ON THE EVE OF SAILING

Manawatu Times, Volume 60, Issue 175, 27 July 1935, Page 11

ON THE EVE OF SAILING

ALL BLACKS READY FOR BRITISH TOUR

MANAGER WILL HAVE A BIG TASK AS COACH, SELECTOR,

DIRECTOR, ALL ROLLED INTO ONE

[By “ Cross-Bar ” )

WITH the blessing of the New Zealand Press, something V some other teams have not had, the 1835 All Blacks win sail on Wednesday next at daybreak by the Rangitiki from Wellington, en route to England. They will leave fully aware that they have a high standard to live up toon the one hand a record which cannot be beaten, that of the 1924-25 side, and on the other that glorious achievement of Gallaher’s team in 1905.

After the whirl, of trial matches and the final selection of tie lucky 29, New Zealand Rugby has more or less settled bacc to a hum-drum .life. Progress of the Maori tour in Australia has brightened things a good deal, but there was a sudden drift of enthusiasm •when the speculation as to who should be in the 193 d side and who should not died away. There was joy, lamentation, appreciation anc regret, plus the inevitable comparison between the chosen talent and that which upheld New Zealand’s Rugby tradition in years long past. Argument along those lines will go on for ever, until nations give up sending teams of any sort overseas, and opinions will never alter. If some being possessed of the gift of re-creation could bring back to the joys of youth the Gallahers, the Wallaces, the Porters of bygone years, for just two matches on Athletic Park it Mould perhaps send many of the critics back to their desks with an unbelievable lack of confidence iu their own judgment. No power on God’s earth will ever accurately answer the question: Which was the greatest Rugby side of all time?* The past has certainly set a standard in wins and losses and has moulded tradition, but the side of to-day should be measured according to the game of to-day and not that of yesterday.

Two variations from past practice wilt mark 'the present tour—(lie now scrum formation, compared with that Now Zealand adhered to iu .1924, and. the increased power of the manager of the team. New Zealand Rugby has suffered more than it is yet prepared to admit over the abandonment of the old “diamond” scrum. It ha 3 taken all tho play in between the death of that formation and the present to adapt the forwards to the change, and for the lirst time in history New Zealand will challenge the Mother Country with a typo of scrummage which South Africa has perfected. Rig forwards have been an essential to its success and South Africa has really won effectiveness in scrummaging by yeight and physique rather than by formation. England, Ireland anil Wales, no doubt profiting from what the Springboks taught in that respect, have tended to build along the same lines, and it is not surprising, therefore, that the New Zealand sclec-

tors have let their choice wander along identical avenues. They have looked for weight,'and speed, and, seemingly, havo fonutl-.it.

Mr. Meredith's appoiutmeut as a manager, with a sole say as to selection of teams,- appears, at first g.aucc, to savour too much of the autocratic, but, looked at more critically it has desirable possibilities. There are .jealousies'to be guarded against on such tours as these. There is no use denying it. And lifting responsibility of selection entirely off the players themselves should tend to ft ee the ranks of dissension from within. Jf a wrong player, according to the team’s viewpoint, gets into the side, it becomes the manage:'s fault, not ihe captain's or,the vice-captain’s. For the team’s sake it is better for that sort of blame to rest on managerial shoulders ihan on any of the players themselves.

to putting a team in the field and the same right of direction in coaching, tut those two important aspects of the toui

But, from a Rugby point of view, the matter lias another side. Will the manager be able to do justice to all the work entrusted to him? It was a wise advocate wlio suggested that a coach be scut with the team as well as a manager. Mr. Meredith, however, was against it, and probably not without cause. Blit if one man is to be responsible for poaching, selecting, managing and directing, he is going to be up against a harder problem Ilian many people realise. It would be interesting to- know, for instance, liow many letters Air. S. S. Dean had to reply to when tho 1924-25 team was in the Old Land. That sqi-t ..of worK may not seem important, but it it must be done. How many .speeches d).d 3Vlr Dean havo t.i make? Ifo’w many "duty” calls fell to him? How much time did he have to spend ‘ '.keeping an rve on the lively members of his team?” Managing a tour of Bus sort irf a job in itself. One may ujjrep with Mr. Meredith that Le shou’-d have the-power of a'king whom it comes

must not bo allowed to suffer because of other administrative and social work. Air. Meredith' is the right mar. to tel! New Zealand’s Rugby story to Old England after every dinner tho team has, but ho must see to it that while the story is being told the ambition ho hi rise If seeks, the re-creation of Rugby from the era lie, is not bungled. It will be springtime in New Zealand, and the warm sunny days of .December and January wil be here before tho fruits of the 1935 selection ri„en. There will be sterner opposition offered the side than that which opposed tho 1924 combination, but the team will sail confident in its forwards and hopeful of its backs. Back play in tho Dominion has been trending downward in recent years and if the present tour will do anything to win back that glory of thi past it will not have been in vain, irrespective of matches won or matches lost. Rugby must be played more openly, more accurately than any of the trial matches which led to the team’s selection. Air. Meredith seems to bo aware of that, and has prefaced his acceptance of managerial duties with a note which will find favour generally. Let it be hoped that his dream comes true and that New Zealand is really sending away on Wednesday a band of players capable of living up to their manager’s requirements—a team, whether it wins or loses, that will play bright Rugby in spite of all that evolution has brought to tho gamo, and even in tho face of everyone of those 36 rules which have been laid down for iho game’s good conduct I

Golf is gaining greatly in popularity in England. On one course run by the London County Council fees amounting to more than £13,000 have been taken.

Fraulein Martha Mendel made a new gliding record for women by remaining in the air for 11 hours and 2S minutes over Central Germany.