CONDITIONS IN AFRICA

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 147, 23 June 1928, Page 10

CONDITIONS IN AFRICA

OPTIMISTIC VIEWPOINT (By Telcflraph.) (Special to i'The Evening Post.") DTJNEDIN, This Day. That there is no need for pessimism regarding the results of the All Blacks matches in Africa, and that Now Zealand will win throe out of the four Test matches is the opinion of a Dunedin resident, who Hvcc for many years in Africa and who played Eugby there. The weather the New Zealanders would experience throughout .the tour, ho told a "Times" reporter,,would rescmblo a mild summer day in Dunedin There would be no wind and no rain, for at this time of the year in Africa six and sometimes eight weeks passed without even .* shower. As a result, tho majority of 'the grounds would be hard, but in some cases where the playing fields were irrigated and well tended the conditions would bo quite equal to Carisbrook at its best. The hard grounds were ploughed bofore the matches, and he had actually, played in a game which had been divided into four 20-minuto spells, the water carts being taken on the ground during the intervals. Tho playors wore bandages round their knees and elbows for protection, and the forwards used headgear. It was common practico for the forwards to smear vaseline on their faces and ears to protect them in the scrums from the dust and grit which clung to the players' clothing. The New Zealanders would also have to wear bandages and headgear, and to some of them they would feel strange. It was fortunate, however, that the Tests would all be played on good grounds. Tho grounds at Johannesburg, Capetown, Durban, and Maritzburg wero exceptionally good. It was an interesting fact that at the Maritz-

burg ground- the ball was often lost, in tho trees and thu river which flowed nearby. Tho South Africans had arranged the team's itinerary, so that the New ZcaUinders had lo play their hardest matches at the beginning ot tho tour, when tho team was not properly n't, and after many train journeys. Tho All Blacks had travelled a distance equal ■to tho length of New Zealand before meeting Western Province. From his knowledge of tho conditions, ho considered that the team had done remarkably well. The South Africans did not like to. be beaten by tho British, and they would play "all out" until the final whistle. That was a factor which must not be taken too lightly. Western Province was tho stronghold of Rugby in- the -Union, and Transvaal at the "present time was also very strong. In Natal, however, the play was not of such a high standard. It would be safe to prophesy that 75 per cent, of the members of the Test teams would couio from Western Province. The African forwards wore big, strong men, who did only a forward's work. Tin rest they left to tlio backs. When questioned regarding the effect of tho high altitude, of Transvaal on the New Zealandcrs, the Duneclin man stated that they would be playing-thou-sands of feet above the sea level, and that whether the effect of the rarilied ] atmosphere was apparent or not, 't would . nevertheless tell against the team members. They were now coining into conditions more 'like their own, however, and they would bo physically better equipped for their matches. It was not generally known, he added, that the 1910 Springbok team, which toured England, suffered defeat some time before it loft South Africa at the hands of Durban New Zealandcrs' Club with 120 members, tho score being. 3 I points'.(a penalty goal) to nil.