RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 8 November 1924, Page 9

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

IGNORED CLUBS

CRITICISM OF FIXTURE LIST,

There is a general feeling among hnghsh Rugby men that the Ruo-by bmon have made a mistake in alTottmg practically all the fixtures with the New Zealanders to the counties and not to the clubs (says a writer in the London Daily Chronicle.) This of course, does not refer to the matches in Wales.

.Oxford, Cambridge and Leicester are the only English club* to play the New Zealanders single-handed. Powerful clubs such as the Harlequins, Bristol, Birkenhead Park—to name only a few—are not being given an opportunity of pitting their strength against the tourists.

Yet everyone knows that any one of these teams could beat, certainly not all, but - a great many of the counties who will be called upon to meet the All Blacks in the next few weeks.

Combination, a thorough knowledge of each other’s play, is all important in Rugbv football. One finds it in the leading club sides, but, with the exception of half a dozen, not in the counties.

However, there it is, md we must make the best of matters. TOG EARLY TO START.

On another occasion also it would be as well if teams from the Dominions were not invited to arrive here so early in the season. A month later —that is, October—would, make a big difference, as it would give our sides more opportunities of getting together. T see it has been suggested that the England v. New Zealand match should be played at Wembley or Stamford Bridge instead of at Twickenham. At

once let me say that such suggestions are futile. 1:.

The Twickenham ground has been enlarged, and the Rugby Union have not the slightest intention of going anywhere else. The affiliated clubs will be given first choice in the matter of reserved seats, this being the resolution that was passed at the last annual meeting. So if the general body of the public are unable to obtain seats for the match they must blame the players themselves, and not the committee A note from C. A. Kershaw informs me that he is now looking after the Rugger at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, and hopes to play regularly. In view of the two London v New Zealand matches, this is indeed good news. And as A. T. Young apparently lost his form in South Africa., Kershaw’s services may well be lequired again for England. THE BRITISH TEAM IN SOUTH AFRICA. UNPLEASANT .INCIDENTS IN THE FINAL TEST. The British team which • recently toured South Africa incurred sharp criticism for the. play of some of its members in the fourth test, which it lost by 16 points to 9. “J.N.1.,” who wrote, the report of the match in the Cape Times, says:— “There was a period in the second half of the test match at Newlands when Britain looked as though she might save the game. I would have been extremely sorry had this happened, and so would all fair lovers of sport. In the 'worst of us there is always a fear that unless we play the game in life misfortune at some time or another will come into our lives, and so in sport, we have a certain feeling within us that if we play fair, no. matter wliat the other team may do, no matter how it may take advantage, reward will follow. Had Britain played well enough to win on Saturday I should, have felt that, after all, fair play in sport does not bring its just reward, and, further, one would'have been inclined to become a disciple of the principle th.lt honesty after all is not the best policy..

“Had Britain managed to win on Saturday I should almost have become one of those, persons who assert that it is best to be in with the devil than out.

“Had South Africa not played half as well she would still have deserved to triumph, not entirely because of her superiority in the art of playing Rugby, but because certain Britons—and 1 am sorry to have to say it — seemed to forget that fair and honest tactics are a virtue in all games. lam sorry to have to put it down in Black and white, that there were players in the ranks of our guests whoi seemed to be of tlie opinion that fisticuffs and dangeroiis hacking are part of the game of Rugby. “In professional football, both Soccer and Northern Union, men have been ordered off the field for inuch less than what certain British forwards included in their repertoire of supposed supporting Rugby, In the amateur handling code we look to those who play it to give and take hard knocks—not to retaliate with fists. And this is what certain of the Britishers were guilty of. Now, as one who. has heard professional Rugby in England described as a travesty of true sport and not a game for . gentlemen, certain incidents in Saturday’s game, in which two or three Britishers were implicated.. would not have been tolerated in professionalism. The offenders would have had to march! No. referee would have dared to overlook such unpleasant incidents as we saw at Newlands. It was a pity that at an international match the-onlook-ers should have shown their disapproval of certain unsportsmanlike, methods by ‘booing’ one of our guests, but people who attend football matches are but human —and I cannot say, being human myself and liable to voice my feelings, that the outburst, .was not- justified. Blood is thicker than water, and I cannot help it; I am sentimentally British —but after what I saw' at Newlands 1 should have been a poo:r sportsman had I wanted Britain to triumoh. I prefer to side with good sportsmanship—that is why I am delighted to write of South Africa’s fine and deserving victory.”

