N.Z. TEAM'S TOUR

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 50, 27 August 1938, Page 23

N.Z. TEAM'S TOUR

COMMENT BY SAXTON

C. K. Saxton the All Black scrumhalf and former Otago representative, who was seen in action for South Canterbury against Otago at Carisbrook, pays a fine tribute to his fel-low-All Blacks. All of them had been on the best of terms, and the coach (Mr. Alex McDonald) and the manager (Dr. Adams) had enjoyed the tour equally as much as the players. The football grounds in the Commonwealth were the hardest Saxton says he had ever played on, and had he not worn knee pads his limbs would have been badly cut. As it was he showed the effect of the hard grounds —cuts and bruises all over his body. "Many of the others suffered far worse than me," Saxton said, reports the "Otago Daily Times." "Berghan was \ one of the backs to suffer numerous losses of skin. Some of the forwards,! too, received severe cuts, but through! jit all the boys played fine football. In jthe final Test at Sydney the surface iof the ground was like cement, but my knee pads, which did not interfere i

with the movement or the freedom of the leg, proved of great value to me. Most of the Australian players wore these appliances and the majority of the forwards wore padded trousers."

Saxton, who played in all the matches except two, mentioned that his former clubmate, J. M. Taylor, had kicked some wonderful goals during the tour, several of them being from very difficult angles. One of his attempts, from a yard inside half-way, when the ball struck the crossbar, was described by Saxton as being one of the finest efforts he had ever seen. Morrison, the wing-three-quarter, had won the admiration of football enthusiasts for the manner in which he backed up Taylor when the full-back was hard pressed. The inside men—Berghan, Sullivan, and Mitchell—had linked up in a polished manner, and Berghad had played some really brilliant football. The back line stood very deep in all matches, and Saxton sent out very long passes to Berghan, who made some brilliant openings. The forwards • were always on hand to link up in any attacking movements, and when they spread out like a fan they took some stopping. The whole pack worked all the time and, although he did not like to single out any player, Saxton said that McKenzie and Parkhill were seldom far from the ball. The idol of the Australian football public, remarked Saxton, was Aubrey Hodgson, the tall rangy forward whom' he likened as a player to P. S. de Q. Cabot, the former University and Otago representative. Time and time again, he said, there would be a yell from the crowd "to give it to Hodgson." The Australian took a great deal of knocking about, but he always came up smiling and worked like a Trojan during the course of a match. He was a great opportunist and frequently turned defence into attack, Hodgson will be one of the first Australians selected to make the trip to Great Britain next year, Saxton remarked. Other Australians with whom Saxton was. impressed were Rankin, the full-back, and Carpenter, the three-quarter, who

was an outstanding goal kick. The half-back, Ramalli, played some very fine football also, but was unlucky to be injured. For a scrum-half Saxton mentioned that the Australian was fairly tall and thin, but this in no way detracted from his game. When up against a solid forward pack, however, he was liable to secure some knocking about.