Was Inter-Island Game A Trial?

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 October 1948, Page 3 (Supplement)

Was Inter-Island Game A Trial?

One point of uncertainty about last Saturday’s inter-island Rugby match was the extent to which it was regarded as a trial. The fact that the selectors deliberated for fully an hour after it ended before the team for South Africa was announced indicated uncertainties existed after the final trial, and that the North-South match left differences of opinion. On the other hand, the teams were picked by the North and South Island selectors respectively, after the New Zealand selection committee had sorted out the players for the concluding five trials. The experiences of at least two of the players add to the conflict of evidence. Few who saw the match could feel satisfied that G. W. Delamore played his way into the team last Saturday—he must have earned his place in the trials.

As against that G. F. Henderson, the Wairarapa side-row forwards, performed so well in the trials that he became regarded as a near-.cer-tainty. For last Saturday’s match the North Island selectors gave him an unaccustomed post at the back of the scrum, and his display suffered, accordingly. Whereas Delamore went in Henderson was left out. -