BRITISH RUGBY TOUR

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 144, 17 May 1930, Page 9

BRITISH RUGBY TOUR

.COLOURS FOR FOUR TESTS

ENGLAND WELL PLAY ALL WHITE. MR BAXTER’S OFFER. Per Press Association. WANGANUI, May 17. Mr Baxter, manager of the British Rugby team, has sent the following letter to Dr. Adams, president of the JNew Zealand Rugby Union: “As the All Black colours appear to count so much to a very considerable section of Rugby players and supporters m New Zealand, and it is our most earnest desire that not one single jarring note should mar our visit, my team will bo only too happy to play V?t a U i n the four Test matches. In all the other games, of course, the usual custom will have to be observed. When colours cln*h I desire the home team to make the necessary .change. “I should like to place on record that this offer is spontaneous. No suggestion or even a hint has been made by any member of the ive.”Asked to express his opinion about the matter, Dr. Adams said:— “I can say no more than that it is simply wonderful and typical of Mr Baxter and his team. Apparently nothing is impossible with a true er.”DR. ADAMS’S APPEAL. Per Press Association. „ WANGANUI, May 16. . The discarding of the all black jersey for the forthcoming Rugby Tests was referred to by Dr. Adams, president of the New Zealand Rugby Union, at the welcome to the British team here to-day. He appealed to Rugbyites to be sportsmen. Realising the position the union and Mr Baxter were placed in, he asked Wanganui particularly, no matter what the sentiment attached to the Dominion’s standard colours were, to help the visitors and the union out of the difficulty. They had taken the only course open to them. GAME IN THE EARLY DAYS. Dr. Adams also referred to his announcement at Wellington yesterday that the first game of Rugby was played in Auckland. This comment had excited interest, and he had been informed since that the game was first played in Wellington on September 12, 1870. Mr C. J. Monro, of Palmerston North, captained the Wellington team, and Mr K. Tennant led the Nelson fifteen. A record crowd is anticipated for the first match of the British team’s tour. The indications are that the ground will be in good order, and that the seating accommodation will be taxed heavily. HAWKE’S BAY’S PROTEST. Per Press Association. NAPIER, May 16. The Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union has decided to join with the other unions in voicing a protest against the decision of the New Zealand Union that players in the Test matches against the British team play in white jerseys. Mr N. A. McKenzie, who brought the matter forward at the meeting tonight, said he thought that if representations were made to Mr Baxter, the manager of the British team, they might come to some arrangement whereby the visitors in the Tests could be clad in red, white, and blue, as in the case of previous British teams.