ALL BLACKS’ TOUR

Evening Star, Issue 19952, 23 August 1928, Page 3

ALL BLACKS’ TOUR

THE “ ISINOR" TEST MATCH OF MANY MISTAKES IMy Graham E. Mkamisu.] KIMBERLEY, .July 8Regarded in liio first place us a minor lust, the JJ RlaeliS iuatc - li against the combined Northern Frounces’ team eventually developed into a comparatively lame affair. Those Springboks who were at first selected m the Northern Province side were withdrawn by the South Africa Selection Committee after the first tost, partly to give the players a rest and partly oat of consideration for the All Slacks, who weald have had to play what would have amounted to two test matches in consecutive weeks. And so the learn that was lidded against the All iilacks was not a strong one, and should have been beaten quite easily. Nearly 7,000 people, the biggest crowd that Kimberley lias cut known, turned out in blazing sun to watch the match. They must have been sadly disappointed with the display, because, for the most part, it was distracting, the players on both sides making many mistakes. It "'as a gaiiie of patches Here and there came a Hash of true football, but those flashes were few and far between.

The spin of had luck that has lollowcd the team throughout the tour stuck to them at Kimberley, lor, twenty minutes after the kick-off', Kilby had a bone in his right ankle splintered, and had to bo helped _olf between two “Zani Bucks.” AVith the going of Kilby went the slight.suggestion of combination that the AH Blacks had in the iirst few minutes of the game. M’Grcgor went to halfback, Nicholls lirst (ire-eighth, Sheen second, Lucas centre, and Stewart on the wing. The back lino was demoralised, and it could be plainly seen. M'Grcgor was pitiably slow in getting the ball away from the serums. Nicholls was naturally hampered, and his vis-a-vis was on him before lie had time to get rid of the ball Sheen was off colour, and Lucas rarely saw the ball. Si.ewart was lost among tho hacks. After half-time he played centre, and Lucas went_ hack to the wing. When the ball did get as far as Stewart in [Kissing rushes, _ he dropped Ins pass and Jet the opposition through. Lindsay was the only sound man among the backs. Strangely enough, all tho tries scored were brilliant as a spectacle, hut they showed up many weaknesses Tho first one came from an intercept. The ball travelled along the chain of All Black hacks to Sheen. Ho made a hahhearted attempt to run, then sent on to Lucas, but Todd, Ihe last winger, was waiting tor an intercept, and got away with it. Lacing for the goaf lino in full cry, lie left the AH Black hacks standing. With only Lindsay to beat ho made a line sidc-Mep going at top, and scored between the posts. Three points came to New Zealand from Lindsay's hoot, in the next lew minutes; then came a sparkling try. Ten yards out front the goal lino and oyds out from the touch line, a scrum was put. down. Hoiv. and Hadley did their Job; Bushbrook shot troiu the ..ling {o iirst live-eighths - to make the extra man, ami look Kilby's pass going at top. lie saw an opening, boat two men, and dived over tho line tor a line try.

