"HARD TO BEAT"

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 126, 23 November 1935, Page 29

"HARD TO BEAT"

FINDING TRUE FORM

The latest reports by air mail as well as by cable indicate that the New Zealand Rugby touring team has been showing a marked degree of improve-1 ment. It was expected that, after their defeat by Swansea, the return visit to Wales for the matches with i Llanelly, Cardiff, and Newport would be a real testing time for the tourists. Their performances in those matches were such as to cause many of tne critics to revise their opinions. And since then the New Zealand side has successfully negotiated other obstacles which were regarded as difficult. "Beware of the All Blacks. They are thriving on that Welsh tonic. Getting better and better. . . A story with a moral—that of the good boys who seized their opportunities, and of the "bad lads" who muddled their chances and went down." That is what the "DaUy Express" displayed in dealing with the New Zealand team after its second visit to Wales during the present tour. "A handsome victory," says the "Daily Telegraph" of the Cardiff! match. "There is no denying the fact that our New Zealand friends manage to keep us interested. Cardiff, let us admit, played shocking football, as if they were suffering from stage-fright, but for all that I never saw a more entertaining, match. If we must agree that Cardiff were disappointing, it is also evident that the New Zealanders are finding their true form at last. I can well believe that they will be extremely hard to beat when the international matches come along. Their forwards are waking up: on Saturday they were really shoving, and packing tight and low. In the line-out, moreover, they were far more effective than they have ever been before."

"Sunday Dispatch":—"Fast breaking away and brilliant individual opportunism combined with complete understanding—these were the secrets of the All Blacks' decisive victory. The pace was terrific and, strangely enough, it was always when Cardiff threatened danger that the All Blacks obtained their scores. Another factor

record of 301 points for and 110 points against. This comparison does not by any means indicate relative merit, since it is impossible to say how the standard of British Rugby of thirty years ago stood in relation to that of today. But it does give some idea of the outstanding ability of the 1905 Combination. - REFUSED TO PLAY, The Scottish team of that time was considered one of the hottest which had represented Scotland for five years. The captain was D. R, Bedell-Sivright, who had skippered the British team during its tour of Australia and New Zealand the previous year. It is somewhat interesting to recall also that a Nelson player, A. N. Fell, who was thvn a medical student at Edinburgh Univer' sity, was chosen for Scotland, but refused to play against his countrymen. The match, which was Witnessed by 20,000 people, was played on a ground made exceptionally hard by frosts, and was won by the New Zealanders by 12 points to 1. The Scottish team opened the scoring with a "potted goal," tries then being secured for New Zealand by F. Glasgow and G. Smith. Scotland assumed the lead again just before half-time by crossing the tourists' line. This 7-6 advantage Was held until within ten minutes of the close, when Smith scored a typical matchwinning try to put New Zealand ahead, 9-7. Right on time W. Cunningham added a further try, thus placing the issue beyond doubt, though it was really Smith who saved the day.