Smashing Forwards Who Showed Way

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6697, 25 August 1928, Page 17 (Supplement)

Smashing Forwards Who Showed Way

■VfO finer exhibition of forward play in -1M either league or Rugby has been given in recent years than by the present English League team touring New Zealand. Curiously enough, at a time when All Black football is under Suspicion of having lost the dashing, crashing methods of other days, the finest type of honest scrummaging, deadly tackling and smashing openfield play has been revived by rugged packmen of , a younger and more restlessly active code, which is supposed to have little In common with the traditions of the older Rugby game. Sloman, the all-conquering forward of the first test, Bowman, . crashing giant of the Auckland game, Thompson, the rugged and versatile side-row man, and Bentham, tireless worker in pack and open alike, are fit to take their place in any Rugby team in the whole world. Apart from 'the inspired genius of the New Zealand backs, who won the firsts League test for New Zealand

two men. In England, his great game at Twickenham will never be forgotten Playing with a cold fury after his brother was ordered off, ho dominated the greatest. game of a record-breaking tour. On one occasion, he got the ball, and smashed hla way through half the English team for a try which definitely turned the tide of battle, In New Zealand’s, favour. Opinion will always bo divided as, to which -was New Zealand's greatest forward—Brownlie or Seeling. A- famous English critic who saw Seeling in 1905 and Brownlie in ! 1924,.ra ( nksithem equal as "the two finest* forwards who have ever visited 'this country.” Neither wab a giant in the Rugby sense, as Judged by ‘the ; mammoth proportions of “Baby” Mlphau (who went up to 18st 101 b ln>New- Zealand), Royal Morkel, Geoff Alley, Innes Pinjiayson and , other, big fellows. Both were a neat - six'feet in height. Seeling at his best (1905) .weighed X3st 71b and Brownlie ’(1924) 13st 131 b. , The advent:, of Seeling marked the high tide of New Zealand forward play, which was undoubtedly superior to

against a better team of ' (orwards, It haa got to be candidly admitted that with the , exception of Hutt s and Goodall, wo have no League forwards in New Zealand to-day equal to these men. and very few In Union Hufcjby either.;. J , ,i The writer ranks Bowman with Van Rooyen of the 1921 Springboks—“ Tank” Van Rooyen as he was known at the height of his devastating career In 1921. Van Rooyen went over to England to play League soon after returning to Africa from New Zealand, and apparently fell below expectations. But at the age of 28, in 1921, he was a grand forward, and we had nothing In ,New Zealand to touch him. “Morrie” Brownlie In 1924 was as good, If not better, than either of these

Great Scrummers in League and Rugby codes —Englishmen revive Memories of the Past —Who was greatest, Brownlie or Seeling ? —A Place for the Gentleman Adventurer—Solid Forwards are still sheet anchor of game.

anything In the world atthat time. Dave - Gallaher, Bernie Fanning, “Angry" Tom Cross, Alec McDonald, the incomparable Seeling, and before that Tom Pauling, “Off-side” McKenzie, Tom Ellison (Tamati Erihana) — these are names to conjure with! To give the roving forward his due, and in his correct position’ 'as League breakaway or Union wing forward, there have been some great, ones since the time of Ellison, the greatest original exponent of that type of game from a set position in the team. Fx-ora 1905 onward, George Gillett, with all the ripe experience of football in many lands, was the ideal Gentleman Adventurer of the Rugby game. Not till J. H. Parker shojt into the Rubgy world like a meteor in 1924 have we had such a one as Gillett. ■!*.'; ~v Parker was probably the fastest who ever played in the position— New Zealand professional champion sprinter at 75yds, with football speed (which is different), a fine pair of hands, and the dash and determination which is rarely found in a sprinter' turned footballer. j . One of the greatest “big men” who

ever hurled his tremendous bulk over a football held was the famous Frank Burge, Sydney Leaguer, who united weight and speed over short dashes to a degree that is rare with the man of his size. “Jock” Richardson, in 1922, approximated the Burge type—in that year there was ho better forward. in any country than the big South Islander, but he got to know too much of the fine points of forward play later on. - ? The advent of the roving forward, distinct from one* man in the front division who is entitled to play loose, has to a large extent caused front row work to deteriorate, “Ned” Hughes, who died in Sydney the other day, and who played against the Springboks at the age of 41. was the last of the oldtime hooking Specialists. There was no need to “monkey" with scrum formations in their day, because they got the ball! Duncan and McMeeking, two Otago men. arc, In the writer’s opin-

ion, the only All Black hookers since the war who, approximated to the old champions in the front row. The others are too busy getting out into the open these tixpes. • ; : ‘ •, V : . The experiences of the All Blacks in Africa, and . the success of the English League team in Australia are a sound reminder that the old, solid forward is still the sheet anchor of the game. The finest set of backs in the world cannot win matches behind a pack of "shiners," ,ba they light-weight speedsters or giant sprinters.