FOOTBALL

“WHAT ABOUT IT?”

THE QUEST OF 1923

The Manchester Guardian, in an editorial article of September. 19, says:— The advantage of being beaten is that you cannot but cherish the pleasurable anticipation of winning the next time. Fcir some time now the Dominions have generously given up the opportunity in almost all our chosen sports. They have invited us, at lawn tennis, to find the . equal of theii Brookes and Patterson : in cricket, their telegrams from Australia have been announcing drily that “Gregory will be all right for the coining cricket season” ; while a second All Black team has come from New Zealand, to our great satisfaction, to find out what about it on the Rugby football field The original All Blacks went through us as a sickle goes through corn. They gave us another inkling—we had had some before and have had many since—of the astonishing degree to which the life of the Dominions had sharpened the wits and perfected the physical fitness of their inhabitants. Properly regarded, the victories of the Dominions in half a dozen great offensives not merely raised the question whether we happened to be at an ebbtide in our sports, but probed a good deal deeper into the results of such cherished national institutions of ours as the public school system, the factory system, and the black-smoke system under and in which we live. Now we shall have further opportunity of comparing our best Rugby football players with the representatives of a country which, though its population is much smaller, sets out with greater natural advantages. The first result is encouraging; we shall not this time, perhaps, have to repose a last desperate hope on the singing of the Welsh national hymn at Cardiff or at Swansea. There is only on© .reason why we should wish to see the Dominions crushed as Gallagher’s All Blacks crushed ns years ago. When that happened wo should know that in physical fitness at least, and therefore in other ways too, we had begun to build Jerusalem in parts of England which should be but are not yet green and pleasant. THE ALL BLACKS. It is good news that a strong effort is being made to secure one or more matches with Scotland. Whatever the reason for their omission, the international with Beotia, would be one of the most popular of the fixtures. One recalls, the great match of 1905. when Scotland were leading till well after half-time, and then G. W. Smith’ 6 meteoric dash down field ending in a score. Another resulted from a forward rush by McDonald. Smith and Glasgow also scored in the first spell. No trv was converted. Scotland had one of the fastest teams seen plaving for them for over five years, including Bidell Sivright, L. McLeod. K. McLeod. W. P. Scott, Munro, Dr. West and Dr. Kyle. Dr. Tell, of New Zea-

land, was chosen, but would not play against his own countrymen. LADY CRITICS. A noticeable -feature was the large number of ladies who attended the game and discussed the play with a knowledge equal to that of the sterner sex. SOME HISTORY. EARLY IMPRESSIONS. In a special article written for the Ufinstchurch Press at the very beginning of the tour. Colonel Philip Trevor made some very striking forecasts on the possibilities of the team. It is of interest to recall, as he does, his acquaintance with New Zealand, inter alia, he says:—I take a special and ;a personal interest in the Rugby football played by New Zealanders. Towards the close of the Boer War, in 1902, there was an armistice. I was serving at the time in the army operating, in Natal, and Headquarters then were in the little township of Newcastle. There were gathered there some 20.000 mounted infantry, all from New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. “It was discovered that in the New Zealand and Australian Contingents there were roughly .-about two dozen men who were what we call internationals, so a kind of impromptu miniature international match was arranged, and I refereed it. The Australians did well enough, but the New Zealanders, playing superbly, gained a great victory. Their performance was an eye-opener to me, and their sped (which, by the way. is not the same thing as pace) showed me a kind of play I had never seen, and I pondered these things. I stayed on in the Army two years, then I retired, returned home, and resumed my journalistic work.

