"VERY FINE SPIRIT."

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 49, 26 August 1922, Page 14

"VERY FINE SPIRIT."

What "The Cynic" has to say in the "Sydney Referee" regarding the All Blacks and their defeat is just the reverse of the deal that has been given by another writer and published in.this issue. "THe Cynic" says:—"The New Zealand manager, Mr. 8. S. Dean, and his party o"f lusty young players took the loss of the Ashes in Sydney yi a very fine spirit. In discussing it, they seemed almost 'glad that New South Wales had done the trick. They are philosophic, and realise that .the rise of a Light Blue combination fit to tackle them with reasonable prospects of success is a great thing for their game. It .means that New Zealand will not have to depend upon the British and Euro? pean countries to add a little more spice to their football whenever the South Africans are not able to come their way or to welcome them in the land of Springboks. . "The latest New Zealanders are a very fine lot in the forwards. They are young and lusty, and gifted, with Richardson quite out of the .box —another Seeling—exceptionally fast and; clean in handling the ball, with the height and weight of a star scrummager. The backs—well, the inside men did not reveal essential nippiness over the ground, nor pass as sharply as the old dona used to. But this should be very «oon_de-, veloped once again. If it bsr-'so, New Zealand football will win back all the glory of the days that made the^names of the illustrious All Blacks the greatest in/the world of Bftgby. I did not see* great deal of the.team on the field thjs time. But these are my impressions. Some of the Maori back* were, I thought,. more dangerous -than onei or two in the representative team., The forwards haye, to some extent, ..copied the South African idea of. hand to hand rising of the ball. Their own methods, should say, with alert and brilliant backs jn support, are better. The great "New Zealand back divisions of the past were ever on this look-out on the open tide for, the opportunity to break through. That splendid opportunism should be cultivated, again. % "Before leaving Bydn»y homeward bound, the New Zealand team presented Mr. 'J.-'B.- Henderson—a faithful" ad* mirer of New Zealanders in Rugby, whp_ has invariably shown them much attention on their trips this way—with a fine .group photograph inscribed thus_: -To James Henderson, with compliment* irou' and in appreciation from the boys, and signed by Mr. 8. S. Dean, the manager." ' -