ALL BLACKS RETURN

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 267, 7 August 1929, Page 11

ALL BLACKS RETURN

MANAGER INTERVIEWED LILBURNE THE HERO OF THE TOUR WHY TESTS WERE LOST Dominion Special Service. Auckland, August 6. “New Zealand might have won the Rugby Tests in Australia if it had been able to field the best team available from the players on the tour. That is the opinion of the manager □f the 1929 All Blacks, Mr. J. McLeod, v' a arrived back with the team by the Ulimaroa from Sydney this afternoon. Sickness and an exceptional number of injuries made the team travel with a tremendous handicap, Mr. McLeod said. There might have been a very different story in the Test matches if Nepia, Carleton, Oliver, Lilburne, Dailey, and Porter had been able to play in the whole series. “Rugby lias improved tremendously over in New .South Wales,” said Mr. McLeod. “The backs were clever, and they- had fast-breaking forwards. Our main trouble was that we lost our star players from key positions. Dailey. Nepia, Porter, and Oliver were great losses.” Asked about his reported statement in Australia that the 1929 All Blacks coir .red with any team that had ever left New Zealand, Mr. McLeod said he contended that the best fifteen that could have been chosen would have compared favourably with ' any New Zealand team, but that fifteen had never taken the field. He still maintained that. He said the Australians have shown distinct improvement and New Zealand selectors will have to realise that.

This team was chosen without trial matches, he said. The tour took place at a psychological moment as far as Rugby in Australia was concerned. Mr. McLeod continued. Rugby was hard but clean, and the team were given a great reception by the crowds. While the team were touring they made a good Impression everywhere they went. In fact, when in Queensland the whole of the Warrington district changed over from League to the Rugby Union game. That was a wonderful tribute in itself. Mr. McLeod went on to talk about individual players. He said Lilburne, who played wonderful football, was as good a five-eighths as New Zealand had seen for a long time; he was really magnificent. Oliver was very clever and was full of tricks. Dailey was a real star in the Only game he played. ■But the whole trouble with the team was the fact that after losing Dailey they had no half-back of real class. Tuck was quite a good player, but he was not a half-back, and Leys was not up to standard. The malu cause of the loss of the Tests was that the team had no safety link between forwards and backs. Stringfellow made a very fine job of the full-back position, said the manager. He played well all through. Hook as usual was very erratic. McWilliams played fine football and was very popular with the crowds. Palmer and Snow also did well. The most improved and most promising player was Cotterill, the Canterbury hooker. Mahoney, the youngster of the team, a real giant, had great possibilities. Mr. McLeod could not say too much of the hospitality extended to the team. He also spoke highly of the team itself, saying that nobody could ever have travelled from New Zealand with a better lot of chaps. They were gentlemanly and “good mixers.” “I did not have to do any managing—in fact they almost managed me,” he said with a smile.

“It was said in New Zealand,” Mr. McLeod remarked, “that Oliver had no defence. He stopped everything that came his way in Australia; but the real hero of the tour was Lilburne. In my opinion he is just starting to be a New Zealand captain. Porter was splendid and had great influence with the boys. We missed him badly in the big matches.”

It was a pity, Mr. McLeod said, that the team had had to travel the long journey t Melbourne after the first test, then go back to Brisbane for the second and play the third at Sydney on Saturday. That was a great mistake; it was the only thing about the whole tour that was badly arranged, but the experiment had to be tried. Mr. McLeod said that Tommy Lawton, old as he is, played wonderful football. He was well served by a clover half-back.

“It is a great pity that we can’t play a match against a Maori team, as was suggested,” said Mr. McLeod, “but there are too many injuries among the players. Luckily most of them have shown great improvement on the trip across. Unfortunately, Dailey may not be able to play again this season.” The team was officially welcomed home by the Auckland Rugby Union, and a telegram was received from the New Zealand Rugby Union. “There is one thing I would like to say,” said the Hon. E. 11. Farrar. Minister of Labour, Industries, and Commerce in New South Wales, when he arrived by the Ulimaroa. “and that is about your footballers who have just completed an Australian tour. They are very a fine manly let of men, and in addition to meeting them on board on this trip, I saw them play in all three matches. They are as fine a team as I have ever seen, and have done much credit to New Zealand, both on and off the field.”