Selecting The Selectors Of All Black Teams

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 198, 19 May 1936, Page 14

Selecting The Selectors Of All Black Teams

(By

W. H. BICKLEY.)

ONE o£ the problems of the day is to select the men who are to select the players to meet the Australians this winter and the Springboks next year. The N.Z.R.U. will adjudicate on this matter this week. The annual meeting of delegates of affiliated unions carried a recommendation that there should be three selectors from each island, and, as the controlling body has always sought safety in numbers, the committee will presumably be one of six. Nominations lor the committee close to-day. The management committee is going to have a job making its choice, for among those nominated are Messrs. E. McKenzie (Wairarapa), M. F. Nicholls (Wellington), G. Nicholson (Auckland), J. T. Burrows (Canterbury), A. A. Adams (West Coast), W. Pearson (Otago), T. French (Poverty Bay) and A. H. Mitchell (Southland). Mr. McKenzie, chairman of the committee since 1924, has bad ample experience as a national selector. Mr. Nicholson, a 1903 All Black, acted tn 1930 when the British team was here, and Mr. Adams, who has done wonderful work for the game in the Seddon Shield districts, bellied pick the 1928 All Blacks for Africa and the 1935 All Blacks for Great Britain. Mr. Pearson was a member of the committee of four last year. Some of the nominations offer good ■new' blood. Mr. French, the Poverty Bay selector, an old Auckland representative, is an excellent judge of players, especially forwards. Last year he served on the Maori selection committee, and his presence on the New Zealand committee would give his race a voice in picking national teams, an innovation to be commended. Mr. Burrows, an AU Black in 1928, did wonderful work with the Canterbury teams which held the Ranfurly Shield in 1932-33, not only in selecting, but also in training and coaching, and Mr. Nieholls has had considerable success iu Wellington.

Saturday Flashes. K. Mack, the Athletic half-back, was rather slow in clearing the ball from scrums and rucks against Hutt, but when he elected to run on his own he usually made long excursions into enemy territory ... On two occasions play went on for some time after the ball had gone out on Saturday at Athletic Park because the referee had not noticed that the line umpire's flag was up. The referee was Mr. A. de Clifton . . . Athletic has acquired big and useful forwards in F. Bowling, from North Auckland, and L. Edwards, of Nelson . . .

E. Barry, of Hutt, still shows real All Black form in the line-outs, in which he knows not only how to get the baU but also what to do with it after he has secured possession . . . E. W. Tindill, potting his third field goal in three games against Hutt, stood practically straight behind a scrum almost in front of goal and put the ball dead between the posts. Half the value of his potting is that he does not overdo it, generally waiting till he is practically certain to succeed . . . A. Hansen, the Hutt centre, showed considerable capacity in beating his marker by. a good swerve allied to great pace, but his taking of passes was uncertain, nnd his giving of them often ill-directed . . . . R. Pelham, former N.Z. Maori representative, provided some of the highlights of the Athletic-University game with long, weaving runs through the opposing defence iu the second half . . . E. W. Tindill stood far above the other players in touch-finding in the main game, frequently getting good length and just bouncing the ball out.

The Broadcasting Issue. The New Zealand Rugby Union is negotiating with the New Zealand Broadcasting Board for a higher payment for broadcasts, the idea being that larger disbursements can then be made to the country unions who feel the pinch through spectators staying away from their own club games to listen to radio descriptions of city matches, especially on wet days. Prospects of success have not been improved by the action of the Lancaster Park Board of Control in Christchurch, which.’ as the controlling authority of the ground, has banned club match broadcasts from Lancaster Park, the main ground, leading to the possibility that games may have to be put over the air, if at all, from one of the minor grounds, like Rugby Park. The problem of broadcasting and its effect upon finances of sporting bodies has become world-wide. That it has an effect in reducing attendances appears beyond dispute. Just how great that effect is, and whether there are compensating advantages, are questions upon which there seems no unified opinion and very little clear-cut information.

