1921-1930

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 7294, 2 August 1930, Page 13

1921-1930

By J. M. Mackenzie. ■ED HUGHES played for New Zealand at age of 41 Mark Nicholls, sole survivor of Springbok year —When Maurice Brownlie was dropped from All Blacks Catholic Priest plays great halfback game for New Zealand —Row over Don Wright s exclusion from 1924 team recalled Nepia’s unusual experience in Sydney.. Looking back over ten years of All Black football in New Zealand, one finds that Mark Nicholls is the sole survivor ot the first big game after the war the memorable first Test against the Springboks at Dunedin on August 13, 1921. 'Mark was a lanky youngster of 19 then. His part, in the game was a comparatively modest one. Ted McKenzie, on the other hand, was up to his neck in it all day long. The burly Wairarapa man was the referee that afternoon, and he had his hands full. The Springboks were exploiting their celebrated “safety first” tactics, with forwards in the wedge formation. and backs kicking incessantly to touch. A

it was one of the grim- . ? mest Rugby matches i have ever seen, and were no fewer than 114 / scrums in the game. At one stage I - counted five in 60 seconds. High lights of the game were Jack Steele s famous try and Gerhard Morkel’s line kicking. There was a lot of argument about a try scored . by “Moke” Beilis, but it didnt amount to much in the long run. The Springboks were well beaten on the day, and, anyhow, Beilis’s try looked to be O.K. South Africa’s best back and best forward did not play, in that match. At Auckland, however, both Zeller and "Tank” van Rooyen were back in the field again. After the Dunedin victory, the New Zealand Rugby “heads” didn’t worry much about the Auckland game, and the All Blacks wore allowed to drift casually into action, and be tuned up by nine points to five in a match at Eden Park which drew a 27,000 crowd and is memorable for Gerhard Morkel’s famous potted goal, which won the match. There was skin and hair flying when the news went round the Dominion that the All Blacks had been beaten. Frantic endeavours were made to ginger up the New Zealand team for th-. decisive test at Wellington. Several of the All Blacks were "sacked” on the spot, and among those who were dragged in to try and save the “aßhes” were Karl Ifwersen»and Charlie Fletcher of Auckland, Billy Fea of Otago and Dick Fogarty, then of Taranaki. The third test, however, was literally and metaphorically a “washout.” It rained cats and dogs throughout the match, and the game ended in a draw, no score.

The next year, “Moke” Beilis was packed off to Australia with an experimental All Black side, under the managership of Mr. S. S. Dean. That team became notorious as the first New Zealand team which had ever lost a test series in Australia. Poor old Moke felt his position keenly at the time. But it was no fault of his. And if he was the first captaip of a beaten test side, he wasn’t the last. Cliff Porter had an even worse experience in Australia last year.

Two years after the Springbok tour, a New South Wales team came across. The All Blacks were in such bad odour after the previous year’s defeats that five of Parata’s Maori side which had worn the “Ashes” against New South Wales the previous year were selected for the first Test. This match was won by New Zealand, 19 points to nine, but on . the run of play the All Blacks richly deserved to have been beaten.

More drastic changes took place. Among those who were “fired” from the All Blacks was no other than Maurice Brownlie, afterward to be acclaimed the world’s greatest forward. It was also gently but firmly intimated to Jimmy Mill and Len Righton that their services were no longer required, but all three lived to fight another day.

There were no arguments about the second test. The New South Welshmen were simply massacred by the tigerish rushes of the All Black forwards, headed by Jock Richardson, “Moke” Beilis and Andy Pringle, the latter possibly the tallest man who ever played in test football. The score was 34 to six at tbs finish. Sinclair converted five out of seven tries, and kicked a wonderful penalty goal from near half-way. The halfback for New Zealand in this match was Father McCarthy, a popular Catholic priest. He was a brilliant little player, and had he been able to go on with the game, he might have become famous. Incidentally, he was preceded two years before by Father Kane, who represented New Zealand as five-eighth ir< the All Black second fifteen which was beaten by New South Wales when most of us were more concerned about the Springboks. Freddy Lucas made his All Black debut in this match. He didn’t play much of a game, but Jock Richardson remarked to me after the match: “I think he was a bit nervous; anyhow, I like his style.” The third Test that year was memorable for the bearing it had on the All Black tour of the following year. The All Black selectors-decided to

