WALLABY RUGBY TEAM ARRIVES TO BEGIN N.Z. TOUR
(P.A.) AUCKLAND, Aug. 15. The Australian Rugby team, looking fit and youthful, arrived by Skymaster from Sydney today. They were confident of a successful and happy tour, Vinva o cirlp
“We have a young side, seasoned with experienced men,” said the manager, Mr. R. Waldon. “We have a big, smart set of backs and some big forwards who should do well on your grounds." He expected some of the young forwards, particularly R. Mossop, New South Wales, and M. Betts, Queensland, to become star players. Mr. Waldon would not be drawn on the All Blacks’ defeat by the South Africans. “We last saw the Springboks in 1937 when it was obvious that they would be a strong team for many years. What perturbs me is that the All Blacks are not getting a fuller share of the ball,” Mr. Waldon added.
The return of the Wallabies from England in 1947 marked the rise in Australian Rugby, “but it took us some time to get on top of the Maori touring team. They were a grand side and grand sports and we are looking forward to meeting some of them.” Mr. Waldon said this touring Australian team would use the same scrum formation as the Springboks. “They seem to have done all right with it,” he added with a grin.
The team was eager ’ for the first match against King Country at Taumarunui on Wednesday.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GISH19490816.2.95
Bibliographic details
Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23025, 16 August 1949, Page 6
Word Count
242WALLABY RUGBY TEAM ARRIVES TO BEGIN N.Z. TOUR Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23025, 16 August 1949, Page 6
Using This Item
The Gisborne Herald Company is the copyright owner for the Gisborne Herald. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of the Gisborne Herald Company. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in