PROBABLE SELECTIONS

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

PROBABLE SELECTIONS

ALL BLACKS AND SPRINGBOKS (By "Drop-Kick.") As anticipated,'the match with Natal to-day is evidently being used as a tryout for the team which in the main will represent New Zealand in the first Test at 'Durban next Saturday. With the news that FinUiyson, though not playing to-day-, will be, in next Saturday's team, tho forwards, if they are kept intact except for the one change, will mako up a pack generally accepted as tho most likely one for the Tests. Tho cabled statement that JThilayson has played in more games than any other members of the team is incorrect. To date M. Brownlie and Stewart have both played in the. samo number of games as lnnlayson. Harvey is apparently still unfit for play owing to an injury received at the outset of tho tour. The probable, back division for the Test will' occasion no little surprise, particularly in view of tho recent reports regarding the form' of tho backs. Carleton and. Strang have both boon faulty in attacking play. Jt is very surprising to jfind Lucas being frequently passed over, since ho has shown such splendid form on the few occasions on which he has played. Some of the other players not likely, according to the cabled report to-day, to be included in the Test team have received more favourable mention in dispatches than some who are stated to be the Test probables. In spite of the cabled reports, the writer is inclined to believe that the backs to-day will bo changed iii more than one place for next Saturday !s big game, and so far as the halfback's aro concerned; Kilby would satisfy just as much as Dalley, especially as the latter has been suffering from a cold. . In most cases the names of tho probable Springbok representatives 'have been freely mentioned for months past. All along the linc.Mostcrt, Van Druten, Kruger, Oliver, Pretorius, and Van. Wyk (usually spelt Van 'Wijk) have been looked upon more or less as certainties. Dold, L/ouw, Daneel, Melckc, A. dv Toit, S. dv Toit, and Van dcr Merwe have been among tho others to be noted favourably, but wjth about six certainties the pack, it has been considered, would just about pick itself. 'No doubt Mostert -will bo the leader of the forwards. Tiudall has all along been well to the fore as a candidate for itho full-back position in the Springbok team, though others^n recent form have also conic into tho picture, Brand, Brink, Bichter, and Jackson all showing up prominently. Originally it was expected that the wing-three-quarters would be Van Niekerk and Prinsloo. The former, however, was injured at the start of' the season, and is evidently still affected. Starlce and Slater wore also ranked high among the possibles, and both went well in the Port Elizabeth trials. The cabled report refers to the selection of a centre-three-quartor and two five-eighths. The South African formation, however, provides for two centre-threequai'ters and a fly-half. S. Osier has been in the running for a centre position since last season. Bousseau, Eaath, and Duffy have been other prominent candidates, and P. K. Albertyn, who captained the Sprinkboks in 1924-25, indicated that he had not lost his old form when ho played in the Port Elizabeth trials early in the.season. Then there is Clarkson, who came to New Zealand in 1921, but, it is though that he is past,his best. B. L. Osier was regarded as a certainty for the fly-half position from tho time that tho tour was first arranged, and many followers of the game in South Africa consider that he should captain ' tho side, with Mostort as vice-captain. Among the leading scrum-halves there are Devine, Gutliric, and Townsend.