“When, in the summer of 1905, the great tour of the All Blacks was announced, I wrote in the Press: ‘The New Zealanders are coming, and we shall never isee the way they go.’ My immediate fate was, of course, the usual fate of the prophet in his own country. I was dubbed a visionary; even that terrible word ‘optimist’ (which, by the way, will never have any terrors for me) was gravely fastened on me. ‘Why this guessing?’ people asked. But was I guessing? Was I not merely drawing deductions from first-hand evidence? It, is true that I said nothing in nrint about that match in Natal which I had refereed. But why should I? Well, he laughs longest (or is it loudest?/ who laughs last, and thence onwards had I felt so inclined, but I did not laugh. I merely desired t-o learn, and I begged others in this country to learn, too, in my articles in the Daily Telegraph. “For 19 year 6 since then I. have begged our British Rugby Unionists to profit by the lessons which the New Zealanders of 1905 taught us. and to a great, extent they have done so, though, I would add, progies-s, even though it has been sure, has been slow.”

Dealing with the standard of English football generally, he says :• — “Team work in our best sides—county sts well as dub—has improved out of all knowledge in Great Britain since the famous Alt Blacks came here in 1906. Consequently, in their game at Devonporfc, the present tourists were up against a very much -stifler proposition iii their initial fixture than were their predecessors 19 years *gp.” ■ j He is very insistent that the New Zealand tactics are scrupulously fair, and he goes to the length of saying that there were more offences by the home teams.

“The method of play of the New Zealanders in the three matches T. have seen has been strictly, indeed scrupulously, fair,” he says, “despite what may be regarded as a. certain amount of provocation. Some off-side play by the ’ home forwards went unpenalised in all three games; but I was particularly pleased to note that New Zealand forwards showed no tendency to retaliate in this way. The refereeing in all three games was on the whole distinctly good; but even the beet referees have admitted that it is only human nature to keep the especially keen eye for the more famous side. There is no intentional unfairness in doing so; it is just a case of the human tendency Those who have some experience of refereeing will, I hope, endorse this remark.’ The Full-back. For the moment, I do not propose to speak of the individual merits of any member of the touring side, with the single exception of the full-back. Nepia. Ido not need to wait for further evidence in regard to him. His tackling powers have not yet been really tested, but so far as every other department of full-back play is concerned, I say without reservation of any kind that (unless the form he showed at Devonport and Camborne, and, to a lesser extent, at Weston-super-Mare, was much above his usual form—-and I am authoritatively informed that it was not), he is superior to any English, Scottish, Welsh, or Irish full-back 1 saw last season. General Form.

Tlie team has started very well in all respects. It is sound without being dramatic; it is clever without being showy, following the precedent of the lady’s postscript: “I have kept to the last what I particularly want to Bay.”

Says the London Times after the Devon match: “It is too- early yet to judge the present side, but if not perhaps the equal of their great predecessors, they a.re, nevertheless, very useful. In 1900 English Rugby was not nearly so good as it is now, while no side could be better than that wonderful team. Jt is therefore only reasonable to assume that the present New Zealand side are very useful. They created a very favourable im-' pression in ihe first match. They played hard, but very fairly and always to. the whistle, and no more can he asked. Thev have pace and weight and can handle the ball accurately. Their forwards, however, did not do more than equal the Devon pack, which was not what was expected of them. We must allow them to play again before passing any judgment on them. In vietf of the varied criticism, it is valuable to- compare these two paragraphs as follow: The Morning Post says:— “The All Blacks are a good, sound side in the making • hut if they are not careful they will meet defeat before they have really settled down. Their forwards are 'cunouslv ineffective at the lineout, where Gloucester beat them over and over a "am. Colonel Trevor savs:—“The fir-t match was. onlv a few minutes old when I definitely made up my mind in regard to the potentiality of the New Zealand hack division. _ T wa<= in no doubt whatever about it, and. T said so in the columns of the Daily Telegraph, in simple and direct terms. The necessity of giving all members of the team match practice caused the

