RUGBY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 1 November 1924, Page 11

RUGBY.

THE INTERNATIONALS. TO-DAY’S MATCH AGAINST IRELAND. $o far it appears that in every match played by the team to date the strength, of the opposition has been ip the forward line, and eoiisequently to the van have supporters looked for their chances of success. This has been noted by critics. generally, and several have said that if the forwards v comd hold or beat the burly pack from overseas, there was a chance for the home team. Several of the packs have given our men a very strenuous struggle and this is certain to be repeated before the tour is over. This may bo expected in the match to-day, the first International, for Irish forwards have long been known bv reason of their dash, their keenness and tSeir staying poorer. Late reports state that the pack is exceedingly strong, but that the' rearguard is not so promising. Says a Home correspondent: Ireland has a wealth of good forwards, tout is badly off'* for first-class (backs. The Irish players can show speed, and the forwards will take some stopping. The New Zealand backs, however, -should be able to turn the scale in New Zealand’s favour. With the Ireland, Ulster, and Northumberland teams all to be met within two -weeks, the All Blacks will be thoroughly tested between November 1 and 8. It is interesting to recall that in the Irish team of 1905—who were beat- ' en toy 15 to nil, three tries 1 converted by Wallace—all but one were old Internationals. They included such wellknown players as G. Allen, Basil Maelear, Parke, Robby, Caddell and Robertson. “In the first spell,” says the report, “New Zealand were pinned in their twenty-five for some time, and after 32 minutes Deans scored. Later he scored again and McDonald also scored.” One thrilling incident was that, Wallace, an Irish winger, went right through the opposition and just failed to score. A FORECAST. “J ani not accustomed to indulge in prophecies,” says a critic in a South of England paper, “but'l think lam safe in asserting that the team which defeats the All Blacks on a dry day will have to be above the ordinary. It should be possible to score against them—this was proved in the gam© against Gloucester—it should be possible to defeat them—what their defence is like when severely tested remains to be seen—but I am of opinion that they will score against most of the English sides, and that their at- ' tack is their soundest defence.” ' / • —' INTERNATIONAL GAMES. Writing after the conclusion of the South African tour, a critic who saw the English team play says:—“Re gardinor the International games, generally, it is probable that England will be very strong in the back division, but with the exception of Voyce, CoveSmithy and Wakefield, the forwards may not be equal to the All Blacks. With the experience and combination gained during the tour, New* Zealand should have no great difficulty in "winning this match, provided, of course, that the players are fit and have not become stale. The English team will be moire sound than brilliant. They generally play a vqj-y orthodox game. Wales is considered to be very weak, and, although the Welsh players will defend stubbornly, it is thought that their attacking powers will not bo strong enough to overcome the All Blacks, who will he all out to avenge the defeat of December. 16. 1905. It will come as a surprise if Wales wins. Rowe Harding and Harold Davies are really first-class backs, but the Welsh halves are weak. Forward play is the strong point of the Welshmen.

it is not improbable that Scotland would prove to be the All Blacks’ most formidable opponents, judging by the plqy of the Scottish internationals with the British touring team. Drysdale is a very safe full-hack; lan Smith is a brilliant wing.three-quarter; while Kinnear and Waddell rank with the best of the inside hacks in the British team. Th© leading Scottish forwards are nearly all in the touring team. Forwards like Macp her son, Howie, Ross, Henderson, Hendrie and Davies would get a game for any of the Home counties. Howie stated" that all the Scottish players were very anxious to meet the All -Blacks, and were just as sorry as the New Zealanders that the Scottish Union had" declined a game. He said that endeavours were still being made to persuade the Scottish Union to alter its decision.