give some of the youngsters a trial. Lucas got another chance to make good, and with him were Lui Paewai, Cliff Porter, Bill Irvine, L. Cupples, Read Masters, “Son” White, and Ron Stewart, all of whom were destined to make the big trip to England the following year. Bert Cooke was emergency for that game, after a meteoric rise under Via Meredith’s discerning eye from third grade to Auckland reps, in the one year. Although it hardly comes under the

category of Test football, the inteiIsland match the following year is worthy of more than passing notice, because of the big bearing it has had on New Zealand football since 1924. Even now, the 1924 tradition is very much (some say, too much) in evidence in the 1930 All Blacks. The North Island simply paralysed the South by 39 points to 6. Nepia had a wonderful day at fullback. He played magnificently, converted five out of six tries, kicked a penalty, and landed a field goal. Cooke, too, was in great form at second five-eighth. He, Nicholls and Mill worked like clockwork together. The pace was altogether too fast for Snowy Svenson at centre, and most times, Cooke simply cut him out and tossed the ball to Hart, who scored three tries ou the wing. Cooke “made” Hart that day, but he was never much good after. In a preliminary canter in Australia prior to the big tour of 1924, the All Blacks, under the captaincy of Ces Badeley, were beaten in the first Test, but won the second and third by big margins. Incidentally, Nepia played indifferent football in Sydney and from that day to this, the dyed-in-the-wool Sydney Rugbyite will tell you that Nepia was a “dud,” although a year later the English critics acclaimed him as the world’s greatest fullback. Shows how first impressions linger! Last year, George was desperately anxious to show Australia that 1924 was not his true form, and despite injuries and sickness, he gave a taste of his true quality in some of the matches. On the team’s return, a match was hurriedly arranged against Auckland, which was smarting under a sense of injustice over the omission from the All Blacks of Don Wright and the side-track-ing of V. R. Meredith from the All Black managership. It was a mid-week match, and the greater part of the City declared a lialf-holiday and went out to Eden Park to see the All Blacks tuned up by 14 points to 3. There was great jubilation in the Auckland camp,-al-though it is only fair to say that the All Blacks were just off the boat, and not at their best. The record-breaking tour of Britain in 1924 is sufliciently well known to require no extended reference. It is sufficient to say that the team was

never beaten, that Morrie Brownlie and Son White made great reputations for themselves as forwards, and that Nepia played in every match (30) on the tour. Cliff Porter, who had played wonderful football in Australia prior to the big tour, damaged the cartilege of his knee in one of the early matches, and never got back to his true form. He sportingly gave way to the brilliant Parker in the Tests, one of the finest acts of a captain in the history of New Zealand football. The next year, the rejects and castoffs from 1924 were given a trip across the Tasman to console themselves. Some of these players were never afterward heard of, but there were some good men among the party, just the same. Queerly enough, they won all three tests against the New South Welshmeu, but were beaten by a New South Wales second fifteen. That same year a New South Wales team visited New Zealand. It possessed the finest back combination that has been seen in New Zealand since the war, Lawton, Reid, Morrisey Bowers and Crossman being a set of champions. Its only loss prior to the test at Auckland was against Canter-bury-South Canterbury, but its forwards were simply smashed to pieces at Eden Park, and the backs overwhelmed. The team which played for New Zealand that day is probably the best that has represented New Zealand in the past ten years. It included all the stars of the 1524 All Blacks, and one or two more who would have been acquisitions on even that unbeaten tour. The team was as follows:—Backs: Nepia, Lucas, Cooke, Svenson, Nicholls, McGregor,.Mill; forwards, Irvine, Lomas, Masters, Finlayson, M. Brownlie, Richardson, Stewart and Porter. Incidentally, it was Jock Richardson’s last game for New Zealand. At that stage, the famous forward had taken over the secretaryship of the Southland Rugby Union, and his entry into business coincided with his decision to retire from the game when still in his prime. At his best in 1922, he was a great footballer; but he got too shrewd later on. When he retired, he was only 26. In 1926, one of the most formidable sides ever sent abroad was assembled at Wellington for another trans-Tas-man trip. On paper, the team looked a world-beater, but to the surprise of everybody, It was beaten by New South Wales in the first match in Sydney, and had to fight hammer and tongs to win the remaining two games of the rubber.