New Zealand back division to. be drastically amended in the second match. Yet what I then said only makes me more confident than ever of the at- | tacking strength of New Zealand.’* ALL BLACKS ON TOUR. The - latest English mail to hand goe S _t» prove that the doings of the All Blacks in England are receiving a large of newspaper publicity, and there is no doubt that, apart altogether from the football aspect of the news, the Dominion is receiving a great deal of advertising. Extracts from the various papers regarding the matches played up to the departure of the mail should prove of interest. Already the vice of “odious comparison ’ has been freely exercised and I do not think altogether fairly to the. present “All Blacks” (writes “Austral” in the London Daily News after the All Blacks had played ‘ Devon Cornwall, and Somerset without havl mg a point scored against them), they, have been written down as in-fe-ior to the original side by those who forget liow much better our Rugby football is at- Home than it was 19 years ago. Rfugger is 50 per cent._ faster than it was then, to say nothing of the improvement m subtlety, tactics, and the general science of the game. What wonder then that Porter’s team are finding that their matches are a hard business compared to the picnics which befel the GalMher brigade. It is being urged that the present side, is a fair weather combination just because Devon and Somerset ran them close on terribly wet day®, but tell me a side that does not play better under fine conditions that otherwise. I think the New Zealanders’ form at' Devon,port and Weston-super-Mare was wonderful considering the conditions. Their opponents would probably have beaten any other side on the day. An old plover said to me “Scrumhalf’’ in London Sunday Express) after the New Zen landers’ ‘first match at Devonport : “What a pity a Rugby referee is never allowed to alter his decision. . Mv friend referred to the incident in the Devon match, when the All Blacks’ captain dropped a perfectly good goal, which the referee declined to recognise as Ruch. The referee in question, Mr. R. A. Roberts, of Gloucester, “owned up” gracefully when he was toasted at the banquet which followed the match. He said: “Apparently I made a great blunder in not allowing a drop goal to Mr. Porter. In my opinion he absolutely dropped it, but in my . opinion it did not go over the bar. ‘ I have to give only what I see, not what the public sees. When the Devon man walked out with the ball, and did not attempt to run, I thought I was wrong.” As was the case in 1905, there wa6 some weeping and wailing and prognostications of dire disaster on the eve of the New Zealanders’ departure from their native land (says the Cambria Daily Leader). An original All Black, G. Tyler, even went the length of saying that the present side is the weakest which, has ever represented New Zealand. This was a statement not in the best possible taste, and came especially ill from Tyler, whose ‘inclusion in .the original All Blacks was .'fiercely criticised. However, Tyler must have smiled, a. little when he heard that the present tourists, in their opening match at Plymouth, could win by only 11 points against a county.'team of “nondescripts,” whereas the 1905 combination beat Devon•shi'tfeby,ss -pdints-tb^l

