ALL BLACKS' RECORD

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 63, 17 March 1925, Page 9

ALL BLACKS' RECORD

STORY OF THE TOUR

THIRTY-TWO GAMES: NO DEFEATS

MARK NICHOLLS HEADS SCORING LIST

The All Blacks ol 1924-25 have returned to the. home of their early endeavour, crowned with the laurels of an unbeaten record—thirty-two matches without a defeat. In reviewing the tour it is not necessary to compare them with their great predecessors, the 1905 All Blacks, except to say that the present team returns without a defeat, while the 1905 team lost to "Wales. On the other hand, the present combination returns with 721 points for and 112 points against in thirty matches in England and France, whilst the 1905 team's record was 868 points for and 47 against in thirty-three matches. Comparisons are rightly odious, and to labour the difference more would not convince anyone that the present team is better than that of the past, or vice-versa. Both teams have proved themselves the-, greatest Rugby exponents of their day ; there let it rest. Whether 1905 could have beaten 1925 does not matter, neither can it be proved one way or the other. In giving a short review of the tour, only figures relating to the present tour are shown, except where totals are referred to. Each tour is sufficiently important to stand by itself," and comparisons raise useless argument.

(By "Wing : Forward.") A great Rugby side has returned from a wonderful tour, after creating a great record which can never be beaten, though it may be equalled! A team can hardly do more _ than win every match they play, though the points scored both for and against may vary. New Zealand's latest fifteen has gone from victory to victory in England and France, and though, there, have been anxious moments since the first match against Devon on 13th September, as was the case. against Somerset and Gloucester early in the tour, and against Llanelly later, the players, however, have always. rallied and carried their side to ultimate victory.- New Zealanders watched the newspapers anxiously during the progress of the tour, arid though in the early stages many were anxious of what might happen, there has always been- a sort of national sigh of relief when the result of any particular match came through. This was very much the case when the New Zealand public were waiting for the re--suit of the Welsh match. New Zealand's national pride was at stake .in this game, for it has never been forgotten that the 1905 AH Blacks met their only defeat at the .hands of. Wales on the playing field at Cardiff. There was for that reason an elemental feeling of revenge for past defeat expressed on all sides when the story of the victory was told in New Zealand. The game against Wales on this occasion was. played at Swansea, and it is certain that the New Zealanders went on to the field as paladins, determined to do great things for the honour of their country. It was well known to them that the Welsh ere--ated an atmosphere inimical to their. opponents, but of, great, help to their own side, by the singing of national songs, and for this the tourists were prepared. It would have taken more than a choir of E.ngels on that great occasion to have created atmosphere sufficient to prevent the New Zealanders from regaining the laurels left behind in the Principality on that fateful day of December, 1905. And so it proved. The All Blacks made "no race" of the match, and won by , 19 points, Wales not even showing on the hoard. A much tougher problem faced TVie touring team, however, in the match, against England, the ;last of the tour in the British Isles. On this depended the record of an unbeaten tour, and doubtless the team was as anxious about the final result as were the people of this Dominion. Here, again, victory followed the All Blacks, and a great tour was ended. In this match occurred the | only incident that can be looked ..back upon with regret—the ordering off the field of Cyril Brownlie ■ by the referee, Mr. A. E. Freetby. The game was keen from the kick-off, and. both sides were wound up to a pitch of excitement

which caused players in the contending sides to put more dash, or devil, or vim, or whatever one likes to call it, into their play than was quite necessary, and it is generally admitted that the New Zealanders were not the first to offend. The game had only been in progress for seven minutes when Mr. Freetliy made the fateful pronouncement, and in that time he had warned players generally three times. On this side of the world, from the reports received of the match, one naturally, considers that at least, one Englishman should have shared a like fate, but he got away with the light penalty of only being reported to the English Rugby Union. However, it made the victory all the more decisive, for NewZealand eventually won the game by 17 points to 11 with only fourteen ■men.'To blame Brownlie alone would be manifestly unfair, and though he may have offended by . being over-zealous, so did _ many other players on both, sides ; but perhaps they were luckier. It is an incident best for gotten. Let it lie hidden behind the sdamour of the final result, and consider ;.the event as one that may happen tO !any great player in a moment of dire ■stress.

