NEW ZEALAND RUGBY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18897, 20 December 1924, Page 34 (Supplement)

NEW ZEALAND RUGBY.

INTERNATIONAL BECOBD. J ORIGINAL ALL BLACKS. DEFEAT OF ENGLAND. FINISH OF A FAMOUS TOUR. BY C. S. TENDALL.' CHAPTER- VIII. NOTABLE VICTORY OVER ENGLAND. In the previous chapters I dealt with the wonderful tour of Britain and lieland of the famous All Blacks of 1905, with particular reference to the unfortunate decision of the referee which resulted im their only loss of the tour at Cardiff, against Wales. Since the Welsh match deprived them of the honour of returning to New Zealand with an unbeaten record, the story of the game has been retold again and. again, both here and in Britain, and it is unnecessary to go over the whole business' onco more. Perhaps on this account, too, we heard very little of the All Blacks' most notable success, in which they defeated England so decisively. In a week or two the present New Zealand team will meet England again; and for this reason it is worth recalling that great contest of 19 years ago. The game was played at the Crystal Pake© ground on December 2, and the attendance was anything between 45,000 and 50,000. The ground was wet and heavy. New Zealand fielded tho following side: — Fullback, Gillett; three-quarters, Wallace,. Deans, and McGregor; fiveeighths, Stead and Hunter; half, Wallace; forwards, Tyler,' Casey, O'Sullivan, Newton, Glasgow/ Seeling, McDondonald, and Gallaher. The All Blacks j scored no less than five tries, none of which . were converted, Wallace having j three unsuccessful shots and Gillett two. "This was a pleasantly-contested game, plenty of vigour being shown,-and there, were comparatively lev.- free kicks, ' wrote Mr. George H. Dixon, in his history of the tour. "Very early in the game it became apparent that New Zealand were tho better side, and as play progressed there was very little doubt about the result. England played five threequarters, but their efforts were mainly confined to defence. New Zealand began' to press at once,, and five minutes from the kick-off the first try was secured by McGregor. Ten minutes later he was over again as the result of a clever ;' feint by Stead. '•• Throughout the.first spell play was' rarely located on the New Zealand side of the half-way flag, though occasional brief lodgment was effected by means of long kicks, and really only once the home forwards brought off a good rush. The first spell ended with the score at 9 to 0, all our tries having been secured near the corner, and none having been converted owing to the difficult angles and the heavy ball." "In the second spell," continued Mr. Dixon, "the play was of a more even character, but England's best efforts \ were made toward the close of the play, when their cause appeared hopeless. At no time, however, did the English side appear dangerous. They certainly succeeded in preventing any score for the first half-hour in .the second spell, but the one-sidedness of the game, even at this stage, may be gathered from the fact that for the first 15 minutes of the second half the Englishmen were not ' inside New Zealand territory. New Zealand's last two tries were obtained in the final ten minutes' play. " Our forwards were much the solider pack and obtained possession practically the whole time, thus affording the backs numerous opportunities for attack. That the latter did not score more frequently was mainly attributable to the sodden ball, heavy ground, and to some extent to the fact that "cutting" was too frequently indulged in by the insides. Considering the state of the ground and ball the New Zealand passing was very accurate." Of the All Blacks' five tries McGregor scored no less than four and Newton was responsible for the fifth. That wonderful half-back. Roberts, worked the blind side successfully on two occasions. This must have been one of the most pleasant matches played by the original All "Blacks. i There was no vouch play and the Englishmen were loud in their praises of the victors. CHAPTER IX. REMARKABLE GOAL KICKING. By contrast with the present All Blacks the. "originals" owed ho small measure of their success to their ability fo kick goals. In this department W. J. Wallace, of Wellington, was the one great star. In matches played in Gre.'.fc Britain Wallace kicked no less than 70 goals from tries out of 126 attempts, a remarkable achievement if alb the circumstances are taken into consideration. /When every match, played by the All Blacks 13 included Wallace's record was: Attempts, 143; goals kicked, 75. In addition he potted two goals and kicked three penalties. Seventeen other players also did some kicking, with more or less success (mostly less), but the chief work rested on Wallace's shoulders —there was no need to look elsewhere - when he ' took the field. The most prolific try-getter for the All Blacks was J. Hunter, of Taranaki, with Wallace and Deans next on the list in that order. The scorers of tries throughout the four are shown in the following table:— Matches in Other Great Britain. Hatches. Total. TTunter . . . 39 .~> 44 Wallace . . . . 10 11 .10 Deans .... 1" ."> 22 Smith .... V.) n in Thomson - . . f- . . 0 -,' 17 McGregor .. Ifi 0 k; Abbott . . .. 12 .'{ ].5 Roberta .... 12 3 J 5 Mvnott .. .. II .1 js Stead .... 0 '2 ii Seeling .... 8 0 fi <;'-<""-v/ ..,.(■. 2 8 Nicholson ~ 0 1 7 TTarr>«r .... - 4 '> G McDonald 1 " rj Booth , .. .. 5 0 r» Johnston . . :i flo C"i'n?h!im 1 i o Tvl»r .... '2 0 2 o'«ullivan .. 1 n i i Gillett .... 1 o i Gaucher ..1 0 N«>"'™ .... 1 0 , Mackrell ... 0 1 j Thirty-two carries were played in the TTnited Kingdom, of whiVlf m were won In these matches the All Blacks registered 205 tries, of which 96. or nearly half, were converted. Their line was crossed r.nly seven tiroesremarkable evidence of the solidness of their defence. CHAPTER X. 'JDK Torn SUMMED Vl'. Before finally leaving the subject of the tour of the. original All Blacks, it, is worth while quoting in pome detail tin summing up of the New Zealanders' visit by "Philistine" of the London Athletic Aews, for which -T am also indebted to Mr. George Dixon's book : - "What a glorious record the New Z'a- i Innder.s have created and what a splendid name they have made for themselves. ! Their tour of 1905 will live in the annals of Rugby football as the one big bright spot in the history of the game They have been beaten once, and they have fad several t narrow escapes, for even the final match—with Swansea-may be counted among the lucky victories'which rave marked tne closing fixtures. But when the impartial critic glance.. over the table . of returns and notices the mammoth score Off games in England, Scotland -nd Ireland, the unquestionable superior- : ,-.Jty..;of the colonials is undoubtedly an