'To Northern I.Vuvince went Ihe next try. Fellows-Smith worked the blind side irom a serum, and Dobie, the .solid Transvaal conin', swerved past Lucas and Liudsav for a line try. 11m All Black defence bad been caught boving forty winks. Nicbolls was playiti"' better iool ball than lie bad done jn'tbe first half, and made an opening characteristic of ihe player. Tic dice. Ids man, cut in- and ‘'ml Pard away. Down tbe line raced Ward, wn.li Lucas wailing for the pass nn lb" '"iLnl”. But tbo pass never came. Wyj'l wa.< tackled, ball and all.. and wi.n t.mt bloomer went a certain try. Later eamo tho best try of ibc tour hiking a lii'di punt in his stride, fandsay ran up fo the thrcc-cjnarler line to send Stewart away. liuslivrook took lis pass at halfway when going all o' t. Two men attempted to tackle him b'd he, mowed them down. On ho nwee. like a cTevhonnd, and tho rest of the Northern backs could get nowhere near him. Liebcnberg came hard aeioss from the other wing as ho mossed the Hue, and Bushbrook pot shpht concussion after lie had scored Urn finest ti\ so far on the tour. ,■ ■ , A mapmliecnt drop-kick b> B' ll , l ; came a few minutes later. Uo took a clearing kick near hallway and wdh plenty of room to work m; he tlK) ' careful aim and lot drive. 1 llc soared high in the air, and came down squarely between tbo posts. that "ial mn-o New Zealand the lend and also inspired the Northerners to do better things. They did Not long before the final whistle Mlows-bmifh sent Francis away. Todd was next tn ieccive, and, racing past btewart, he had a clear run in. It was a pood try. Fur a start tho All Black forwards went well, getting a, d to 1 possession from serums. Then tho Northerners changed their formation and the result was that (hey pot the rest of the scrums in tiro first half. In tho second half thev continued to win the maioritv. but the AH Blacks finished up bv wanning the ball in tire last quarter nf an hour. There woro few decisive linc-onts, and the Northerners, to tho surprise and chagrin ot the New Zealand supporters, won as many as the \ll Blacks. The man that stood out among the All Black lorwards was Hadlo'v, and M'Wilhams, although ho was heavy with influenza, played a good game. The rest were spasmodic. Iho outstanding man among the Northern forwards was Potgicter, tbo only test plavcr on tho side. He scored a conncaTtry, but was " a nnle ” off-side, ami tho tiw was disallowed. From a melee on our goal lino APGregor kicked tho ball down-liold. Their lull-back booted it into the pack again, and Potgicter, snapping up* made a- brilliant offoit, and, with a beautiful swallow dive, got over. It was one ot tbo brightest gems of a drab match. Still the All Blacks cannot strike form. Every tiling 'coins to go against thorn. At tbo same time, in tins match, it must be remembered that tho majority of the players had not played for at least three weeks. Some had boon dowm with influenza, and some with injuries. Several had not been able to (practice so that there was little chance of them showing their true form. M'Grcgor seems to be getting as unlucky as Harvey, tor in this match he was again badly hurt in the second spell. It was found that lie had torn, a cartilage in his knee. This happened when he had only fully recovered from the injury to his hack which ho got in tho first match at Cape Town. Following that, lie had the same spot hurt at Kroonstad. Yesterday’s match was M‘Gregor’s first for n month.

RUNAWAY WIN RHODESIANS ROUTED BULAWAYO, July 14. Only mere “ babies ” in the game, Rhodesia could not stand up to the New Zealand tornado at Bulawayo today, when the All Blacks romped homo to the extent of 44 points to 8. There were ton tries scored in the game, seven of which were converted and three unconverted, Thirty-ono points were scored by the All Blacks in tho first half, largely because of incompetence on tho part of the Rhodesians because of their meagre knowledge of tho finer points of the game. There was a big slowing up on tho

part of tho All Blacks in the second spell, and the Rhodesians scored 8 points against New Zealand’s 13. The football was poor in tho second session, tho All Blacks appearing to be more or less indolent in the face of their big lead. But in tho first forty minutes the New Zealanders threw tha ball about in tho open, telling way, and they were seen in many brilliant and spectacular movements, in which both backs and forwards took part, quite often the New Zealand back play was artistic, attractive, and subtle. The lirst spell was full of kaleidoscopic changes, and in this session the match sparkled with lively incident. As soon as the All Blacks saw that they could pul up something of a big score they showed an eagerness to jump into the game, and they were always on their toes. The trenchant service of the New Zealand five-eighths line sent the New Zealand three-quar-ter line in full cry with bewildering pace. The backs romped and roved will-o'-the-wisp inshion, the backing up being outstanding. It was a very different story in the second spell. Rhodesia, beating the All Blacks for tho ball from scrums, started to play football according to the Now Zealand stylo Their handling was fairly accurate, hut they could not finish off their movements in spite of tho halfhearted defence of the New Zealand backs. Rhodesia’s reign was a short one, for tho All Blacks soon had their opponents in a hopeless tangle again. There was one outstanding piece of [day on the part of the Rhodesian backs. MTntosh, the centre threcqnarler, who played fairly well throughout, made two breaks from interceptions when Lilburue was passing to Lucas From one of these he broke clean away, and short-punting accurately over Lindsay’s head recovered tho ball, and went on to scoro_ under the posts. It was a pretty piece of work. One of tho main reasons for tho overwhelming win by tho All Blacks was the appalling poor defence and tackling of tho Rhodesians. They certainly tackled better in the second half, and managed to smash quite a few New Zealand movements. Easily the most thrilling and spectacular movement by the All Blacks was tho one which led to Finlayson’s try. In his own twentyfive Snow threw the ball halfway across tlie field to Lucas. Ho sent to Robilliard, who passed infield to Lucas, who sent to Swain to Finlayson, who beat two men and scored a great try. It was surprising to find that even up against a side as weak as Rhodesia New Zealand was beaten for tho ball in the scrums. And, above all, it was amazing to find that they were beaten for the ball in tho department of the game for which they are noted—lineout work. Rhodesia hooked _ the ball from bwenty-fonr scrums against Now Zealand’s twenty, and fourteen lineonts went in their favour against tho All Blacks’ thirteen. It was perfectly obvious why New’ Zealand was beaten in the scrums. To a big extent it was tho same trouble as has been tho case in previous matches—little weight in fhe scrums. To-day it was flagrant. The side-row men, Maurice Brownlie mid Finlayson, wore far too eager to break away, and hud left tho side of the scrum before the ball was out; and tiio back-rankers, Hazlett and Snow, did not seem to worry very much whether they pushed or not. But what they lacked in the scrums they made up for, and doubly so, in tho loose. At the same time, weight is essential in the serums, and until solid weight goes into tho All Black pack they will continue to be beaten in scrums. There was a crowd at the match numbering almost 4,000, which is a record fur Bulawayo. They came from remote parts of Rhodesia to seo the All Blacks, many of them travelling hundreds of miles in as long as four days. ’The crowd was delighted at the display of tho New - Zealanders, and all keen Rugbyites admitted that they had learned a grant deal. Tho All Blacks gave their liaka before the match, this being only tho second time that they hare given it. since they have been in Souih Africa.