' As the team has come home with a great record, so- it lias experienced a greater hospitality. In every town that it visited the team was enthusiastically welcomed, and underwent numberless civic receptions; Private hospitality was also lavished upon the players, though owing to training requirements they were not often able to accept invitations. England^ noted hospitality, though dimmed on occasion . by hostility-expressed by a small- section of .those who watched some of the games, only blossomed out more abundantly afterwards, to culminate at -the end of the tour by a great gathering of sportsmen representing every known athletic game. It was at this function that the Prince of Wales, who proposed the toast of the All Blacks, said: "Combination is the secret of all games, and there is no doubt that it is combination and efficiency and fitness that are the secret of the wonderful success that the All Blacks have had this season.

.... The All Blacks, whether they beat us or we beat them, will always be welcome in the Old Country, and it is with genuine regret we say good-bye to them." So ended a great tour after twenty-eight consecutive victories. In England the team scored 654 points with only 98 against them. In this respect the 1905 All Blacks did somewhat 'better; scoring 830 points with the phenomenally small. total of 39 against them. They played 32 matches in 1905 against-28 on the present occasion, but suffered one defeat. New Zealand's one regret on the present occasion is that their team was not given an opportunity to test the strength of any Scottish

fifteen but that was .not the fault of the All Blacks. MATCH RECORD. # The match record for the 1924-25 tour is as follows :—

An exhibition match with teams representing the North and South Islands was played at Vancouver on 21st February, the North Island winning by twentyfive points to thirteen. The following Canadian players made the teams up to full strength:—North Island team: Barry (centre-three-quarter), Leroy. (five-eighth): and Clark (forward). South Island: B. Rowan (full-back), M. Rowan (five-eighth), Choate, Clark, and ihornton (forwards). Sherwood replaced Clarke in the North Island team, owing to an injury to the latter player, and Barry also withdrew hurt*. The average of points per match in Endand, with the 1905 averages in parentheses, were as follow:—For, 23 35 (25.30): against, 3.50 (1.7). In England and France -.—For, 23.25 (26.1); against 3.22 (1.14). . Over the whole tour (excluding North v. South match of latest tour) :—For, 26 (27.31); against,

THE PLAYERS. A Wellington player, in Mark Nicholls (Petone) heads the scoring list with 106 points. Another Wellington player, W. J. Wallace (Poneke) headed the list of the 1905 tour, and on that occasion by scoring a total of 227 points, set a record that is never likely to be bettered. During the late tour Nepia has proved the most popular player in the team, English crowds being delighted with his versatility and daring. In addition,/ Nepia holds the record of having played in every one of the 32 matches of the tour, always occupying the place of full-b,ack. Cooke and Nicholls have evolved a famous combination, which has earned them a great reputation in England, but it is unfortunate that New Zealanders are not likely this, year to' see this well-matched pair working in an All Black team. Of the Wellington players, Svenson has been the greatest surprise. He left here considered as being hardly in the first flight of Rugby players. The selectors, however, were fortunate in their choice, for Svenson returns to his home with a reputation second to none in the team. Porter, the third Wellington representative,., captained the side, an 3 has left little, to be desired in doing so. His style of play did not fit in too well with ,the rules -as- administered in England, and he recognised this fact himself, and, as one of the selection committee, frequently dropped himself from the team to play Parker. The record of individual players during the tour (exclusive of games played in Canada) was as follows :—

Of the 30 games played in England and France—there is no complete record of the Canadian games—individual players have taken part as follows :— Xepia SO Steel _ 16 Irvine 27 C. Brownlie 15 M. Brownlie 24 Hart 14 Richardson ... 23 Brown 12 Cooke 23 Lucas 14 Masters 22 Dalley 12 Donald 21 Stewart 10 M'Gregor 20 West 10 Svenson 21 M'Cleary 7 White 21 Paewai 7 Mill 18 Harvey 7 Porter IS Munro '. 4 Cupples 17 Eobilliard 4 Nicholls Ifi Badeley 2 Parker 15 What the lessons of the tour will be remains to be seen. The result of the games makes it evident that Engla-nd has but little to teach the New Zealanders, though it may be that attention to training, fitness, and speed, have had much to do with the succession of victories. Whether the team has learnt anything in the way of tactics will only be proved when individual players takes their places in club and provincial games. _ The team has not been immune from sickness, and several players have had to stand down for ■wejks at a time, Harvey being particularly, unlucky in this respect. "Jock" Richardson, the popular vice-captain, finished up the tour while in Canada by breaking his leg during practice, but is now rapidly recovering. THE SELECTORS. The "eminently satisfactory results of the tour draw particular attention to the selectors responsible for the choice of players, and it will not be out of place on this, occasion to pay them the tribute of mentioning their names. The selection committee of the New Zealand Rugby Union, specially set up to choose the touring team, consisted of the fol-' lowing-.—Messrs. E. M'Kenzie (Wairarapa, and representing N.Z.R.U.), A.. Wilson (Wellington), H. E. Davis (Canterbury), N. M'Kenzie (Hawkes Bay), W. A. Guy (Taranaki), A. J. Geddes (Southland), and L. V. Carmine (West Coast).

