THE FULL-BACK.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 23 June 1923, Page 3

THE FULL-BACK.

I AN INTERNATIONAL'S ADVICE. ! The Hon. J. M. B. Scott, the Scottish international, offers advice to fullbacks : — "The full-back is the last line of defence, and therefore an important position. The essential qualifications are fielding kicking, tackling, pluck, and speed. As regards the position in the field where the back should stand, 1 think mj'self he should always be directly behind the ball. That is to say, that if the scrum is in the centre of the field, the back should stand halfway' between the two touch lines; if the scrum is on a touch-line the back should be on that touch-line. He must judge his distance as to how far back he stands behind his three-quar-ters, and the weather conditions have a good deal to do in deeding this. If tke:e is a strong wind blowing towards him he would have to be farther back tlian normally, and if he has a strong wind behind him probably bo need not stand quite so far back. As a normal rule. 1 think that about twenty yards is far enough behind the three-quarters in midfield. Of course, as the game gets inside his own "25" line he will take the goal line or just outside it as his defensive line. It is just as great a fault for a full-back to be too far back as it is for him to- come right up among the three-quarters. A fullback will make tackling very much easier for himself if he gets into a position that lie is running at an oblique angle to the line of direction of the man he wishes to tackle. It does not matter how many opponents are coming towards him, he must concern himself with, one man, airfl one man only, namely, the man with the ball. "While trying to gain as rmich ground as possible before partiaig with the ball ... it must be remembered that the full-back should never be caught in possession if he has had any time at all in which to kick without risking his kick being charged down by those following up. It is just as stupid (and a great deal more dangerous) to kick the ball when there are four or five men-about two yards away as to kick the ball from the spot from where it is caught when there is no ona within twenty yards. "A full-back must go and meet everything that is comma:"towards him ; it is quite useless to wait .standing still. Even if it is a kick conivng, as he thinks, straight to him, he shouM move about, however small an amount, so that his muscles a-s already active and ready to answer quickly if the ball does not come exactly as he thought it won Id. To a forward dribbling; a ball, a. full-back or any other man who stands still and waits for him is just like a post, and he can t'me his swerve or whatever it is he is going to do, at his own will, whereas if that full-back is coming towards him he has to consider the rate at which the full-back is moving, as well as his own pace. And the same thing applies to a man runnine with, the ball in his hands. "From the point of vieyr of the fullback, it is very nincli easier to follow a swerve if you are on the move yourself than it is to do so from standing still. The thing to aim at is to try and make the man who has the ball go where you want him, rather than wait and see what he is going to do on his own, when by the time you realise what he is going to do, ho is doing it and probably you are too late. "When fielding a high kick the eyes must never be taken off the b«ll during its flight on any consideration. However near the opposition are, in fact trie nearer they are the more important it is, the ball is the one concern of the man who is going to field it."