Says the London Daily Chronicle: When the All Blacks visit Oxford in November they will find opposing thorn more than one who is familiar with their style of play. G. G. Aitken. the Rhodes Scholar from. New Zealand, will probably be in the Oxford side. This fine three-quarter, who- was chosen to captain Scotland last season, was awarded his Blue in 1929, hut he was not chosen to plav at Twickenham in 1923. A. C. Wallace, the Oxford Blue and Scotch.ln+ernotional Svdney, was in the New South Wales team which visited New Zealand to plav the All Blacks vn 1921. a.ud A. T. Lawton, who may be available for another season, has also experience of the All Blacks. This Queenslander, at stand-off half, should be a, match for his opponent in that position. .London Evening News:—J. H. Parker, who replaced Porter in the All Blacks’ matches against Cornwall and Somerset, is, like Steel, of the same team, a champion sprinter, having won several amateur championship events in New Zealand. He comes from a sprinting stock —hie father being a noteworthy sprinter in his day and generation. It was Parker pere, too, who trained and coached Hector Burk, the ex-New Zealand amateur champion miler, for his race against Alfred Shrabb, the famous.. English distance champion, who toured New Zealand in 1904 with the famous American sprinter Arthur Duffey. T birk’s defeat of Shmhh, on Lancaster Park, Christchurch, New Zealand, is still memorable in the minds of New Zealand sportsmen. Parker pere’s training and coaching were in a great mea«sn~e responsible fe r the victory, so that Parker, the brilliant sprinter of the All Blacks, has it in his veins. Parker has alreadv scored twice, and his try against Cornwall, wlieu he took n c wift. pass from Svenson, at the All Blacks’ twenty-five, raced like a- deer, through the opposition, outpacing all his opponents, was a par-tir-elnrtv brilliant effort-.

“All On” writes’ as follows to the Bulletin and Scots Pictorial: —lt was with pleasure 1 read vour letter on the opening of the Rugby season, and more especially vour observations regarding Beotlaod’s position with re"ard to the New Zealand All Black visit. If satisfaction is being felt bv the powers that be at having done the “correct” thing in refusing good lads of our own kith and kin a fixture, hy way of getting even with another union for their misdeeds, I cannot from any standpoint see where- the true spirit of sport comes in. Better far for the guidance of our vouth in the Empire —this is an Empire nive«tion as much as any—would he a bigger 1 and more wholesome outlook with a Scottish fixture as a climax and the All Blacks going hack home with a true conception of what sport re-o.liv is in the Mother Country. Admitting difficulties have arisen, J gladly <will a sentiment from your leader to outweigh all if applied properly—“ But magnanimity is bigger than propriety. . . .” Let the big goodness of the Mother Country’s he-art overflow tin cl drown any trivialities which may have arisen through domestic differences, in the way of general's hip-, and extend a welcome to our colonists worthy of Scotland. Although the international Rugby match between New Zealand and England, at Twickenham, will not be nlaved until January 3, 1925, the Daily Express has been inundated with inquiries regarding reserved tickets for the .game. Only a small percentage of the applicants can hope to obtain tickets, as requests for them were received twelve months be-

fore the date of the match was known.

Amongst those who welcomed the All Black team to Weston-super-Mare was Mr. S. C. South, the town clerk, an old Rugby player who was a member of the county team which, met the Maoris in 1888. This particular member of the team was very optimistic about to-day’s chances against Somerset, but, he added with a smile, “Anything can happen to a greasy ball” (wrote the special representative of the Bath Herald who interviewed one of the New Zealanders). He thought that the New Zealand pack could hold the Cidermen, but was doubtful whether under the conditions prevailing the backs would see much of the ball. “We like the open game,' 1 he said, “and it is on a fine day that we would show to the best advantage. Several other members of the New Zealand team were present. They all wear felt hats until black hands, in the front of which is placed the New Zealand emblem, “Fir Leas.” Their players are black and white. They all appear to be very big men, with an average weight of . about 13st,. and they are extraordinarily tall. —(“Fir Leas” appears a father wonderful interpretation of “fern leaf.”) The All Blacks Rugby team visited Bristol and spent eome time at the cocoa and chocolate works of J. S. Fry and Sons (Ltd..). They were shown round the manufacturing side of the works, and were afterwards entertained to lunch on the invitation of the firm at their athletic ground. On their departure each of the 50 guests was given a chocolate Rugby football as a souvenir, together with a box of chocolates.