BRITISH FORWARDS

Of the forwards in the British touring team, Cove-Smith, Blakiston, Voyce, Clinch, and Howie are dashing players. The first three usually take the break-away position, i.e., the sides in the back row of the 3-2-3 scrum. They act much the same as the usual New Zealand wing-forward. Their heads go down in the scrum, it is true, but these players use no weight, and are up as soon as possible. They often break away too soon and get offside. When their own side hooks the hqll they act as passive protectors of their scrum half by obstructing the opposing forwards, just as the New Zealand wing-forward is often accused of doing. Their play may best he likened to that of the Brownlie brothers as hreak-aways for the All Blacks. Cove-Smith is a real hard worker, and is always on the go. He is sure to be in the English fifteen on January 3 at Twickenham. Voyce is a really fast forward and a fair place-kick. Blakiston is very fast, but has been frequently* accused of adopting foul tactics. He was penalised a good deal in the second test for unnecessarily tackling an opponent. In Clinch Brand, Bradley, and McVieker, Ireland has representatives well able to maintain their country’s record as the home of hard-working dashing forwards. Six of the remaining forwards are Scottish internationals. They are by no means the weakest forwards jn the team. Henderson, although a Scottish international, has previously played in the English trials, and regularly plays for Northumberland. Dr. Roche represented Ireland in 1920, but now plays for the Newport Club. MaredcnJories. a Welsh international in 19 !> 1, now plays for London Welsh, and the All Blaekq will probablv meet him playing for Ixmdon Counties. WHEELING THE SCRUM. A special phase of the British scrummage tactics, and one that is

causing a great deal of comment in South Africa-, is a wheeling movement. As the ball is about to be thrown in the British serum wheels so as to close th© side opposite to that in which. the ball is being placed. The idea is that the ball, on being thrown in at the outset in a straight line through the scrum, will strike the feet of the middle man in the front row, and so assist him to obtain possession. The only way to counteract this movement is to throw the ball in ■- so that it travels along a straight line between the packs after the wheeling motion has taken place. That means, to throw it in, reckoning on the scrum wheeling round. If the New Zealand backs can get the ball from the scrum, they should he able to account for the opposing sides. The British tourists have been continuously beaten by the South Africans in the scrums, and if the All Black hookers have practised thoroughly they should prove to be superior to their opponents.

. THE ALL BLACKS.

i THE GLOUCESTER MATCH. I —< FURTHER COMMENT. i It is a striking fact, but one. which ! is always expected in a sporting com- 1 munity, that all the papers and the I public of the district in which the i team are playing, unite in giving the s most generous tribute to' the visiting 1 team. They naturally -would like their i men lo win, but they do not hesitate. : to accLiim the good form and the ’ superior standard of play of their op- < ponents. The local bias is shown in the first < part of the following report, and the ; generous tribute of appreciation in the 1 final portion. The Gloucester Citizen * says: Members of the crowd quickly i formed the opinion that the 1924 team < was not the equal of the great team i that was over her© in 1905. The crowd, ' too. were keen to mark fancied in- : fringenients which did not meet the referee’s eye, and th© practice of one 1 of •'the New Zealand halves in audibly shouting “Off-side!” at occasions when the scrum led to the remark being made, “This ain’t a cricket ] match!” Gloucestershire were holding their opponents well, thanks mainly to " the dour efforts of the forwards, and .the cheering, was terrific at times. A ' kick by Pickles which forced Nenia to touch down with Spoors close behind him raised the crowd to fever heat. The home team men were making a gallant fight for supremacy, but try as they would they were never for long in their opponents’ half. The ground was heavy and muddy, and although drenching rain fell just before the start, 12,000 spectators saw the match ! right through. The last five minutes or so were fought out in a downpour of rain, but heedless of this, and encouraged by the shouts of the thousands of spectators to “Keep it up!” Gloucester battled gamely on. It was to no purpose. .and just before the end came New Zealand got their second try. The cheers at the end were equally hearty for victors and vanquished, "but the thought was freely expressed that the New Zealanders will not keep their unbeaten record as long as did the ear- ' lier team from that country. It was a great struggle in the mud, and Gloucestershire’s splendid fight in the second half roused the spectators ■ to a high pitch of excitement. That the All Blacks -were the cleverer set in football finesse, speed, and combination admits of no question, but the County deserve ali praise for the grand defence they set up. Every fine bit of play—and despite the conditions there -were many exhilarating incidents —was impartially applauded by the crowd; but they quickly marked their disapproval of a"little incident* amongst the forwards, and there were loud cries of “Play the game!” as the referee spoke to the men concerned. The paper notes that Gloucester County were champions for three successive seasons—l9l9-20, 1920-21, and 1921-22. and asks would Gloucester be added to the defeated list? Rickards, the Cardiff player, who was one of the forwards in the Gloucester team—playing under a birth qualification—was a Welsh international last year. • The Gloucestershire committee considered the question of playing eight .1 forwards, but it was decided to adhere to the five-eighthg formation. Evidently play was very willing, for Donald was spoken to by the referee for a heavy tackle of Shaw. FORMER MATCHES. It is interesting to recall that Gloucester has played with five previous overseas teams. These are as follow: Gloucestershire v. Maoris, played at the Spa on February 2, 1889, and won by the Maoris by I goal 1 try to 1 try. Gloucester v. New Zealand, played at Kingsholm on October 19, 1905, and won by New Zealand by 7 goals 3 tries * (44 points) to nil. It will be noted that the men of ; 1905 played the city team, not the shire team. This may to some extent explain the very large score as compared with other visits of overseas teams. South Africa in 1906 beat them 24 to nil, and Australia 16 to ml. In 1912 South Africa defeated them by 11 to nil. “The Mascot,” in the Bath Herald, • says: The tourists found Somerset by s far their hardest proposition to date on Saturday at Weston, and the 10,000 i or 12,000' spectators saw one of the ■ grimmest of struggles. The honours [ of the day must be given to Somer- ; set’s glorious pack of forwards, who ; surprised even their best friends by 1 their display. It -was no game for l weaklings! From start to finish the i players went at it for all they were l worth. Not until a quarter of an hour i from the end could anyone be at all • certain that Somerset would lose. It :■ was. I think, just a little bit pf extra - stamina on the part of our visitors i which brought them the victory. The - wretched conditions prevailing preventi ed any spectacular movements, but , credit must be given to the men from ? down under for the many attempts 3 they made to open out. The bunching rushes of the All Black s forwards in the last quarter of an hour ? were a revelation,, and packs her© at i home should try to develop the same - game. Closely locked together the - seven would come through with the r hall in a solid mass. These methods ? (won them the match. The first try r was a near thing. Cooke, Who j"s - a very elusive young gentleman and . will eet a lot of tries over here, just ? got the touch a fraction of a second - before Thomson. eThese attempts to score, however, were unsuccessful—the Somerset backs tackled splendidly. Quick, Considine, and Thomson in particular, and the h visitors in the final stages of the game s changed their tactics and so just won.

