Against Heavy Weather

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIV, Issue 277, 3 November 1924, Page 5

Against Heavy Weather

All Blacks Win First Test IRELAND'S STRONG OPPOSITION. A MAGNIFICENT EXHIBITION. PARKER OUTSTANDING PLAYER. Hx Oabie—<eeoci*tion- Onpyriffb London, Nov. 1. The All Blacks played their first International match against Ireland at Dublin to-day and alter a well-con-tested game emerged victorious by six points to nil. THE CONQUERORS. The New Zealand team wa s composedof; Full-back: Nepia. Three-quarters: Hart. Lucas. Svenson. Five-eighths: Cooke Nicholls TTaTF: Dailey. Wing-forward: Parker. Front row: Irvine. Donald. Middle row: M. Brownlie Masters Cuppies. Back row: Richardson, White. Pleurisy prevented the inclusion of Stewart. THE VANQUISHED. Full-back: Crawford. Three-quarters: H. Stephenson, G Stephenson. Gardiner. Five-eighths: T, Hewitt F. Hewitt. Halves: McDowell R. Collopy. Forwards: Crichton Collis, McLalland. McVicker. Spain. Clinch, Brand. 26,000 SPECTATORS. Intense interest was taken in the first. appearance of the famous Dominion players, whose chances wer p strongTy favoured, and even before th p da v it was known a huge crowd was assured. This expectation was fully borne out. as the attendance numbered 26.000. The spectators cave an enthusiastic welcome to the visitors when they filed on to the groundALL BLACKS FfGHT AGAINST WIND. New Zealand lost the toss and kicked off against a strong wind. It wa* early seen that Ireland had put in th< field a heavy, well-balanced team in excellent condition. They stood '■ boldly io their formidable opponent* and It was not surprising, with th reputation the Irish forwards have gained in th© last two or three years, that they made a most creditable figh! of it. THE FIRST THRILL. The first incident of note was a brilliant rush by the All Black forwards which ended in Parker putting in a well judged cross kick. Hart gathered it ii his stride and a thrill went through th< crowd as he dashed for the line. Th< full-back. Crawford, however, was equal to the occasion, however, and g< ‘ there in time t 0 hold up th© Taranak winger by inches only. With a firn kick up the side line Clinch removed the ball out of danger. , i IRISHMEN HOLD THEIR OWN. A series of scrums and line-outs followed. in which Ireland ably held it- ■ own. showing equally good form with the New Zealanders but their backs’ attempts at passing were entirely nulli fied by the All Blacks’ terrific tackling . which, indeed, was the most strikii feature of th© opening stages. Thox have greatly improved in this branch i of the game, which at one time was p decided weakness in their play. Theii keenness led them into somo infractions f the rules and tho majority of penalties awarded were against them From one of these Crawford, who wa> i kicking splendidly narrowly missed th- i goal. ’ ’ 1 HART JUST MISSES AGAIN. ' Helped very much bv the wind, the j Irishmen were able to keep the game ( in .their adversaries’ territory for quite a long time until a fine passing rush. | in which the ball passed through lh- ’ hands of Nicholls. Cooke and Lucas. , almost enabled Hart to score. Deter t mined collaring just stopped him < time. ’ BOTH FORWARDS PLAY WELL. [ Both sets of forwards were playing a 1 magnificent game, and giving a dashing 1 exhibition. The Irishmen displayed re- ) markable aptitude for smothering the * All Blacks’ passing from the base of ! the scrum and so clipped off th© at- * tempts of the backs to get going. Both 1 teams, in fact, resorted to spoiling . methods, and the game, therefore, was J very close without much room for . scientific methods. Obviously the New ’ Zealanders, struggling against the * wind, could not afford to take risks and ? could hardly do anything else but keep . th© game tight while it was near their , goal, nor were they disposed tq let their / opponents open