WITH ORIGINAL ALL BLACKS IN 1905

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 4 May 1935, Page 13

WITH ORIGINAL ALL BLACKS IN 1905

Brief Summary of the Tour which made Dominion Famous PHENOMENAL SCORING SIDE DEVON BEATEN BY FORTY POINTS (Written by “Poster.”) '"THE year 1935 marks an important epoch in the history of 1 New Zealand Rugby, for this year a team of All Blacks will make the journey to England to try conclusions with the Counties and the Mother Country at the game which made this Domini/i famous on the field of sport. There may be pessimists in our midst who will say that the team which leaves our shores *will be well and truly beaten by the best English counties, but there are not many who will not wish the tourists well, and who will not entertain a hope in their heai'ts that the 1935 All Blacks will live up to the reputation set by their predecessors of 1905 and 1924. This will be the third occasion on which an All Black team has made the English tour, and what a record! Only one defeat, and that by the barest of margins, a defeat which has been twice wiped out since, once by the New Zealand Army team in 1919 and again by the All Blacks in 1924. Everyone who knows anything of Rugby will know the match referred to. Many controversies have arfcen in recent years as to which was the better All Black team—the 1905 or 1924. The _ argument is equally as ridiculous as the controversy on the air last year as to which was the best team of all time which could have been found in New Zealand. There are a hundred and one rules of logic against such a controversy, but the resultt is always the same—a heated argument and strained relationships between otherwise good friends. When, records are brought to bear on the question, the fact that one team scored more points than another is used as heavy artillery, but the fact that the opposition may have (and probably was) vastly different in one case is apt to be conveniently overlooked. However, it is not proposed to start a controversy on that subject in these columns, but merely to recall some of the incidents of the 1905 tour. It is not intendedjto make comparisons insofar as the merits of each team is concerned.