Before this change there were hopes even of a Somerset victory. Leading critics are loud in their praise of the fine performance of the Somerset forwards.

“Astral” in the Daily News says: Somerset forwards magnificently upheld the county traditions- They revelled in the fray. The harder thp New Zealanders fought, the harder the Somerset pack returned the compliment. In the loose they were grand, and they . got the ball more often in the scrums than their rivals, but it was the quagmire pitch which enabled them to run their opponents so cl-osely. . • The tackling was fierce on both sides, and there were more stoppages on behalf of the visitors than Somerset, whose fierce, unceremonious worli in the loose must have been quite after the heart of the. tourists. Somerset were one of the teams who played the 3-2-3 combination in the scrum. That would account to some extent for their capital showing. Most of the English papers just received which give details of the early matches put in our wing forward as a half-back, showing that our team is playing two, as do the English teams. This is perhaps a. good thing, because it tends to get away from the old prejudice against that spoiling player. COMING MATCHES. Oxford University is tipped—and on last year’s indications deservedly soas one of the strongest propositions facing the team. _ Last year their threequarters formed the Scottish international line. This year, playing last week, they just beat Leicester 11 to 10, whi{e New Zealand beat that team by a margin of 27 to nil. This is not by any means a reliable guide, but naturally gives an indication of a strong probability of a win for our boys. Especially is this so when one realises that they are playing themselves inore and more into their best form- They will meet the ’Varsity team on Thursday, November 20. If on© could base results on such comparisons, New Zealand should have an easy won over Llanelly, for the latter put up only 14 points against Swansea, whereas the All Blacks ratted on 39 to 3. They should have a difficult proposition in Cardiff, for the respective results against Gloucester were 6 to nil and 19 to nil. But these results are no . guide, and we expect New Zealand to beat Cardiff as we hope they will beat Wales. ' RETURN TRIP.

The suggestion that the team come through Canada, and play matches at Vancouver recalls a message sent through in 1905 that the Government ” the day had agreed to pay the extra expenses of. the team for bringing them home by that route.

