THE ALL BLACKS TOUR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18887, 9 December 1924, Page 12

THE ALL BLACKS TOUR.

DEFEAT OF IRELAND.

VAGARIES OF THE WEATHER

WIND AGAINST THE WINNERS.

HOME TEAM'S WEAK TACTICS.

BY COLONEL PHIXJP TREVOR, C.B.E. LONDON. Nov. 4. I come now to the first international

match, Ireland v. New Zealand, played

at Dublin on Saturday last. If I put tho weather in tho forefront of my re-

marks I do so designedly and with intention. It was tho all-important factor and, if it was not unprecedented, I personally cannot recall conditions that wero similar. Tho weather fought against New Zealand. After a quiet night, rain, direct rain, unaccompanied by wind, began to fall about 10 o'clock, and continued to do so till about two o'clock. Then a strong wind camo and blew tho rain away. The Irishmen won tho toss and very wisely did they chooso to havo that wind at their backs in tho first half.

An early surprise was in store for us. A new ball was used, and wo soon observed that it kept surprisingly dry. Tho grass of tho turf was long and the high I wind had nearly dried it when play began. But that high wind proved to bo j a fetal temptation to the Irishmen. They ! realised their chance of ground gaining | by reason of it, and they concentrated jon r.liat alone. Now, after all, groundj gaining is only tho means to an end, and | not the end itself.

j History repeated itself at Dublin. The > Irishmen pressed and pressed; the Now | Zealand defence was like tho proverbial j rock. I knew that tho policy the Irish- : men were then following was wrong, and ! they got a hint or twe that it was wrong, j Twice they gave their threequarter lino a I chance and each time they ought to have | been encouraged in consequence. One of j these movements was well under way when an inexcusably bad pass brought I it. to nothing. On the other occasion T. i Hewitt, the left wing-threequarter back, j was all but over the goal line. In neither case was the movement instituted in tho New Zealand twenty-five. Both movements came moderately early in the first half, but no attempt to repeat | them was made. Subsequently it was | " kick, kick, kick " from the Irishmen j all tho time. Turn Which Never Came. The New Zoalanders, on the other hand, deliberately refrained from open attack at this period and, in my opinion, j rightly so. Indeed, it struck me that j they were deliberately letting tho IrishI men get tho ball so that the Irish backs : might be induced to continue the kicking ' game. The tourists knew, or thought I they knew, that their turn was coming, i and when it did como they would know ; how to use the high wind,'the firm turf, and the dry ball. And that turn never came! A few minutes before tho whistle blew for half-time the wind dropped—dropped suddenly, like a bird that had been shot— the flags hung limp on their posts, and a steady direct rain fell. But only for a few minutes. The wind sprang up again. _ I was just opposite tho halfway line, and I began to get a ducking, although I sat in a covered stand. It was then blowing at right angles to tho field of play. My period of ducking did not last long. Again the wind veered and the poor disappointed New Zealanders who had then changed ends had the mortification of feeling it once inoro in their faces. It increased in power and so did the rain. By this time tho ball was slippery and tho turf hyfl become insecure. Still the Irishmen hid not scored. Nor for tho matter of that had tho New Zealanders. But very early in the second half came the one ■■•j of the match. New Zealand were attaching at the time and a forward tossed the ball to Brownlie. Brownlie used his judgment as well as his strength and Svenson, discerning the possibilities of the situation, rushed up |on his right. It was all over in a flash. Brownlie went just far enough ere giving Svenson the ball and the latter, with a dash and a side-step, did the rest. Perhaps it was not exactly a great try, but it was an apt illustration of the value of quick decision and accurate execution.

A Gift to the New Zealanders. A little Inter came the penalty goal kicked by Nicholls and this was something of a gift to the winners. One of the Irish forwards, who, by tho way, was new to international football, was culpably off-side. One could not sympathise with him. On a former occasion he had made a similar careless blunder. Impetuosity uncontrolled by judgment is a tactical crime.

I had felt that a three-point lead was likely to be a winning one: I knew that a six-point lead was good enough. But tho Irish pack was still going very strong and breaking precedent in a way which naturally delighted tho crowd. Irish packs aro not wont to last through two gruelling forties," and when a really lino pack of this kind does last a " rush'' try or two, when tho weather is bad, is always a possibility. Great then was my surprise to seo the Irishmen try to win by other means. When their backs could reasonably have hoped to carry out bouts of passing they refused to try. Now, when it needed super Welshmen of tho old school to do this kind of thing effectively they made the attempt. Nor when they h got tho ball did they do what they wanted to do in tho right way. Cutting through is one thing: bullocking through quite another. You cannot bullock through a side of any acknowledged merit: when you can the side in question has i false reputation. It was ludicrous to try to " bullock" through the New Zealand defence. Yet that was what the Irish centre-threequartcr backs attempted to do more than once.

Impressions of Players. It was not a day for the making of personal reputation, but Nepia, if possible, enhanced his. I have spoken to men who liavo recently returned from witnessing some of the games played in South Africa by the British team. They tell me that in that country there is no fullback as good as Nepia. In England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, I am sure he has no rival. Admirable were Nicholls and Cooke against Ireland, and the more 1 seo Dalley play the more I am impressed by him. Onco again I thought Brownlio the best of the forwards — was just his day—but very much to the fore were Parker and Richardson.

ft is a great team, but still it ought riot to be invincible. Not yet has it met a. team whose back division can attack in combination, and intend to continue to try to do so regardless of what their increasingly famous opponents are doing. In other words, if and when the New Zealandcra are beaten they will be beaten by a team whoso backs arc definitely determined to attack in combnaton at any cost or risk.

NEWSPAPER COMMENTS. VISITORS DEFENDED. A. and N.Z.—Sun. LONDON. Dec. 7. Brigadier-General R. J. Kentish, British representative on tho Olympic council, condemns a letter in Sporting Life which suggests that England's team should include a clever place-kicker, who will reap the benefit of the penalties a strict referee would give them against the All Blacks. He, says fair-minded Englishmen will bo incensed at such insults to their guests and kinsmen. It was time that unfounded insinuations which antagonised Dominion .supporters were ended. Nepia was offered £1500, as well as a big salary, to join a N'tirtlieni Union c'uli, but 'refused tho oiir-r.