SCRUM TACTICS

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 54, 12 September 1928, Page 13

SCRUM TACTICS

ALL BLACKS' MOVE STEWART DOMINATES PLAY MATCH WITH PRETORIA (From "The Post's" Special Correspondent.) PRETOBIA, 26th July. Elated by their victory in the second Test match, the All Blacks produced their best Eugby of the tour to date in their thirteenth mateh —against the combined Pretoria clubs, which fielded one of the strongest packs the tourists have encountered. It was generally anticipated the tourists would suffer defeat, but, settling down to bright opeu football, they had the result safe after a thrilling first half, in which they dominated the play. It was tho splendid work of the forwards that paved the way to victory. For the first time in the tour the pack proved itself superior to a solid scrummaging pack opposed ti it, and their success was largely due to an astute scrum manoeuvre which had been secretly practised and introduced with success in the second Test. Stewart, the rover, was deputed to come up on the inside of his two hookers, and so obtain the loose head. This gave his hooker the first hook at the ball, which had previously been the advantage of opponents. The rover did not pack himself alongside his own front line, but packed sideways, and as the ball was put in the scrum be thrust his leg forward and across the scrum to prevent the Pretoria hooker from hooking with his inside foot. The legality of the manoeuvre was challenged by a number of old Eugby men, but the referee did not prohibit its use, and the result was that in the first half the All Blapks secured the ball eighteen times to nine. NICHOLLS IN FOEM. This scrummaging advantage was. turned to good account by smart heeling, which allowed the touring backs, well served by Dalley, to initiate a series of bright open movements, more spectacular than even those displayed at Bulawayo and Maritzburg, though on account of the quality of the defence not quite so successful. Johnson had fully recovered from his off day in the Test match on the previous Saturday, and was an excellent link, but it was the sharp, penetrative play of Mark Nicholls at second five-eighth that made the chief difference to the side. On several occasions he made real openings which should havo led to tries, but ouce again S. JR. Carleton showed that the strength of his play was defence rather than attack. He joined with speed and dash into a niovomen'-, but more than once at a critical juncture he dropped his passes. On one occasion he failed to hold the ball a yard from the line when Nicholls had drawn the defence. After all, it was in opportunist play rather than in cleverly executed back movements that the visitors obtained their scores. Forward

passes also spoilt several probable tries. • ; The tourists' tries |h tho first half came from Grenaide (who was fed in the loose by Dalley), M'Williams (after a dribble by Swain and smart passing movement in which Hore participated), and Swain (after a blind-side movement initiated by Dalley and a crosskick by Grenside, which was fielded and mis-kicked by Gush, tho Pretoria fullback). Two of these tries were converted by Lindsay. Pretoria's solo try was the result of a punt upfield by Kotze, do Wet gathering the ball and going over. Tho All Blacks thus led by 13 points to 3, and had so much the better of the play that they seemed sure to more than double their tally in the second half. So far from. this. being so, however, the Pretorians had by far the better of +lie game after tho change-over, and the main reason seemed to be because the tonrists changed their tactics and utilised Stewart mainly as a rover to stultify the work of the two halves. Stewart did some remarkably fine work, and frequently smothered movements near the scrum, but nevertheless could not stop the backs occasionally getting away. M'lntyre, one of the Pretoria centres, was suffering from an off-day and did not hold his passes. Tho only score in the second half was a fine try scored by Geyser, a forward, wlio got the ball in the loose after a number of forwards had handled and beat Lindsay with a side-step worthy of a crack wing-three-quarter. OUTSTANDING FLAYERS. Tho outstanding men in the All Blacks' back division were Dalley, Nicholls, and Grenside, but it was mainly the forwards who were responsible for the improved showing of the side. M'Williams in this match was the outstanding orthodox forward on the field, and, with his fine play in the Tost match, has definitely proved himself one of tho outstanding tourists. P. Ward was another to enhance his reputation, as did J. Swain, who was more prominent in the loose than usual, and showed fine speed in several movements. Cyril Brownlie was fitter and better than he had been in his previous appearances, and Maurice Brownlie and Alloy were very solid. But the dominating man o f. tho match was Stewart, who largely controlled tho play with his scrum tactics in the first half, and in the second half played a remarkable game as an orthodox winger. He simply worried th i opposing scrum-half off his game. Tho success of the All Blacks' scrum manoeuvre has nonplussed tho South African critics. There is no doubt whatever that it played a decisive part in the result of the Johannesburg Test match, and what it meant to the tourists was clearly shown in this game when, with its assistance, the All i

Blacks secured the ball eighteen times to nine from the scrum in the first half, and in tho second half, when it was not persevered with, the Pretorians had the advantage of nineteen to nine. T. L. Kruger, the Springbok hooker, was playing in tho Pretoria match, and, as he has been general!}' regarded as the best hooker in the country, it is evident that tho best of South African players are unable to cope with tho strategy cleverly exploited by the All Blacks' rover. Whether jouth Africa can devise a counter is left to the remaining Test matches to show, but it is evident that the 1928 All Blacks havo devised .something new in Eugby scrum tactics.