The Western Province Rugby Union,

Hints for Players. J. E. Manchester and C. J. Oliver, captain and vice-captain of the 1935 All Blacks, have been setting an excellent example to al] players who have the chance of going overseas b.v making themselves available to address meetings of players and coaches to pass on the knowledge they gained on tour. Charlie Oliver has been particularly industrious, for, besides giving talks at several meetings in Canterbury, he flew up to address one in Blenheim. As might be expected from a man with over a decade in representative football in three countries, his hints on training and tactics are interesting. He advocates hill walks as the best means of getting ready for the season, with a few half-pace jogs for two or three weeks, followed by jogs, short sprints and fast walks on the training ground. He emphasises, however, that nothing makes a player fit like plenty of games and nothing “stales” him quicker than too much fast work before the season opens. He also urges variety in practice, such as the backs playing the forwards at Soccer with a Rugby ball. ; He thinks diet largely a matter for the i individual, but says that no player should take liquid on the morning of a match, ' and says that for a 2.30 or 3 o'clockgame the lunch should not be later than 12, and then only a grill and rice pud- I ding, “if you like rice pudding.” In Blenheim he discussed scrum formations, emphasising the necessity of forwards packing low. especially in the front row. He declared that it was only in the sixth or seventh game that the All Blacks learned how to get down in the three-four-one scrum, which be did not like for all-round purposes as much as the th rec-two-three. W. E. Hadley, in a statement in Auckland, has also emphasised the necessity for low packing in the scrums, and of the front-row men pushing just like the rest.

South Africa, receutly decided against broadcasts of its club games, and Clem Lewis, the old Welsh international player, recently wrote in an English paper an' article purporting to show that broadcasting was mainly responsible for diminishing attendances even in such a great centre of the game as Wales, giving figures for club games showing marked shortening in the gate takings even for matches between Cardiff and Llanelly. He despairingly declared: "Goodness knows what will happen when television becomes established.’’ In Other Centres. The South Canterbury Rugby Uniou recently bad a pipe band in attendance at its main game, and was rewarded with the best crowd for years! Wellington clubs, though most numerous, are not the only ones to have played the two-three-two scrum this season, others including Zingari (Timaru), Star (Invercargill) and Tukapa and Star (Taranaki). Colin Le Quesne, the Hawke’s Bay fiveeighth, is out of action with a knee injury, but it is not correct, as has been reported, that this able player will be "on the bank’’ for the rest of the season A cup presented by the Rev. Father J. Molloy >n 11)06 lor competition between West Coast and Buller has been unearthed again. It was last played for in 1010, but will probably be competed for again now. Former Wellington players who are winning ptaise for their displays in other centres include R. Berry (Dunedin), a big forward who represented Southland before coming to Wellington; J. I’edrotti (Greymouth), C. Robins (Wbangarei) and L. Pickering (Whangarei). The Otago Rugby Union appears determined to force the issue of whether the playing of the amended kick-into-touch rule is compulsory, having informed the New Zealand Union that Otago primary and secondary schools wish to play the old kick-iuto-toucb rule, and asking whether there is any objecttion. Clinton Stringfellow, an All Black in 1929 and a prominent figure in interprovincial football for over a decade foe Wairarapa, is still going strongly in that district as centre three-quarter for his club. W. H. Collins, one of the Hawke’s Bay members of the 1935 All Blacks, has damaged the leg he injured on tour and is out for the season. Tori Reid, however, is going great guns in Napier. Mr. H. J. McKenzie, the referee, has taken over the selectorship in Wairarapa, Mr. E. McKenzie having retired after many years of excellent service to his province. Mr. Bert McKenzie holds the record for the number of appearances as a referee in Ranfurly Shield matches, and in the Battle of Solway in 1927 achieved the distinction of putting two All Blacks on the bank in one swoop.