out. Both sides kept up a great pace, and if not scientific , the play was decidedly robust and hard. J Nicholls, Dailey and Parker were con- fspicuous for fine defensive work at this . stage Nicholls’ kicks into touch being 1 specially certain and effective. SPELL ENDS WITHOUT SCORE. c Gruelling work, however began to * tell the tai© and before the first half " ended there were signs that th© pace « wa 8 having an effect on the home side. J New Zealand began more and more to . get possession of the ball, but the *• backs, though passing brilliantly, were I unable to penetrate the Irishmen’s c sturdy defence and th© spell ended without any score. NEPIA SHINES OUT. « On the resumption of play the All ( Blacks immediately took th© offensive, ( the forwards excelling themselves with D most effective dribbling rushes, while 5 Nepia and Nicholls both playing bril- a liantly. inspired their colleagues in the ( back division by their example. The z Maori player Was magnificent, fielding 1 th© ball faultlessly and kicking a won. v derful length. ( PLAYING AGAINST HEAVY ODDS. Once again th© conditions entirely favoured the home side. It was realls extraordinary bad luck for the New Zealanders that after battling against the wind in the first half it should veer completely round and again blow from 1 behind Ireland, this tim© accompanied > g by heavy rain squalls. Nothing could ' t be worse for th© visitors, but they faced 11 the heavy task with resolution and un t diminished vigour. f t THE FIRST SCORE. < After twenty minutes of hard, gruel- 1 ling play th© All Blacks developed a tremendous loos© attack, j which completely broke the opposition { up. Parker secured the ball and passed ] to Lucas and h© handed it on to Sven- < son, who crossed the line half wav from < th© corner to score a thoroughly do- ] served try. Nepia’s kick failed. I ( All Blacks 3 < Ireland 0 NICHOLLS’ PENALTY GOAL. Five minutes later Nicholls landed a superb goal from a penalty kick. All Blacks 6 ’ Ireland 0 Th© New Zealanders’ heeling out of th© scrum improved as th© gam© progressed. but the chances this gave tho backs of promising passing movements were nullified by inability to handle the

» greasy ball with certainty. T. Hewitt (Ireland) retired hurt at thi 8 juncture. HART ALWAYS DANGEROUS. Notwithstanding their disadvantages, the All Blacks had clearly asserted their supremacy and twice Hart was almost across. Nothing but their magnificent tackling saved Ireland. F. Hewitt was particularly conspicuous in defence. Th© gam© was contested in the finest possible spirit and aroused the great mass of onlookers to the highest pitch of enthusiasm. COMMENTS ON THE GAME. The battle between the forwardg was th© most notable feature of th© game All through both packs fought desperately for every inch of ground. New Zealand’s success was primarily due to the collective excellence of the vanguard, who fulfilled the greatest expec. tations. Notwithstanding their obstinate defence, the Irishmen were a beaten team in the second half and had the turf remained dry it i p agreed that the All Blacks would probably have put up 20 points against them. FORWARDS PLAY MAGNIFICENTLY. Brownlie White. Richardson, and Cupples were prominent but in justice [ ema,n,n K forwards it must be added that all alike plaved magnificently The display of hnth full-backs was also another outstanding feature of the day. Dailey rose meritoriously to* the occasion but Cooke ans Lucas did not appear to handle th P ball with their usual sureness. Svenson on the wing, was comparatively neglected. Parker was possibly the most brilliant plavei of all on the day, -showing out consistently well, both in attack and defence SEVERAL PENALTIES. New Zealand was penalised ‘ eight times in th© first half chiefly through mistakes in the scrum play but fared better in the next spell when only six penalties wore given th re© of them against Parker. Luckily they were mostly out of easy range of the goal. TREMENDOUS EXCITEMENT. 