ALL BLACKS' TOUR

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 110, 5 November 1935, Page 11

ALL BLACKS' TOUR

PLAY AND PLAYERS

SADLER THE BETTER HALF

OLIVER A STAR

(By "The host's" Special Correspondent.)

NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, Oct. 11,

The All Blacks were very nearly beaten by Northumberland and Durham; their 10-6 victory was the luckiest of the tour to date, and on the play the county side deserved to win. The New Zealanders played poor football, practically everything worthy of note being done by members of the home team, who, it had been thought, would fall easy victims to the tourists. Rugby has not a very large following in the districts from which the combined team-was chosen, Northern Union (or League, as it is termed in ..New Zealand) and Soccer being the great winter sports. Most touring Rugby sides find no difficulty in piling up anything from 20 to 40 points against. them, and it was thought before the match that the All Blacks would do likewise. It was perhaps this over-confidence which caused the New Zealanders to- treat their opponents lightly, and they received an unpleasant surprise when the combined team started to show signs' of winning. In the last ten minutes or so Northumberland and Durham were pressing hard on the New Zealand line and a converted try would have meant victory for^-them. However, they lacked just that finish that meant the difference between a points-pro-ducing back movement and an unsuccessful effort to cross the All Black line; and the New Zealanders came out the lucky winners. - Northumberland-Durham had two excellent wing-three-quarters in Oldroyd and Harrison, who were freely served and made much use of their opportunities. Oldroyd beat both Ball and Solomon in scoring his try, the latter making the mistake of going low for his opponent when right on the line. Oldroyd had so much speed up that even if Solomon had succeeded in tackling him his-weight would have carried him over. This was Solomon's second trial in the full-back position, and he played with much more confidence than he did at Swansea. He fielded the ball cleanly and gained a ■ lot of ground with his line-kicks, being far better in the latter department than Gilbert has been in the last few games in which' he has played. ON A GREYHOUND TRACK. Solomon must have found the fact that the ground upon which the match was played—Gosforth Park, Newcastle —is entirely .enclosed by grandstands, quite helpful to his kicking, for there was not a breath of wind, the grandstands making , perfect breakwinds. Gosforth Park is a greyhound racing track, the ground resembling, more than ■ anything, a circus. -It is like playing football indoors, and it will surely be the most novel conditions under which the All Blacks are called upon to play on the tour of Great Britain. To give an idea of how popular greyhound racing is in England, a meeting is held at this ground every night arid before the All Blacks' match was over men were to be seen getting -the large totalisator, at one, end of. the ground ready for ■that' evening's, meeting. One drawback of having grandstands around the entire field, . however, is that more than a little time is wasted when the ball is kicked up on the roof, as was continually happening in this game. In England they do not have ball boys as is the custom in New Zealand —boys,whose job it is To see that there is always another ball ready for use when one is kicked into touch. This waiting for the ball to be :got down from the roof of the stands tended to slow up the game. TOO MUCH KICKING. Perhaps it would not have been so bad had not the New Zealanders taken it into their heads to make more than a little use of the kicklinto touch. The traditional All Black style of throwing the ball • about, with backs and forwards joining in together, was far from being in evidence, the tourists preferring to gain a few yards by kicking into touch rather than to open up play with.passing movements. Solomon was one of the chief offenders in this respect, for, although his was a sound display, he was very conventional in his methods and not once did he set his backs in motion, despite the fact that time and time again he was presented with excellent opportunities to do so. Griffiths also showed too much of a preference for kicking and was less impressive in this game than he had been in the two previous games finve^?ghth he had been Pl3yed at first FORM OF THE HALVES. The fact that Corner's service from the scrums and line-outs was not good no doubt had something to do with Griffiths s poorer showing. Only seldom did the Auckland half-back send out a good pass, Griffiths nearly always being required to make an effort belore he could secure the ball. It is a pity that' Corner was not in ™ fu f°l m' for in this game agains t Northumberland and Durham the All 8, la t c I ks' Pack, for a change, got most oi the ball from the set scrums. They secured the ball from 36 to their opponents' 21 scrums, so that Corner was given plenty of opportunities to set his backs in motion. But once again he was not in form, and not once on the tour to date has he produced great football. Sadler is giving much better performances than Corner, and was again at' his best in the game which preceded that with Northumberland and Durham — the Lancashire-Cheshire match. In this game Sadler gave a typical display, mingling crisp passes from the scrum with clever little solo efforts, which immediately won for him the admiration of the crowd. Time and again he was applauded for his dodging in and out among the Lancashire forwards, who found him altogether too virile for them. DIVISIONAL LEADERS. Oliver was also in form in this game, and is fast developing into a star of the touring side. He gets great praise in the Press for practically every game he plays, and there is no doubt about the fact that he is an inspiration to the side. When he is absent from the team, the back division seem to be a leaderless legion, as was the case in the Swansea match. Oliver's shrewdness and tactical knowledge make him the mainstay .of the backs, and his leadership in the backs means a great deal to the side. Without casting ajiy shadow upon Manchester', it can also be stated that in the forwards Hore is proving a great leader and_ an inspiration to the pack. When he is called upon to lead them they always seem to give of their best and rise to great heights. He is always up to some shrewd dodge, and it is quite clear that his years of experience are invaluable to the side.