ALL BLACKS' TOUR

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 141, 11 December 1935, Page 21

ALL BLACKS' TOUR

WINGING FORWARDS

PREVALENT AT HOME

MATCH WITH CAMBRIDGE

(From "The Post's" Special Representative.) , CAMBRIDGE, November 14. Practically in every game the All Blacks play in Great Britain they are up against fast-breaking, winging forwards. It was the wing-forwards who had much to .do with the All Blacks' downfall at Swansea. The men on the side of the Swansea scrum broke up very quickly whenever New Zealand got the ball, and were on top of Corner before he had a chance to send it out to i the backs. In direct contrast, in the Swansea game the New Zealand loose forwards, who are supposed to be' past masters at this type of game, failed to cause the Swansea half or inside backs any concern. This is much the case in all the games'the tourists have played, and in the match with Hampshire and Sussex it was very pronounced. In this game New Zealand got.but little of the ball from set scrums, but whenever it. did come out on their. side, poor Corner found, three County forwards literally on top of him, with the result that his service from the scrums suffered more than a little.. He did a.great deal of fumbling, and the passes he sent out to his first - five-eighth, Tindill, were erratic. However, when the Counties got the ball; their'half was allowed to go .on his way* unhindered. No New Zealand forwards came round to keep him in check, which, however, was quite in keeping with the forward play of the All Blacks on the tour to date. The New Zealand breakaways make little or no effort to cramp the style of the opposing; scrum half or inside back, which is in direct contrast to the play of the English forwards, who do a lot of winging, and give the New Zealand halves and inside backs little room or time in which to work. In these circumstances Corner has been inclined to become flustered and give displays far below his best. I BRILLIANT SADLER. :Oh the other hand, Sadler is quick and nippy enough to triumph over the attentions of these winging forwards, and is playing brilliant football. Corner played against Hampshire and Sussex, and gave an indifferent display. Sadler played in the following match, against Cambridge University, and was the star of the .match. However, Sadler had a great deal in his favour. For a change, the All Blacks were greatly superior in the set scrums, and got more than their fair share of the ball. Sadler gave a half-back display that was faultless in every department. Well-fed by the diminutive Wellington half, the All Black backs showed just what an attacking force they can be when given, plenty of the ball. They absolutely overshadowed the Cambridge . rearguard, which, on paper, were very strong. The Cambridge stand-off half was the Welsh international, Cliff Jones, whose name is well known even in New Zealand. But with New Zealand getting all the ball, he had little chance to shine. However, he, here and there, showed flashes of brilliance, letting the New Zealanders realise that he will be something to contend with when given plenty of the ball. CAMBRIDGE CHECKED. One of the centres was W. Wooller, the big Welsh international, Wooller, however, could do nothing right in this game, and, in fact, presented New Zealand with two of the tries they scored. He dropped his passes, and on defence did some bad miskicking. The other international in the side was the wing-three-quarter, K. C. Fyfe, who got even fewer chances than did Jones. There were few concerted Cambridge back movements, so that the ball seldom went Fyfe's way, but he did some great tackling. He checked countless promising All Black back movements, bowling George Hart over in fine style several times.. The Cambridge backs, however, never looked very dangerous, and the New Zealand back division, with a feast of the ball, had an absolute day out. Not only were the All Blacks superior in the set scrums, but elso in the lineouts, and the player to whom most credit is due in this department is Jack Manchester. It would seem that the responsibility of captaincy has been weighing heavily upon the big Canterbury forward, for early in the tour he failed,to show anything like the great form he is;known, in. New Zealand to be capable of producing. At the time of writing, however, he is playing at the top of his form, and in line-out work particularly is very prominent, .In the game against Hampshire, and Sussex he was almost uncanny in his success in getting the ball, and in the! Cambridge match he again took the-ball cleanly time and time again in the line-outs. Another All Black forward who is always con- ■ spicuous in the line-outs is Athol Mahoney. The Bush forward played in the New Zealanders' opening game against Devon and Cornwall, and then a few days later was injured at practice. This injury kept him out for a month, but 'just as soon as he was fit again! he' went straight into the team, and is now one of the "regulars." Mahoney is one of the successes of the tour, and has yet to play a poor game. OUT OF FORM. Of wl'R. Collins it can hardly1 be • said that so far he has been a success, i After his .great play in the trials much was expected of him on this tour. On the voyage over and during the time before the, actual tour started Collins put on a great deal of weight, and was, in fact, over a stone above his normal New Zealand weight. When he played indifferently, then, in his early games, it was thought that he would no doubt produce his best when he got thoroughly fit. So far,"however, Collins has failed to do so, and has been disappointing in each game he has played. A forward who should soon be added to the list of definite successes is R. McKenzie, who is improving with-every game. A notable feature of his performances, is the number of points he has scored. At the present time he is well ahead of any other forward in this department, with 18 points, mad< up of five tries and a goal from a mark One of the outstanding things abou1 McKenzie's play is that he is always up with the ball, and this has much tc do with his being well ahead of the other forwards in the matter of scor ing tries. His goal from a mark wa; the talk of the team for quite i time. It was secured in the gam< against Newport. The Welsh side'i - full-back, in clearing, sent up a higl kick directly downfield, and McKenzii marked the ball just a few yards or Newport's side of half-way. He wa: going to kick for touch when. Gilber went: up to him and suggested that hi have a drop-kick at goal. He did so and, to the great surprise and amuse ment of his team-mates, kicked a per feet goal. CRITICS CONFOUNDED. If.the Cambridge match is anythinj to go by, the New Zealand forwards who were so severely criticised by thi English Rugby writers early in thi tour, are going to confound thei: critics. In that game their superiority in the set scrums was so pronounce! that it was an absolute rarity to sei

the baU go out the. Cambridge side of the scrum. The fact that a Cambridge forward had to retire with an injured ankle early in the game may have had something to do with the tourists' success in the scrums, but it is doubtful whether it made a great deal of difference, for from the outset of the game Hadley. was raking that ball back to Sadler in practically every scrum. This game was one of the few Occasions on which the All Blacks had pronounced superiority in the set scrums, and the' fact that they recorded seven tries—six 'of them scored by backs—shows just what possession means to them. If the New Zealand forwards could get the ball back with something like regularity in all their matches, Oliver and his supports would show to much better advantage than they have been. In nearly every game the New Zealand backs have had to get the majority of their scoring opportunities from mistakes by their opponents—dropped passes, which they pick up and turn to good use. All Black teams have always been famous for their.ability to make the most of their opponents' errors, and if the 1935 side has failed to live up to its predecessors in some respects, it has not fallen down in the matter of-snapping up a stray pass and turning it into an attacking movement that nine times out of ten results in a try. ,