1 Th© stamina of both sides was exceptional and the tremendous pressure was maintained throughout. The game from beginning to end was quite up to best international standard. During the final exciting stages, when *he All Blacks were mostly in the ascendancy and threatening to score at ant moment, th© people were roused t<» gucn a pitch of excitement that thousands stood in the pouring rain, regardless of th© weather, cheering frantically. BRITISH COLUMBIA GAME. Negotiations for a game in British Columbia remain indefinite till the homeward rout© has been decided on. It has been suggested that the tour should end with the match against Franc© at Toulouse and that the team should return by the Suez Canal—(A. and N.Z.) IRISH FORWARDS BEATEN IN SCRUMS. (Received 3, 9.5 a.m.) Dublin, Nov. 2. The ground was very heavy as the result of soaking rain. For the first 20 minutes the Irish forwards played splendidly, although they only twice seriously threatened the visitors’ line, but gradually the New Zealanders began to hold the Irish pack. Both sides round difficulty in handling th© greasy ball. The Irish forwards were outweighed and got possession of only six out of twenty scrums in the first naif, but gave a grand display in the loose. In the second spell, during a continuous downpour of rain, they made a number of determined rushes, but failed to beat the scientific defence, i’he game was finely defended on both sides to the end.—(Reuter.) POINTS OF INTEREST. Matches Played.—The All Blacks have now played their fourteenth game and Deaten Devon (11—0); Cornwall (29 —0)j Somerset (6—0); Gloucester (6—0); Swansea (39 —3); Newport (13—10); Leicester (27—0); North Midlands (40 —3); Cheshire (18—5); Durham (43 —7); , Yorkshire (42 —4): Lancashire((2 0); Cumberland (41—0); Ireland (6 —0). Points For and Against.—Swansea, Newport, North Midlands, Cheshire, Yorkshire and Durham put on point i against the New Zealanders, making 32 in all. The All Blacks have scored 344. 9 The Attendances.—Up to the Irish match 281,0u0 people have witnessed the All Blacks in action, the biggest crowd being present at the Lancashire match. The attendances in the order ot games played are:—l6,ooo, 14,000, 12,UU0, 20,000, 30,000 35,U00, 30,000, 18,000, 12,0U0 12,000, 4U,000, 16,000, 26,000. The Durham attendance was nut sent through. The Try-Getters.—The most successlul try-getter has been A. N. Hart who has 13 tries to his credit. A. E. Cooke is close up with 10, then comes J- H. Parker (9), K. S. Svenson (8), J. Mi-lt (6) J. Steel (5), H. W, Brown, Q. Donald, F. W. Lucas. C. G. Porter, J. Richardson, 3 each; R. R- Masters, M. J. Brownlie, W. R. Irvine, N. P. McGregor and R. F. Stewart, 2 each; and A. H. West. C> Brownlie, L. Cupples. A. White and M. F. Nicholls 1 each. Three other tries were scored, two in the Cheshire match and one in the Yorkshire match, but the cableman omitted to send the names of the men, so for the present we will have to record them to “Mr. X.” Goal Kickers. —G. Nepia is at the head of the poll in the goal-kicking having converted 18 and kicked 3 penalty goais. M. F. Nicholls cornea next with 9 “converters” and 3 “penalties” and 1 drop-kicked goal to his credit. A. White (5), A. N. Hart (I) and W- H. Brown (2) are the only other men to kick goals. Played in Matches.—G. Nepia is the only man that has played in 14 matches. Those who have played in 5 or more games are:—K S. Svenson (II) J. Richardson (11), M. Brownlie (10). W. R. Irvine (10). A. White (9). C. G. Porter (9), A- E. Cooke (9), R Masters (9), R. L. Stewart (8), J. Mill (7), N. P. McGregor (7), Q. Donald (7), M. F. Nicholls (7) J. Dalle.' (7) L. F. Cupples (7), F- W. Lucas (7Y A. N.’Hart (7), J. Steel (6), V 11 Brown (6), J. H. Parker (6). L. I*•,<*■ wai (5), C. Brownlie (5), A. H. West (5).