The All Blacks have- made their bow, but they have not created the impression expected (writes “Playfair” in the Birmingham Gazette and Express)., But let me be understood. They follow a great side, and I believe they will train on into a very useful team indeed, with far more victories than defeats to their credit, for they are keen, young, and capable. . . . English Rugby twenty years ago and English Rugby nowadays is almost as far apart as the poles. We have profited from the lessons learnt so bitterly. That t-our of 1). Gallaher and his men did an incalculable amount of good to- our game, for it taught us the absolute necessity of using our brains.

Percy Rfudd. in the Sporting Chronicle: If the New Zealanders were not altogether convincing in the opening ma.tcli of their tour against Devon, there was no mistaking their superiority over Cornwall. How much this was due to the poorness of the opposition it is difficult to say. The forwards, reinforced by Irvine" got the ball out of the scrum more often than not, and though they threw away a lot of chances in the loose they were very hard to stpp. Cooke, who stood out so prominently in the first game, was again the star of the back division. , . . All round, the New Zealand backs were fast and clever, and their handling and running was extraordinarily well done. Nepia was again a splendid full-back, strong, 6ure, and absolutely fearless.

The most interested and interesting spectator at the Somerset and New Zealand match at Weston (says the South Wales Post) will be Dr. “Teddie” Morgan, who scored the memorable try against Gallaher's All Blacks m 1905.

The tourists found Somerset by far their- hardest -prupbsitioti rtb 'date on Saturday at Weston, and the 10,000 or 12,000 spectators saw one of the grimmest of struggles (says the Bath Herald). The honours of the day must be given to Somerset’s glorious pack of forwards, who surprised even their best friends by their display. It was no game for weaklings! From start to finish the players went’ at it Tor all they were worth. Not until a quarter of an hour from, the end could anyone be at all certain that Somerset would lose. It was, I think, just a. little bit of extra stamina on the part of our visitors which brought them the victory. The wretched con T ditions prevailing prevented any spectacular movements, but credit must be coven to the men, from down under for the many attempts they made to open out.

The New Zealanders themselves are strangely perplexed at their form to date (wrote G. A. Faulkner in the Westminster Gazette after the firstthree matches by .the All Blacks). Before the team left New Zealand everyone was convinced that the forwards would startle enthusiasts in this country and that their backs would not show. up to . very great advantage. They cannot understand why the state of affaire should have been reversed, as has been the case in their last three games, although one feels that had they .seen the game in England last season they would have realised, as many of here did, that forward play in Great Britain at the moment is infinitely superior to that of the backs—with the exception, that is, of the English International side.

In the open the New Zealand forwards are every whit as good as they believed themselves to be. They are fast, handle well, and use their feet brilliantly. Their magnificent physique enables them to hustle their opponents, and they are also in such good fettle that they take a heap Of stopping in the closing stages of a match. But they -are sadly disappointing in getting the ball in the scrums, and unless they make a speedy improvement in this connection they are likely to receive an awakening in the near future.

In less than a week we, shall have the pleasure of welcoming the New Zealanders in South Wales (writes “Old Stager’’ in the South Wales Daily News of September 20). Their achievements up to the present are scarcely comparable with those of their ' famous predecessors of 1905, hut, even so, none j of the critics has yet been been bold enough to express the view that they suffer in comparison with the 1905 combination. The generally accepted explanation as to why they collected a mere bagatelle of 40 points from Devonshire and Cornwall, while their predecessors aggregated 90, points in the corresponding games, is that the. disparity is to be attributed to the improvement which has been manifest in Rugby in England during the last couple of decades. Welsh football, on the other hand, is generally 'beli-dved to- be at a lower ebb than it was 20 years ago, and as the New Zealqnders are known to be particularly anxious' about their games in Wales —thov want to recoup whatever prestige the 1905 side might have lost through being robbed of invincibility 'bv Wales—the probabilities seem to be in favour of the tourists succeeding against each of the four Welsh clubs, and against Wales as well. But Welshman never do better then when their backs are to the wall \

Though they have already defeated a rather Devon side, and routed the Cornish wooden-spooners of the West, those who saw the New

(Continued on next page.)

