RUGBY AT HOME MUST BE IMPROVED

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 6841, 23 April 1932, Page 13

RUGBY AT HOME MUST BE IMPROVED

Too Many Breaches Of The Laws, Too Many ill Trained Players

Let us not lie too conceited to appreciate the deficiencies of Rugby football as played in the Home countries (writes “The Bard,” Welsh correspondent of the “Athletic News”). Let us admit wc have not attained to perfection yet. Cynics will say that wc never shall have perfect football, and that we shall get no nearer to it until we study in greater detail the finer arts of the game. Be that as if may, let us look at the facts as they arc. Then wc shall admit the truth of the assertion made liy T. B. Pienaar, manager of the South African Rugby tourists. There is too much lying on the ball; too much lattitiidc is given to players in passing from the ground when tackled; forwards are allowed to lie offside at the scrummage—and, he might have added, in loose play also. Ignorance of Rules? When I discussed these and other matters with a well-known authority on the game, he expressed the opinion that many of these infringements were committed in ignorance—that many of the players of the present day do not know tile rules and the laws of the game they try to play. I think lie is right; if he is not, then the only construction to lie placed upon the situation is that players wilfully endeavour to obtain unfair advantage through breaking the rules and hoping they will not lie detected. Of course, all this reflects upon the standard of referees. Each of the three things mentioned conics within tile province of the referees to rectify. They can penalise on all three grounds; they can improve the game immensely if they act in concert; but there must he consistency and uniformity in interpretation. _ 11 The president of the Rughv Union. Walter T. Pearce, stresses another most important factor-physical fitness. The South Africans, admittedly less skilled, less scientific, less spectacular than the tourist sides captained by Paul Roos and W. A. Millar, swept through with a record of only one defeat, chiefly because of their fine physique. Training Neglected. Wc in this country lament the absence of players built on big lines—especially centre three-quarters. But that deficiency can lie neutralised if the players make a special point of keeping absolutely fit. Unfortunately, training seems to hare gone out of fashion. Men do not sacrifice for the game as did their predecessors. One wonders whether spectators are tiring and losing interest because the same old faults arc revealed week after week —because international sides arc guilty of constant infringements as well as club sides. Is that the explanation of the comparatively small attendance at the Wales v. England international at Swansea? Is that the writing on the wall?