RUGBY TEST

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 26, 30 July 1938, Page 11

RUGBY TEST

BRILLIANT PLAYERS

N.Z. TEAMWORK

"SPOILING" OVERCOME

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

SYDNEY, July 26.

1 The All- Blacks won the first Rugby Union Test match, and Australia lost it, in a manner suggesting that, the out- \ come, of the next , two matches is already decided. The score of 24 points to 9 underrated, if anything, New Zealand's superiority.

1 The match was disappointing as a spectacle because of spoiling tactics by both sides and seemingly interminable milling in bad scrummages and rucks. Breaches of rules by forwards in preventing the ball being placed properly in many scrums and in getting off-side marred the game as an entertainment." With a referee observing every technical point in the rules, the even flow of Rugby was disturbed, and j the crowd's patience was sorely tested frequently. There were, of course, many stirring moments which threatened to turn into minutes until stopped-by blunders or breaches. There were the few delightful draughts of Rugby champagne to exhilarate, the senses. Two particularly will be remembered as examples of perfect tactics—Sullivan's, individual thrust along the right wing, followed by the perfect centre-kick from which Parkhill scored beneath the posts; and an interchange of passes between Saxton, Morrison, and McKenzie to beat the right-wing" defenders for a try by .Saxton. ; . ■ . • MATCH-WINNING FACTORS. Saxton was the "greatest" man on the field. Dour tackling and bottling tactics curbed the other inside backs except Sullivan, who.. proved himself almost as great a match-winner as the diminutive half-back. Taylor played one of the greatest full-back games seen in Sydney for many a year, and McKenzie was the supreme force in a magnificent pack. ■ But New Zealand, despite the praise - due to these individual champions, should receive its chief commendation as a team—a highly successful co-opera- .- tive store of energy, power, and tac- •-. tical genius. If one of these qualities had to be named as the supreme fac-1 tor, it would be the quick thinking that enabled the All Blacks to patch their " 6wh threatened defences and to tear the patches from the Australian defences in a manner that seemed for- ' tuitous to the undiscerning. ■'"."■V::\ THE OUTLOOK. There ■ was unanimity among the newspaper critics . that the Rugby "ashes" are already stowed in the Bledisloe Cup for the return passage to Ne»w Zealand. The "Sydney Morning Herald" Rugby reporter leads a* clamour for reconstruction . ,rOt the ~ Australian team, centring on the substitution of brilliant 19-year-old Cecil Ramalli for the slow and awkward C. G. Stone as halfback. Another suggestion he makes, is a rebrganisatiohijoi the pack which, would allow the men to play in-ihe; ". places in,which they haye specialised. He iiisiarices the mistakes of placing Hodgson as a break-away instead of as a lock forward and the use of two second-row men as supports for. the hooker. , . ~<. . AN OBJECT LESSON. On the match itself, the "Herald" stated: "Uutgeneralled in tactics and - outclassed in play, Australia never looked like beating New Zealand. The . iplan with wtiich New Zealand countered the' strengthened Australian de- •; fence was an object lesson in Rugby. The spectators might have been disappointed with the game as a spectacle, but could not have failed to appreciate teamwork and understanding •* -of the New Zealand team, which found .-.the weaknesses of the Australian com-? bination and exploited them to the full. , "New Zealand endeavoured at the beginning to open up the game and , set their fast inside backs into actionA ■The Australian defence was totally different from that of New South Wales of the previous week, and the visiting backs Were grassed one after another with hard tackles. It was obvious that part of Australia's plan was to stop the inside backs, of New Zealand at all costs. The/home backs and breakaways carried but these instructions to the letter, making T. Berghan, the.first five-eighth, their main target. It was , apparent that the All Blacks, in their team talk before the game, had anticipated this, and they immediately changed their methods. Saxton swung the ball back to the forwards, who were always ready to race to the attack.

"The international kick-intc-touch •rule on the full was exploited, and there ■were many spectators who: did not hesitate to voice disapproval."