ON THE PLAYTNG FIELDS. During the next few mouths the pride of the Homeland’s Rugby exponents will compete with the virile young players from New Zealand while the eyes of the cricket world will be focussed on Australia where the English Knights of the Willow will strive to recover “The Ashes” of cricket The Daily Mail, in a recently cabled comment on the prowess of the All Blacks, ventured the propheev that “it. will take a, powerful team to lower the All Blacks’ colours.” Within the last week or two the English critics have modified their earlier tendency to magnify the weaknesses of the team’s play. This is not surprising, since the decisive victories week after week'have confounded the critics and indicated that the team, is getting into its stride.-—Tjmaru Herald.

HERE AND THERE.

The British Rugby tgam has concluded its tour of' South Africa. Tt played 20 matches, won 9, lost 9 and drew 2; points for 177, against 155. fhe Army team of 1919 played 15 matches in South Africa, won 11, lost 3, and drew 1; points for 170, against 69.

There was considerable criticism of the .play of the Brjtish Rugby football team in South Africa, and some newspapers suggest that the team has been “wined and dined” too much. “It is only the ghost, of the side that landed a month ago,” said the Cane Times. “The team deserves to be beaten.” The sequel to comments of this kind was that the manger of the British team declined to allow the players to attend a great hall arranged in their honour a.t Pietermaritzburg. One telegram reported six players incapacitated by accident or illness.

The “Big Clash” of the South Seas book place recently between Fiji and Samoa at the unearthly hour of 7 a.m. The game resulted in a win for Fiji by six to nil. their forwards being the dominating factor. There were several good individual runs bv the backs, and the kicking was quite good in spite of the hare feet of some of the players. The many defeats of the British Rugby team in South Africa should not be taken too seriously (writes a London correspondent to "the Sydney Bulletin). The side in no way repre-1 sents the strength of Rugby here, and those who are counting on its poor record as any soi*t of collateral guide to what is likely to happen when the Ail Blacks meet England are making a big mistake. Wakefield, one of the best forwards in the world, Jacob and' Catcheskle, the English wing©, Locke and Corbett, the centres, and Myers, the. five-eighth, were unable to go. to Africa. In all probability England will be strengthened this year by the return to the game of Lieutenant C. A. Kershaw, R!.N.. who “retired” a year ago, but who has just received a shore * appointment and is eager to. “bog in” once again. I would have one other player on the English side were I a (selector, namelv. Dr. R. L. Raymond, of Sydney. “Pup” is the best wing three-quarter in British Rugby to-day. The All Blacks have the highest opinion of him. And yet he has only an even money chance of getting his Blue for Oxford. The cliqueism among the gentry who rule the roost down there has to be experienced to be believed. I .know sometiling of it; ..-o do Tommy Lawton, young Gordon Wescbe (who was treated disgracefully last year) and other Australian Rimby men.

If fsays a Home paper), thanks to the visit of the New Zealand team, the seven forwards and five-eighths formation is adopted. Rugby football will undoubtedly benefit greatly. And if English clubs will only take another leaf out of the visitors’ hook, and, iuetead of putting the smallest man they can find at half-hack—the most important and hardest-worked position in the field —will put big. strong men—such as Roberts and Gallagher were — why. then we shall owe the Colonial team a debt of gratitude which will more than take the sting out of our defeats at their hands.

It is not astonishing that everyone finds a “double” sooner or later/ but

it is rather remarkable that two., uf our All Blacks have men opposing them in English- teams who are said to be ridiculously like them. Richardson, it is said, looks amazingly like Tommy Voyc-e, of Gloucester —indeed, it is a, speaking likeness. W. Luc-as' a. youngster from Auckland, is the very alter ego of Considinq, the Bath player, even to his funny little upturned nose. Lucas is a brilliant wing “three,” very fast and an elusive ride-stepper. CORNISH BENEFACTOR OF NEW ZEALAND. Writing to the Western Morning News and Mercury. Tom Miners '.says: When the New Zealand team visit Camborne they will be playing on ground which is only a stone's throw of the village of Penponds. Penoonds has few* clairps to fame; it can, however, boast of the Trevithick Cottage, where Richard Trevithick once lived, and that it is the birthplace of Mr. James Trounson, whose princely gifts to the people of New Zealand made it possible for them to own the great national reserve of forest land whirih is known as the Trounson Kauri Park.