"There is this to bo said with regard to the contests in .Wales: In the first place everyone agrees that tho New Zealanders play in" a style which resembles the Welsh system more than it approaches _ the methods of other countries or nations." Therefore in meeting Welshmen they were opposing adversaries who knew and appreciated just the very points on which the New Zealanders prided • themselves. The colonials were meeting Wales when a stateness had come over them. Ihe strenuous life of a footballer who is en devouring to keep himself fit from day to day is bound to tell its talc m the end. ' And that tale oil staleness has been told in the matches during the past fortnight No one would venture to assert that if the New Zealanders had met the Welsh clubs at the beginning of the tour the results would have been the same as they have turned out to be. Why, even the most enthusiastic supporter of tic Welsh Union was in despair when lie saw the pyramid of points rising after every match which the New Zealanders played in during the early weeks ott.no tournament, and" they prophesied defeat. But as time went on confidence oaine and to the Welshmen's credit it may be saia that they took the greatest precautions to find the. best team and to put thenmen in the finest condition. # "It will ever be a source of enjoyment to a New Zealander to look at the record the All Blacks have made. -the Wew Zealanders were tho pick of a co ony where the Rugby game is the pastime of the people. They cam© to England dancing on their toes with the electricity of the trained athlete, and they faced the stodgy Englishman, just home from the holidays, don't you know, and unprepared for anything that demanded nimbleness of mind and alertness of tody. They Have gone through a formidable list of fixtures with credit, and they have given Rugby footballers an object lesson that is . certain to have a good effect in the future. To those who talk of rough play it is only necessarv to state that in the .whole ot the matches there is only one instance where a player has been obliged to Seave \ the field before the game was finished, and , that instance was when 0 Sullivan, 8 ; New Zealander, by the way, was injured at Cardiff. Further comment is unnecessary." .. The above comment. I think, is a remarkable tribute to the old All-Blacks from one of the few English critics A that time who understood Rugby footbalh and appreciated the New Zealanders' methods and their remarkable cleverness and resource. Many hard things were said about them by some writers, chiefly Scottish, but they don't count, anyway. CHAPTER XT. MEMORABLE WELCOMJE HOME. On March 6, 1906, the now famous All Blacks returned home. They landed at Auckland, and their welcome was a memorable one. From the New Zealand Herald of the following day I quote the following extract: — "Like lambs they entered, but like lions they departed'from the Motherland, and yesterday, with something of the pomp and ceremony and triumph of a victorious army, the All Blacks once more set foot in the streets of th : city of Auckland. At noon the Sono.na was seen coming steadily up from the grey horizon 15 miles north of Tiritiri, and instantly the news was flashed to the waiting thousands in the city. Dense crowds soon surged around the waterfront, and at half-past one the ferry steamer Eagle, with members of the Rugy Union Committee, relatives of members of the team, representatives of various athletic bodies and former footballers of note on board left to meet the mailboat. The two vessels came closer together until the white Panama hats of the New Zealanders were distinguished on the hurricane deck, and to the accompaniment of roars of cheering and the strains of " Home, Sweet Home," plaved by the band, the ferry boat raced alongside the liner. " As soon as the news became known that tho Sonoma had been signalled crowds were thronging toward _ the wharves, and very speedily tho vicinity of the waterfront began to assume a holij day appearance. For the next hour the J maia arteries of traffic continued to pour a human flood into Lower Queen Street, until considerably after three o'clock, by which time the mailboat had anchored in the stream. Tho distant roar of cheering, band-playing, and bell-ringing . over, the vessel's side could he distinctly heard in the streets, telling tho e not on the water that at last the long wait had ended and tho All Blacks Lad arrived.. It was getting on for four o'clock when the,, team was landed at the Devonport Ferry, Company's wharf to the strains of- '• See the Conquering Hero Comes," .and the accompaniment of roars of cheering. " The scene was most exciting at this moment for the whole of the eastern side of Queen Street wharf was black with people; the poop of the fine German •barque Fulda was crowded, and there was not a window of the many in Endean's new building that was not filled with sightseers. " At tho Royal Hotel there was another ovation from a vast crowd assembled at the foot of Victoria Street, where the numbers of those who had waited were swollen by the followers of the procession. "A public reception at which great enthusiasm prevailed was held subsequently, and so tho great AT. Blacks came home." (To he continued.)