LOOKING BACKWARDS

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 63, 17 March 1925, Page 6

LOOKING BACKWARDS

ORIGINAL ALL BLACKS' APPRECIATION.

Among those present at the wharf today to welcome the 1924-25 All Blacks were members of the 1905 combination, and one old-timer, Mr. George Williams, who was a member of the Native team, which visited England about 37 years •Ago. Speaking to a "Post" reporter, Mr. W. J. Wallace, of the 1905 All Blacks, said that the different members of the original All Blacks were particularly pleased with the record which had been achieved by the present combination. "One ambition of the members of the 1905 team," he said, "was that this side should give Wales a good whacking. On the morning that this news was received in Wellington I had to leave town before ■ the result came through, and it was while motoring through Poririi'i that I heard the good news. Proceeding farther up the line, we found various gatherings waiting for the result, and it seemed a coincident^ that I should b? th? pa« to jjefid gut

the news. At each place we cheered heartily, and I can tell you that that day was one of the most enjoyable I have ever spent."

Regarding the standard if play and strength of New Zealand teams, Mr. Wallace said : "A New Zealand team, no matter who the players are, is always hard to beat. We may criticise it, but it always turns out all right. When the Springboks were here we reckoned that our football was never weaker, and yet it took the Springboks all their time to beat us in a Test. When you get a New Zealand team together and get them away, they always turn out a good combination. The performances of this team which has returned to-day are equal to, if not better than, those put up by any previous New Zealand team. Every year there have been great teams representing New Zealand ; that is shown by their record. This team has upheld the traditions of all Now Zealand's big teams. Two former teams to have unbeaten records were those of 1884 and 1903, and I think that if these teams had gone Home they also would have made a great name for themselves: The Number One team in the present combination is as good as any team of the past. , When we went Home in 1905 there, was some adverse criticism. When we came back we were hailed as champions. The same thing has happened this time. It all goes to show that by living and playing together a great combination can be built up. If you look back you can see that New Zealand teams are always hard nuts to crack. Sivright's team came out as 'a wonderful combination, sweeping all before them in Australia, but when they came here they were defeated.

"It seems to me that the average footballer, here is more physically fitted for football. He is able to stand up to it more, and to take more knocking about than the Home players, who appear to be of softer build. When a player like Brownlie bumps into a Home player it takes a lot out of the latter. It is probably for the reason that players are not so hardy that spells of 35 minutes are wanted at Home. A fault with the English teams is that they don't get combination. The players only see one another a few hours before the match., except, of course, in the case of international teams, who do organise."

Of the standard to-day compared with that of 1905, Mr. Wallace was not prepared to make a comparison. "Unless you can get teams of both periods oil the field and play them against one another it is very hard indeed to imake a comparison,"-he said. "That is the only way to settle all arguments, and that is impossible."-