RUGBY WING-FORWARD

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 221, 14 June 1930, Page 12

RUGBY WING-FORWARD

“Britain Plays Two”

WEST COAST COMMENT

(By

“Five-Eighth.”’)

There will be many who agree with Mr. A. A. Adams, president of the West Coast Rugby Union, in his comment on the wing-forward question, much discussed since Mr. Baxter’s remarks at Wanganui and New Plymouth.

When speaking at a dinner after the West Coast match on Wednesday, Mr. Adams said that the only difference in style that he could see was that where New Zealand played one wing-forward Britain appeared to play two. Mr. Adams also condemned the British method of catapulting the ball into the scrum, saying that it did not provide a fair test between the opposing hookers. Mr. Baxter, however, declined to be drawn on such controversial topics. “I should like to say something about the game,” he is reported as having said, “but I am on the horns of a dilemma. I hesitate to talk about football unless I feel that I am where the reporters cease to trouble, and where the wingforward is at rest.” It is interesting to note that Mr. George Dixon’s, (manager of the 1905 All Blacks) comment on the wing-forward question agrees with that of Mr. Adams. After the 1905 tour he said: “Nothing was bad enough for our wingforward, according to some writers. Yet all over the British Isles they play not one wing, but two (in the majority of cases), as the British halves are wings, pure and simple.” “Harness Your Efforts.” “We are governed to a great extent by tradition,” Mr. Baxter added, “and there is a great deal in it. We have come over to show you how we think the game should be played. I would suggest with all due deference that if you could harness the extreme vigour of your forwards’ play with our type of play you would get more satisfaction out of it. Harness the virility of the forwards and give the backs a chance. Don’t charge up and down field, taking wild kicks. Harness your efforts and combine them to develop the game as a team, and not fifteen individuals.”

Mr. Baxter’s advice evidently is intended solely for the, West Coast team and its style of play. In the other matches Britain has played there has been little of the “chasing up and down field, taking wild kicks” he mentions, and though the tendency of teams meeting the British side has been more to concentrate on forward play—and, in two cases, most successfully—the backs have had plenty of chances. However, it has not been the practice of provincial teams so far to throw the ball to the backs on every opportunity, and the contention that it is because of this habit that the British team'has lost two matches has much to support it.