BIG FOOTBALL

Hokitika Guardian, 5 October 1929, Page 6

BIG FOOTBALL

INTERESTING COMMENT. (From an Exchange.) Ip view of the fact that the formidable British team will challenge .New Zealand’s claim to supremacy on the Rugby field next year, the form displayed in the annual inter-island contest at Athletic Park last Saturday was followed with more than ordinary attention. It can be said right away that the display was good enough to restore confidence in the All Blacks’ ability to more than hold their own with any Rugby country in the world. Had Mill and Cooke beenwith the New Zealand team in South (Africa, the All Blacks would not have h,ad to fight for their lives in that fourth Test match at Cane Town to come out all square. Speed by tlie inside backs is essential in modern Rugby, and it is here that that wizard of the game, Cooke, makes all the difference. Cooke, on the .1924 tour of Great Britain, played centre-three-quarter in the Test matches against Wales and England, and second fiveeighths against Ireland, in which match F. W. Lucas filled the role of centre.

The New Zealand selectors did wisely to restore Cooke to his rightful position at second five-eighths and Lucas to centre in the North Island team on Saturday, and it was to the speed and thrust of these two brilliant inside hacks, coupled with Mill’s agility at half-back, and Porter’s genius as rover, that the North managed to triumph over the South by 29 points to 20.

iSome people argue that inside backs should not score tries, .hut should simply, make the openings for the wingers. Brilliant inside backs, such as Jimmy Hunter, Billy Stead, Bert Cooke, and Fred Lucas, have scored many tries in big fixtures, and will keep on doing so. Any side which relies solely upon orthodox passing to get tho ball out to .the wingers is not hard to block. This was why the South Africans so seldom crossed the New Zealand line in 1924.

With inside backs of the speed of Hunter, Stead, Cooke and Lucas, openings can be -made which pierce the centre of the defence, and, as on Saturday, resulted in Cooke and Lucas scoring two tries apiece.

The inter-island gome . proved conclusively that New Zealand, as in 1924, possesses backs of class, and Stephenson, Macpherson and Smith will not have it all their own way by any means when the Britishers take the field against the All Blacks in the Tests next year. j

It was a, great .pitv that clever halfback Dailey received such a bad bump at Newcastle on the Australian tour. Had the experienced snowyhaired Christchurch man been behind the iSouth Island scirum on Saturday the southerners would almost certainly have notched three more tries early in the game, when Cottrell and Burrows were hooking the leather? from almost every scrum. Holden, tlio Invercargill half, was too slow in getting the ball away to Lilburne and allowed Porter «to smother him too often. It must he said that both Lilburne and Strang did not handle at all well in the first spell. Had they done so," at least two tries must have come the South’s way.

SOLID SCRUMMAGING

That scrummaging was a vast improvement on that shown in the trial match on the King’)? Birthday. Tlie serums went down compactly and remained solid until the ball bad been booked. That wily old general. Porter, when he found that, the big southern pack was too heavy for his seven, resorted to screwing the scrums, with the result that the harder the South Island pack pushed the better it helped tho northerners to screw the scrums.

The forwards engaged on. Saturday did not measure up to the physique of All Black packs of recent years. .Such big fellows as Cyril and Maurice Brownlie, L. F. Cupples, lan Fiiv lnyson, I. H. Harvey, and G. T. Alley were missing. Still, - the two packs wero composed of stout fellows, who got into their work with zeal and kept going well. Though a good big man will usually beat a little man, some of the very host forwards New Zealand .has produced have been men of average weight. If a vote were taken it ■would probably he found that Son White would be given credit for bej mg the best all-round forward of the 1924 AH Blacks and Jack Swain would bo given the palm as tlie most useful forward which New Zealand had in South Africa in 1928. R.on. Stewart, tlie South Canterbury giant, appeared to have put on a good deal of weight, and he did n,ot display the fire and dash he revealed in the trials in 1921 and 192/. He is still a groat forward, but lias slowed up considerably and was tiring towards tlie close of (Saturday’s strenuous game.

As valuable a forward as there was on tho ground in the inter-island match was Hazlett, the Southland sheep-farmer, who scales list 7lb. and stands 6ft in height, and is only 22 years of ago. He is a typical stamp of New Zealand forward, with weight, roach and pace.

Considering that New Zealand was com|veiled to play eight men in the scrum in South Africa last year, it is extraordinary that the 2-3-2 scrum formation has been adhered to in the Dominion this season. Apparently the lessons taught by the South Africans last year have boon unheeded, and New Zealand determined to

stick to her beloved • wing-forward. Let us hope it will not be necessary next year to swop horses while crossing the stream as our fellows were compelled to do on the veldt last season. \ VALUE OF PLACE-KICKING. The value of place-kicking was amply demonstrated at Athletic Park on Saturday afternoon. O'f the 49 points scored during the inter-island game, no fewer than 22 came from place-kicking. W. Strang, the South Canterbury live-eighths, who toured South Africa with the All Blacks last year, kicked four penalty goals, and converted one try, while lieazlewood, the Wellington full-back, converted four tries. The place-kicking was exceptionally good in this match. Had it not been for the fine markmansliip of Strang and lieazlewood the scores might very easily have been 21 to 8 in favour of the North. Strangely enough, Strang failed to convert the try scored by Snow right beside the posts. It is passing strailge that somo place-kicks can put the ball over the bar from the half-way mark or the side-line, but when they are called upon to convert a try scored between the posts- they art; all ntremble, and often make a mess of the attiempt. Strang marred a fine record on Saturday by taking short kick too gently. All kicks i t goail should be hit firmly. Let: the ball know that your boot is behind it. If'you hit the leather surely and firmly, it will go where you want it to go, buit if you poke at it gingerly with the toe of your boot it will'soar up into the air like a shot pigeon. Any try scored between the posts in an important match should spell five points, and Strang on this occasion simply threw away two points. .He proved, however, that he is a brilliant place-kick. One of the five shots lie put over was from within five yards of the half-way mark. Heazle■wood had matters made a ibit easier for him, as Cooke and Lucas obligingly popped the leather between the posts almost each time they crossed the line.

A GREAT ROVER. Cliff Porter, who captained the North Island team on Saturday, gave the big crowd of 17,000 people a proof of what a great player lie really is. Since injuring a knoe in Melbourne in 1926, Porter was severely handicapped until be put himself into the .hands of a specialist, who completely rectified the trouble. The -result has been that Cliff is now himsejlf again, and when Porter is at bis best there are few abler players in the wide Rugby world. He showed all liis genius and resourcefulness at Athleticv Park on Saturday, both on attack and defence. It is hard to recall a player . who can more quickly size up ,a movement than the New Zealand captain. His anticipation is little short of uncanny. Wherever Pdrter. moves, there you may : be pretty sure the ball will land, oven if lie is ten yards behind the full-back. He was a jolly rover on Saturday; at one moment battling hard in the ruck, and the next footing it with the backs in a passing movement. \ Porter thinks quickly, and will often worm bis way into a melee to emerge with the ball, and shoot it out to his backs. -He is a powerful punter, and his kicks always have length and direction. Added to his outstanding ability as a player, Cliff Porter is possibly tlie most successful captain New Zealand has ever had. Every team which; he leads is a band of brothers. A New Zealander who saw something of tlm All Blacks in Sydney this year rec| ently informed me that whenever Porer entered a social gathering the .morfiffmenlt worAd be. hushed, and the players and guests almost stand to attention like soldiers in the presence of their general. This was not because Cliff Porter was a stern captain; it was simply an instantaneous tribute of respect to an outstanding personality.