“ANDY" MERCER, HARDEST WORKER HIS METHODS AND HIS SKILL .J OH ANX ESBUK G, July 17. “ M-ii-u-m, can i have a rub down now?” “What, about a hot pack for my knee, mum?” “What have you done with the iodine, mum?” “ M-u-u-m, I want a new ankle bandage for this afternoon.” “Will you give us some padding? This ground is hard ” And “mum,” with a volley of questions like this tired at “ her ” before every match, smiles through it all. “ Mum ” is a great worker, a genial personality, and as deservedly popular with every one with whom " sue ” comes in contact as “she” is indispensable on this tour. All the more credit must go to “ Andy ” Mercer, for, although ho is for from being in a position to carry the tour out, ho has taken it on for the pure love of the game. Andy Mercer is actually a Rugby fanatic. lie is the kind of man who takes Rugby for bis creed, lie dreams about the All Blacks. 110 has been known to talk about members of the team in his sleep'

With the members of the team who are playing in a match Andy Mercer is like a hen with her new chicks, tie fusses and he frets until ho has every man of rim fifteen /it and well to take to the held. He works on them day and night. He rubs them in th« morning after training, and ho rubs them ac night before they turn in. In between times bo looks alter those who a l- .; ill and those on Hie injured list. “ Mum ” i.s first up in the morning and last to bed at night. He sticks to the team through thick and thin. When outings have been arranged be will not leave the hotel in case one of the sick or injured needs attention during the day. Wild horses will not. drag “mum” away from her “ children. ”

If tlie team is beaten “mum” believes in “her” heart that “she” is responsible for the loss. Andy blames himself, because ho did not have right. Be should have put one more pack on his knee. If he had spent a bit more time on . he would have been able to last tho distance without any effect. So seriously does Andy throw Ids whole heart into tho business that a defeat of the All Blacks is viewed by him as a national calamity. A loss plainly affects him. A peculiar temperament has A. W. Mercer. No man could possibly put more work into his job than Andy, and tho 3928 All Blacks consider themselves feted by fate in having such a man. At present Andy is out at Orange Grove, a rpiiet little Johannesburg suburb, training his “ thoroughbreds ” for the second test, and ho will not bo seen until the match is over. He has got eighteen to look after., eighteen men highly strung, because this next test means so much, and ho handles them with the utmost care. Besides all that he does in the way of training, Andy looks after the baggage of fortyseven men. He not only worries about the “ traps ” belonging to the members of the team, but he looks after (and has done since the beginning of the lour) the baggage of the little party of New Zealanders travelling with the team. He worries as much about those bags as he does about those belonging to the team. Of course, actually tho bags of tho travelling party do not concern him, but’ his good nature prompted him to keep an eye on them. When “mum ” was ill the last time the team was in Johannesburg, there was quite a path worn to his bedroom by members of the team and tho travelling party who went to see him. Ho was to be given medicine every fqur hours. At least one member of the team would always bo there to give it

to him. A tribute to Amir's popularity. Andy Ale roe r has several fine performances to his credit. He trained the New Zealand first test team against the Springboks in 1921, and he also trained the South African athletes who came to Now Zealand. A. R. Borritt was another man whom Andy “ brought out..’,’ “ Mum,” hustled and bustled as “ she ” is by twenty-nine players all eager to keep lit, smiles and laughs through it all, enjoying every minute of it. What would the 1928 All Blacks do without “mum”? Andy Mercer has the confidence and the respect of every man in tho team-