ALL BLACK FORWARDS

Northern Advocate, 12 October 1934, Page 8

ALL BLACK FORWARDS

WEIGHT RESTRICTION. NEWSPAPER REFERENCE. “ABSURD.” (Per Press Association. —Copyright.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. According to an announcement in an English newspaper, the International Rugby Board has written to the New Zealand Rugby Union stating that the average weight of the New Zealand pack on the British tour in 1935-36 must not exceed 14st 71bs. The article continues: —“The board has also expressed the hope that in the case of injury to any United Kingdom player, whether in the scrum, the loose or the line-out, the New Zealanders will go cannily. It will be recalled that at the end of their last tour one New Zealand player was ordered off at Twickenham, The Board apparently has in mind the fact that the tourist teams, especially the forwards, are composed entirely of fully developed men, whereas their opponents are often mere boys, who have just left school, and who are still at Varsity.” The secretary of the New Zealand Rugby Union, Mr Neilson, stated yesterday that no such advice has been received to his knowledge. He did not think the International Rugby Board would make any suggestion of the kind.” “It is absolute rot and absurd,” was how the chairman of the Management Committee of the New Zealand Rugby Union, Mr S. S. Dean, described the article. He was quite sure no such request would come from the international Board. Mr Dean remarked that the average weight of, the New Zealand pack which toured Britain in 1924 was 13st 6£lbs. The heaviest man was Maurice Brownlie, who weighed 15st, and the next to him was J. Richardson, 14st 51bs.