3t WhiCh HM< thePrinceoi Wales presented a loving cup, the gi« ol sportsmen of the Motherland to commemorate a great Conf«en^ mM% Se™rfc I? W/ 1! ft t0 "ght) are: Mr' C> J' Wray (New Zealand W™™^™ on the English Rugby Union), Mr. S. Wilson (New Zealand delegate to Imperial RuUbv

SeCt ]W&H at ? e™nP°rt lirto AE6 Sept. ]S—Cornwall, at Camborne 29 to 0 Sept. 20—Somerset, at Westou-Super" Mare C to 0 Sept. 25-Gloucesler, at' Gloucester ".". oto 0 n? o v Swans.ea, at Swansea 39 to 3 Oct. 2—Newport, at Newport 13 to 10 Oct. 4-Leicestershire, at Leicester"' 27 to 0 Oot- 8-N Midlands, at Birmingham": 40 to 3 n°f- il~?, he? lre ' "J-BirkenheKd 18 to 5 Oct. 15—Durham, at Sunderlaud 43 to 7 Oct. 18-Yorksliire, at Bradford "Z 42 to I Oct. 22-Lancashire, at Manchester ... 23 to 0 Oct. 20-Cumberland, at Carlisle « to 0 fiov. I—IRELAND, at Dublin .. Gto 0 Nov. 5-Ulster, at Belfast ...::...ZZ 28 to 6 Nov. B—Northumberland, at Newcastle 27 to 4 Nov. .12—Cambridge, at Cambridge ... sto 0 Nov. 15—London, at Twickenham 31to C Nov. 20—Oxford Urn., at Oxford . "" 33 to 15 Nov. 22-Cardifl, tt t Cardiff „.. Z! 16 to 8 Nov. 29-WALES, at Swansea . . 19 to 0 Dec. 2—Llanelly, at .Llanclly 8 to 3 Dec. O—E. Midlands, at Northampton 31 to 7 Dec. 11 —Warwickshire, at Coventry. 20 to 0 Dec. 33-Com. Services at Twickenham 25 to 3 Dec. 17—Hampshire, at Portsmouth... 22 to 0 Dec. 27—London, at Blackheath 28 to 3 Jan. 3—ENGLAND, at Twickenham '." 17 to 11 Jan. 11—Paris, at Paris 37 to 8 Jan. 18—France, at Toulouse 30 to 0 Feb. IS—Vancouver, at Vancouver ... 49 to 0 Feb. 21—Vancouver 1., at Victoria .. 08 to 4 , 838 to 116

Details of the scoring are as follow:— Goals from Penalty Potted Tries. Tries. Goals. " Goals. 'or. 15C 72 10 3 Lgainst ... IS . S 0 4 IXCLTJDING FRANCE. 'or. 175 .77 10 3 igainst ... 20 0 6 4

from Other Pofd Tl. Player. Tries. Tries. Goals.Goals. Pts. Kicliolls/ M 2 35 6 3 100 Nepia, G — 28 ■ 4 — ,70 Hart, A. H 20 — — —- 62 Steel. J 19 — " — — 67 Cooke, A.T3 .• 19 — _ _ 57 Sveuson, K. S. 19 — — — 57 Porker, J. II H — — — 42 Mill. J 9 3 — — 33 White, A C 7 — — 32 Brownlie, JI 10 — — — 30 Brojvnlio, C S — — — 24 Lucas, F. W 7, — _ _ 21 Richardson, ,1. 7 — — — 21 Irvine, W. R 7 — — '21 Brown, H. W S 2 — — la M'Gregor. N. P. ... 5 — — — is Donald, Q 5 — — — 15 Porter, C. G j. 5 — — — 16 Masters, E 3" — — — 9 Stawarfc, E. L 2 — — 6 Cupples, L. F. ". 1 — — — 3 West, A. ; 1 — _ _ 3 Robilliard, A. C. ... 1- — — — s Paewai, L 1 — — _ 3