RUGBY FOOTBALL

Grey River Argus, 19 May 1944, Page 5

RUGBY FOOTBALL

A.I.F. TEAM TO TOUR N.Z. ■SYDNEY, May 16.

The A.I.F. Rugby team will, it is hoped, tour New Zealand at the end of the war. Final arrangements will depend on the disposition of the Australian and New Zealand armies when hostilities cease. . The Australian Services Football Committee and the Commonwealth Rugby Union recently sought an opinion on the tour from the N.Z. Rugby Union and the Army authorities. New Zealanders are understood to have supported the idea enthusiastically and indicated that an invitation would be extended to Australia' if the respective armies were in proximity. It is suggested here that the A.I.F. team would plav a number of New Zealand provincial and service teams culminating in a test or series of tests against the New Zealand Army The tour, it, is believed, would arouse considerable interest in both countries. The only defeat inflicted on the New Zealand Army team after the last war was by the first A.I.F. team. The Australians also defeated the South Africans twice, but lost to England and the R.A.F.