Incidentally, Cliff Porter, who captained the side, injured his sound knee in an exhibition match at Melbourne Two “wonky” knees would have been enough to finish most players. But not Porter. He underwent massage treatment for 11 months before he got it right again. When the team got back to Auckland, it played a game against a local fifteen. It was chiefly memorable for a wonderful exhibition of wet-weather football by Reg. Sheen, and the fact that through no halfback being available, Bill Wright got his chance tc wear an All Black jersey for an afternoon. I think Bill has still got that jersey. Nineteen twenty-seven was a quiet year, and there were no tests.

All eyes were on the South African trip. That tour is so much recent history that it requires no mention here, beyond one curious point which shows how a players form can improve. It is a somewhat similar case to the dropping of M. Brownlie in 1921. If memory serves aright, R. McWilliams wasn’t considered good enough for an Auckland team two or three years before the African tour, and even in 1928 many thought he was the luckiest man alive to be in the All Blacks. But Mac went to Africa, and made a wonderful name for himself, being picked by F. M. Howard in his mythical world fifteen to play Mars. While the All Blacks were in Africa,

New South Wales sent a team across. It wasn’t a very strong team, because Lawton, Ford and other stars of the Waratahs were not able to travel. Its fatal weakness was goal-kicking. With a good place-kicker, it might have won the tests against New Zealand. Cliff Porter captained another All Black team to Australia last year Chiefly owing to injuries, it was the most disastrous overseas tour in the history of New Zealand Rugby, all three tests being lost.. Australia bad all the stars of the 1927 British tour to draw on, and Tom Lawton proved an inspiring leader. I think Lawton was the most brilliant footballer who has visited New Zealand since the war. For a five-eighth he was an

unusual stamp, standing 6ft and weighing 13st. Looking back over the past ten years, it is interesting to note that after the Springbok tour in 1921, a movement developed for huge forwards and little backs. Time has proved, however, that the big forward has his limitations. Occasionally, you get an exceptional man like Ron Stewart, who is fast and QUICK, but as a rule the big man does not get round quickly, and a wet day often finds him anchored in the mud. The two best forwards on the 1924 tour, M. Brownlie and A. White, weighed 13.13 and 12.10, respectively, when they left New Zealand, while in 1905, C. E. Seeling, who is generally considered to have been the finest forward New Zealand has produced, weighed 13.7. As far as the backs are concerned, small men are all right inside, but I like to see big, powerful threequarters. Nobody gets much thanks for picking teams, but the following side, selected from players who have gained All Black honours since the war, would take a lot of beating: Nepia (1924) Steel (1921), Aitken (1921), Robilliard (J 924) Nicholls (1924), Cooke (1924) Mill (1924) Parker (1924) Richardson (1922). Stewart (1925) M. Brownlie (1924), White (1924) Masters (1924) Duncan (1921), Hughes (1921)

A few comments may be added. It would be easy to pick another team out of the players left out, which would be nearly as good. Although I think that, potentially, Sinclair was a greater fullback than Nepia, the former played only two games for New Zealand, and Nepia must go in ahead of him by virtue of his greater record. Aitken’s head fell under the selectorial axe after the Auckland defeat in 1921, but he was a brilliant footballer, as he afterward proved in the famous Scottish threequarter line of 1924. The two front row men, Duncan and Hughes, are picked primarily as hookers. Hughes tvas the last of the old hooking specialists. He was 41 when he made his celebrated “come-back” in 1921. The forwards are the hardest of the lot to sort out, a fact which will he realised by the fact that men of the calibre of “Bunny” Finlayson, lan Harvey, Cliff Porter. “Moke” Beilis and McWilliams have had to be left out