinary revival in Rugby iu England. France has more clubs affiliated to the Rugby Federation, its controlling body, than there aro in Great Britain and Ireland. The interest in • tho game in South Africa is shown by a report, running to six columns of. newsprint, of one of the inter-provincial matches. Wales has banged, bolted, and barred the door against ’overtures from tho professional Rugby code. The annual report of the Scottish Rugby Union shows an increase in Rugby teams for the coming season. Even Ireland, much distressed Ireland, expresses the firm conviction that she will not be at tho foot of the international log at the end of next season. To read the reports that come from Ireland m regard to. Rugby football, one would think the’’country was as peaceful as New Zealand. All < eyes are on the British Empire Exhibition, when the first series of world Rugby tournaments will be held. It will be a fight to a finish, an eliminating contest from which one team will emerge as. the premier of Rugby-playing countries. Vith eiery nation sharpening its sworn for the coming battle, what is New Zealand doing? Beyond a desultory discussion at the annual meeting, as

to whether tho forwards had been affected in their play by the operation of the kick-into touch rule in Auckland, there has been no consideration by the New Zealand Rugby Union of tho question of improving the standard of Rugby. Wo must begin at tho commencement, and teachi the players the code. Until last Saturday we were minded to set down as captious the denunciation of our players by the Sydney I’ress, for their continued breaches of the code. Wo were told by the manager of the team that the players had difficulty in reconciling their ideas with the interpretation of tho referee in tho ’Test matches. Tho judgment of Mr. I’arata, who refereed the match against the, Maoris, confirms the rulings of the Australian referees. Forwards may offend the code in throe ways, substantively. They may get off-side, handle the ball or put the foot up, in the scrum. Each of these sins of commission the All Blacks forwards were guilty of, not once or twice, but many times. Had the Maoris a goal-kicker of ordinary quality, they would have registered many penalty goals, The refereeing of Mr. I’arata surprised everyone, but the stirprise was pleasant. for ho had the entire confidence of the crowd. That he had the confidence of the offending forwards was proven by the sportsmanlike action of the captain of tho All Blacks in congratulating him before the teams left the field. Tho Rugby code, simple though it be, must bo studied closely by every player who aspires to proficiency in the game. The training of players must have serious consideration. The spectacle < the übiquitous cigarette may be appropriate in the lounge of tho cabaret, but not in the training quarters of the “rep” footballer. An American Rugby coach told a Dominion reporter that the members of his team neither smoked nor drank intoxicating beverages during the football season. Is it possible for us to reach these dizzy heights of physical self-denial in our training? Gan we try? Is the game worth it?

Blackboard And Easel. The blackboard and the easel must be taken down from the shelf attS (lusted. The tactics of opponents must be closely examined, and an “order of battle” prepared that will outmanoeuvre them. One hesitates to quote Hie American game again, but it is stated that players go on to the field with as many as twenty combinations of attack and defence committed' to memory. The lessons of the past must be relearned in the matter of tackling. How many times did a spectator see the old-time low tackle that brought the man to earth, putting him out of action for that movement? Passing must be learned anew. Who that saw the long, high-trajectory passes of the All Blacks last Saturday but sighed for the days of the short, fast, hiphigh pass? The position of every one of the backs, at a given moment, must be known to his comrades, as every member of Gwyn and Gallagher’s team knew it. Kicking at goal, and drop-kicking —that handy method of snatching victory when the line cannot be broached, must be practised assiduously. We must go over the rudiments of our Rugby curriculum again. Our masters are yet with us, or many of them. They are prepared to help us. But they -must get a lead from the headmaster, the New Zealand .Rugby Union. Referees must go to school, as well ns players. The time is ripe. Let it be now. Now Zealand has reaped such a valuable advertisement from the Rugby players of the past thatjthe tons of raw material available in jtlie schools and tho colleges; in the offices and the workshops, must bo turned into the manufactured article within the next two years, so that wo may face the remaining contestants in the world arena of Rugby with the same confidence as in the past. Let us forget 1922, and fix our eyes on the -'thirty years before the war, when our international record was —Played, 127 matches; won, 117; lost, 7; drew, 8.