AMONG THE PLAYERS

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 17 June 1935, Page 3

AMONG THE PLAYERS

PREDOMINANCE OF YOUTH TEAM WILL UPHOLD TRADITION DIFFICULT TASK COMPLETED. Tho selection of the. All Blacks to tour Groat Britain completes one of the most difficult tasks in tho Rugby world in Now Zealand. Taranaki's only hope of potting a representative into: the team was in the forwards, and with so many outstanding players available this was the hardest job to do. Clarke, Fastier and Harrison, who were given trials are all good players and would have done well on the tour, but it is evident that there were better forwards offering l'or the positions the Taranaki trio eoukl have tilled. Incidentally this is the first All Black side to. tour Great Britain which has nut included a Taranaki representative. SELECTORS’ LONG SESSION.

The members of the selection committee returned to the city when the final trial match at Athletic Park finished on Saturday to consider and review the form and to select the nineteen additional players. I hey commenced their deliberations at 5.30 p.m. and then all tjie candidates for inclusion in the 1935 All Black team, with the exception of the ten certainties, settled down to await tile verdict. It was nearly 11 o’clock before the selection committee had completed its task. A meeting of the management committee ot the New Zealand Rugby, Union was then called and at 11.5 p.m. Air S. S. Dean, the chairman, announced the fate of the players who remained in tho running. Mr Dean, alter making the announcement, offered his congratulations to the selected players whom he expected worthily to uphold tho best traditions of New Zealand Rugby on the playing fields of England. “Those who have "not been selected will naturally be disappointed,” said Air Dean, “but they have my host, wishes in their future Rugby careers.” In making their choice of players the selectors have given preference to youth in the main. ’The youngest members of the team are B. S. Sadler and J. G. AVynyard, a, back and forward respectively. ’.I lie oldest back is C. .T. Oliver, who is 29 years of age, while the oldest forward is H. F. McLean. The average age of the hacks is 2-1 vea.rs anc l one month, while the forwards average 23 years and 8 months. The whole party has an average age of just under 24 years. Tho average weight of the backs is list. 31b., and the forwards 13st. 131 b., while the average weight of the team runs round ] 2st. lllb. THE FULL-BACK.

There was little to choose between any of the lull-hacks on the form shown in the trial matches. The selection of Gilbert came as a surprise to many who thought Bush would have won recognition. Gilbert played a fine game in tbo North-South txial at Auckland last year and was responsible for a perfect game at Nelson in the group trial. Busii had his chance on Saturday, but he could not be described as a better full-back tiian the |man selected. If Gilbert improves during the tour as ho should lie should serve the team well. In the past two years, however, he has shown no latent brilliance. It might bo expected that the selected three-quarters might easily develop into a useful combination, but the host trio would hardly be dc-scr'.oed as being equal to a line comprising A. [farlT, F. Lucas and J. Steel, of 1924. I-lowcver, New Zealand combinations have never been highly assessed prior (o overseas tours, and have always returned with reputations for brilliance. Hart, Ball, Oliver and Caughey already have had All Black experience, while Mitchell and Brown should develop. Mitchell has an added qualification in being able to play as centre, wing, or full-back. .As far as the five-eighths arc concerned Pago represented New Zealand in 1931-32-34 and has shown excellent form in tho trials, while Griffiths first won an All Black jersey in Australia last year. Griffiths should develop on the tour as he has youth and ability. D. Solomon improved as the trials progressed. He was given, every opportunity to make good, and his very line defence no doubt was responsible for his selection. Solomon, is the second member of his family to win an All Black jersey. His brother, Frank, rei presented New Zealand in 1931 and 1932. ' The inclusion of Eric Tindill, who grasped his opportunity when given a trial as first five-eighth and played his * way into the All Black team at the eleventh .hour is one of the pleasing inclusions. Tindill. was emergency m Wanganui, and played centre in.the last fifteen minutes of tho game. lie was half-back at Palmerston North, and in the last fifteen minutes of the New Zealand Possibles anil Probables game on Thursday he relieved Langdon and immediately altered the trend or the game. The selection committee was so impressed with Tindill that he was played opposite Page on Saturday, and his initiative, clever kicking, line passing and powerful defence were high class. Sadler justified his inclusion on the form lie showed in his two trials and lie should develop into a brilliant hallback during the tour. Corner may be accounted fortunate to bo given prclerei'.co over Kilby, but it cannot bo gainsaid that "lie showed more initiative during the play in the last trial. Tho feature of the forward selection ■is that specialist loose forwards have ■not been chosen and all justify their •inclusion. Tho pack comprises three I hookers, three front-row flank men, four locks and six flank forwards. Presumably Ale Lean and Manchester will lie the actual loose forwards during the tour. The forwards ns a whole are a youthful and virile lot who .should play great football in Great I Britain, while the most pleasing featlure is the fact that eleven of tho. sixUon will ho no older than 26 yonrs in 1937 when tffo Springboks make their j second invasion ol Now Zealand. I Collins, McKenzie, Ricid and Best in the lock positions are the heavyweights of the pack, Adkins in the front row, and Manchester, Wynyarcl

mil Mahoney among tho llank men. I’Jie team a* placed in the held should jo excellently served in line-outs by all men like AVynyard. Mahoney, 31cLean Manchester, Collins, King and itoid, 5 all of whom are six feet two nches or over. Outside the front row .here is not a forward under six feet in height, whereas the 1924 “Invin;ibles” ]iad three forwards other than lookers who were below six feet in height. Collins, AVynyard and Ileid worn iso to develop into forwai’ds who ,vill rank with the best New Zealand las produced.

COMMENTS ON THE, SELECTION

That the inside backs " arc better t]um is generally supposed, and that Ihe omission of Bush is a surprise, are chief comments upon the selection by the “New Zealand Herald,” which also considers that the) team includes a very fine pack of forwards. “Undoubtedly the selectors had a very hard task,” adds the “Herald.” “hut it is surprising that they should have taken only one full-back. An additional back should also have l>e.en chosen.”

The test side will be as strong as any New Zealand has over put on the field, states the Christchurch “Press,” which at the same time gives the opinion t'Jiat the preponderance of North Island players; does not seem to b;> justified. Among the surprises, also, it adds, is the apparent determination to use only the loose, tall, heavy, ranging type of forward; the backs are promising and should develop, just as the 1921 backs did, into a groat scoring combination.