Zealanders in both games are disposed to think them not quite so All Black as they have been painted (says the Sussex Daily News). They are a hefty, lively lot, with' a sound Rugger sense, but lack the combined individual brilliance and team genius of their forbears. Tlheir sportsmanship was shown against Devon, when the referee failed to see a dropped goal, and the All Blanks played to the whistle without a murmur of appeal. But some of their big ecrum men have vigorous ways of arranging head alignment.

GRUDGING APPRECIATION. Judging from the British comment, the All Blacks have every fault and have made every mistake it is possible for a team to have and to make, and yet they persist in winning their matches. After the first two matches a London critic remarked on the pace and accuracy of their, passing, but added that “on the whole speed and strength were more apparent than brans.'’ Following this came the conclusion on the Gloucester and Somerset games that the All. Blacks are merely fair weather players, unable to adapt themselves to wet day conditions. Then it was found that their passing Was wild and inaccurate, and their scrumming ineffective. This carried the critics through to the Midlands games, after which the chorus took a different note of admission of the quality of the team, hut still with a grudging tone about the admission. ! With the winning of the first international the All Blgcks have apparently captured the critics, hut even at that there remains the qualification that “England could have done better against Ireland.”, Which does not mean, as there may be occasion to expltin later, that England will do better than Ireland against the All Blacks—there must be a loophole for Sir 7 Oracle. At the same time it has to he admitted that the critics are faced with the difficult position of reviewing a style of Rugby which is new to them in many aspects, and which so far has been winning in ways not quite obvious to those who have not ■consummate knowledge of Rugby tactics. It is also probable that the New Zealanders themselves are not assisting the critics to understand their games. An All Black with the team has written home as follows: “The newspaper men are much in evidence when the party moves about, and the subsequent reading of the report gives us a lot of fun. The reporters ask leading questions, and the answers they get are right up to the standard of the oldtime war yarns of boomerang groves and shark preserves. It’s a wonder they don’t grow the longer leg, the pulling being rack-like. I always sheer off to prevent myself shrieking out in inane laughter and putting the show away. I hope to he able to send you some ‘meat’ about the games later. Football reports—what little I’ve read of them ■ here—seem arklike in their stodginess and lack of knowledge of whfld is worth noting in a football match.” “THE WINNING ATMOSPHERE.” Naturally British critics desire to have the pleasure of writing a panegyric on a British win. The statement that it is possible to “rattle” the AH Blacks and to beat them by Worrying,- hefty forwards and skilful hacks is childish. In other words, the suggestion is that they can be beaten by a better team. Even New Zealanders are willing to concede that, and a few of them are willing to nominate the better team—in New Zealand. r From the account of the Irish match the greens did not “rattle” the Blacks, and the significant feature of the game to New Zealanders is that the All Blacks played all the time against the wind and then won. Apparently the idea of the critics is to adopt the American plan of creating a “winning atmosphere” about the England team, lest they should get “rattled” before the. actual game by the possibility of their being faced by- the All Blacks backed by an appalling record of" successes. "In this campaign the All Blacks will be faced by reminders of how Wales in 1905 stopped the invincible progress of the originals, and . of the fact that England has never been beaten at Twickenham. It is a ■pity that the All Blacks are not playing England and Wales this month. For it is claimed by New Zealanders that their champinons are up against military tactics rather than Rugby tactics—a policy of attrition of the powers of the All Blacks by 27 previous games, and then a final effort by England, as the strongest of them all. The argument her© is that the 1905 All Blacks were beaten not by Wales alone, but by Wales and 27 previous matches—with a few incidental remarks about a disouted try. In England it is hoped that history will repeat itself, and then we may hear all the good things which have been kept m reserve about the All Blacks.