ALL BLACKS' TOUR

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 77, 27 September 1924, Page 7

ALL BLACKS' TOUR

THE GAME WITH DEVON

MONOTONOUS SCRUMMAGING

TWO SCORES DISALLOWED,

(Written for '.'The Post" by L. Simpson, the well-known referee.)

NEWTON ABBOT, 16th Sept. . The whole Rugby interest of the country was concentrated in the Devonport Rectory on Saturday, 13th September, when the All Blacks of 1924-25 made their first appearance before the British Rugby enthusiasts. A great struggle was expected. between the forr wards, as Dr. Buchanan,, the Scottish international, and W. T." K;-Jones, a recent 'Varsity Blue, were amongsfihe Devon forwards. The All Blacks-were accorded a great reception when, they marched1 on the field, led by Captain Porter. The. attendance was in the1 vicinity of 16,000. The weather, was not at its best.. Steady rain: fell: throughout the second half, and made the ball difficult to handle.

The game was. very disappointing, the continuous use of the whistle and. the numerous and- monotonous scrummages making what should have been a bright and brilliant game dull and slow. There were a few stirring and thrilling bouts, but these were unfortunately few and far between.

THE RUN OF PLAY. The Rugby Football Union make the laws of the game,, and the referees controlling them appear unable to interpret them. The Devonians played seven men m the scrummages, 3-2-2, two halves one five-eighth, four three-quarters, and a full-back. The All Blacks played their usual formation.. The honour of scoring New Zealand's first try* of the tour fell to K. S. Svenson, and the first goal to G. Nepia. , ; ■ As the game proceeded it was seen that the forwards were about evenly matched, the home team played with great dash, and were more successful, in obtaining the ball from tho scrums than the All Blacks. We fully expected: wir forwards to easily outplay our opponents. They, howe-ver, failed to do so. Uur backs were much superior in all departments; the handling and passing were at times brilliant, and surpassed anything done by the opposition. "The three tries scored—one each to Svenson, Brown, and Cooke—were the result of excellent pieces of play letween the backs, £he movements being loudly applauded by the spectators. The contest) was at times fast and .exciting. Once during the closing stages two players had to be cautioned for indiscriminate kicking; apart from this the play- was hard and clean. • ■ ,

For the first thirty minutes the de* fence of the Devonians was severely tested, but the All Blacks hammered ; away, and at last their efforts were rewarded. They managed .to penetrate the solid defence put up, Svenson opening the All BlacksV account: with^ try in the corner. Cooke obtained the ball fromDalley, short-punted over the op- | position's heads, secured again,- and at the correct moment passed to: Svenson. who beat Baker and scored a great tryl j.he All Blacks' play was greatly ham■pered by glaring offside' play which went unchecked throughout the gamp. Daliey was frequently caught with tha ball or_ unable to pass out owing to the opposition being allowed to wait yards offside. Indeed, it is a wonder the team did so well in the face of such circumstances. BAD SCRUMMAGING. The scrums, if one can call them such, were nothing less than ridiculous Oan any Bugbyite in New Zealand imagine scrums lasting over a minute and during all this time the half-backs trying to put the ball in? On one occasion no less, than six .attempts were made before the ball got in. We would not stand for this in New Zealand ,- 4. penalty kick against the offender would have put a stop to this sort of thing lhe scrums were twisted and pushed all ways, and would end up yards away from where the breach occurred, with the rear of the scrum facing the touchlines ,- another ' turn or two ' and the scrums would resemble .a merrv-eo-round. The strain on the forwards was tremendous, and it was for this reason that_ the All Black forwards.'appeared to tire during the last few minutes of the game. It was impossible to keep a tally of the scrums, so.numerous were they, but there were only five free-kicks during the ninety minutes' play. NOTES ON THE PLAYERS. | -The outstanding players of the ho'ma side were Captain Sanders, Jones, and Buchanan (forwards), Krapman (half) Hanley (five-eighth), • and Baker (fullback). On the New .Zealand side Cooke j and Svenson shared the honours, these two being easily the best backs on the ground. Their passing, anticipation, and knowledge of the play left nothing to be desired. Daliey was fair at half, and stood up to the heavy opposition well, but at times hung on to the -ball too long, and attempted to run too much ou his own. Nepia, at full-back, played a sterling game. .He handled-the ball excellently, went down to the solid forwards in fine- style, and earned much applause for his display. Once or twico he failed to find the line with his hefty kicks. He appeared to be playing- to keep the ball in play instead of finding the line. The forwards were a hardworking lot, and it is difficult to single out anyone for special mention, buf> perhaps M. Brownlie and Eichardson caught the eye most. West was most unf6rtunate in not being awarded the try he scored, as he would have had the honour of scoring the first try of the tour. He took a pass from ' Donald near the goal-line and dashed over in good style, but the referee disallowed the score, and one of the numerous scrums was ordered. PORTER'S PART. Captain Porter -was not himself. Ho had been confined to his bed for two days befo the match with a bad cold He was really unfit to play, and it would have been much wiser if he had not played, as, under the circumstances, tie could not do himself or the team justice. At times ho was out of position and got in the way of the backs On one occasion he took a" brilliant mark within striking distance, taking the kick himself, he dropped a beautiful goal, the ball travelling straight and true for the centre of the posts and crossed the bar with a foot or so to spare. To the consternation of all, tho referee ruled no goal. The official later admitted he had erred in not allowing, the goal. Strange to say, during thewhole game only two marks were taken.

*i ieJ ilsfc fow min«<*s of the game the All Blacks' defence -was sorely tested but it was too solid to be penetrated An international player who played in tho 1905 (earn gave it as his opinion that the present All Black team is not so good as the team of those duts. Mr. E. A. Roberts (Gloucester) wae the referee, and his rulines iv inanv

; nstances were at variance with those is printed in the rule-book. !► The New Zealand team was as fol- . lows:.—G. Nepia; K. S. Svenson, H. W. :.' Brown,:F_. W. Lucas; M. F. Nicholls, •A. E. Cooke; W. G. Dalley; C. G. ■..Porter; H. G. Munro, Q. Donald, M. ;;Brownlie, R. R. Masters, R. Stewart, •■ A. West, and J. Richardson. •'■' All-Blacks .won 11-0. .' "