RUGBY FOOTBALL

Grey River Argus, 27 April 1939, Page 4

RUGBY FOOTBALL

In Early Form: If early form means anything, then Taranaki’s All Black, J. L. Sullivan, is going to produce some especially fine Rugby this year. For a first-of-season game, he shaped very well for Tukapa against Poneke. He scored two tries in characteristic fashion, swerving past his opponents and I hen beating them for sheer pace. Centre still seems to be his position, despite his declared liking for the second five-eighths berth. Finished at Last: Well, Colin Le Quesne, old Hawke’s Bay Rugby stalwart, is finished with the game at last, at least actively. Now in Dannevirke, he is to coach the Old Boys senior fifteen this season. He ought to make a job of it. Le Quesne never reached the dizzy eminence of playing for New Zealand, but he did go as far as inter-island Rugby. In his day he was one of the best inside backs in the country, even if the New Zealand selectors didn’t think so. Many footballers of infinitely less capacity have found their way into All Black sides. Le Quesne’s career in the last year or two was hampered very considerably by a succession of injuries.

Not For League: R. H. Ward, who played Rugby for New Zealand in 1936 and 1937.," will not be found in the League ranks this year. Back in Invercargill after a season in Hawke’s Bay, Ward has refused a very tempting offer to play for ’.he Marist (Auckland) Rugby League Club. Even the prospect of a trip to England did not sway him.

To perfect the eight-man scrummage has been one of New Zealand’s jobs since the traditional formation was thrown overboard. Little advance seems to have been made. It is no wonder that the task is difficult when there is nothing much to show that the eight-man scrum has been perfected anywhere else. With three men in the front row there are troubles that seem never ending, and the powers in control of Rugby don’t seem to get anywhere in the endeavours to straighten things out. New Zealand for many years offered a system which made the game swing along much more smoothly and far more attractively than is the case nowadays. But because of the wing-forward—-and. be it said, some of the men' in that position have been amongst the greatest in the game—the good in New Zealand’s game was not acknowledged. It is all a great pity, for there is no doubt that the playing of only two men in the front row showed the right way to eliminating the illegalities that constantly arise in having three men as front, rankers. * * » * » Passing Fundamentals: For a good deal of the . poor standards of back play in club Rugby, the failure of coaches to insist on knowledge of passing fundamentals must be blamed. Once upon a time most backs were trained to throw the ball properly. Now many players heave the ball on without regard for accuracy, speed, and flight. Backs nowadays are blamed for poor hands. They may deserve some of it, but not all. It is difficult, when galloping downfield, to take cleanly

a ball spinning end over end. It is even more difficult if the spinning ball is aimed at the head or behind the shoulders. The art of passing is important in Rugby. A well-trained backline which handles the ball at speed and accurately owes much to the fact that each link knows how to throw the ball. W * * * * * Make Their Mistakes: Even the best-trained backs, of course, make their mistakes. Nevertheless, a back of senior or representative status should be capable of throwing a good pass at least seven times out of ten. It’s a good player these days who throws four acceptable passes of every ten. To-day, when the average pace of a game is greater than it was forty years ago, when the public demand for exciting sport is greater than' ever, mastery of the fundamentals of Rugby is essential to success. It would be a pleasure to report that players this season were able to throw a good pass. ****** No Pivotal Five-Eighths About Now: If there has been one weakness more than another apparent in New I Zealand back play in recent years, it has been the absence of a pivotal fiveeighths—a man upon whom the fabric of rearguard attacks can be built. There have been some flashily brilliant players, even in the depths of the depression years, but the flashily brilliant footballer isn’t the man who gives stability to back play. He may be admirable on the outside, at centre, or wing, but near the scrum he. is generally a source of weakness—at any rate against stiff opposition. He may occasionally do some amazing solo thing and win great public aprplause, but such a player at live-eighths makes any continuity of attack almost impossible. The man who keeps his outsides guessing is usually a dangerous fellow—to his own team. And the New i Zealand inside backs of the last few years have been largely of this type. The five-eighths who plays correct football without the frothy stuff is worth two of the player who wants to carve out his own destiny without caring very much about his supports. Certainly New Zealand will want a footballer of this class in South Africa.