THE FIRST TEST MATCH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20597, 23 June 1930, Page 8

THE FIRST TEST MATCH.

The visiting British Rugby team has tried conclusions with New Zealand in the first test match, and has won it. A dramatic victory, snatched at the last moment, it confirms the reputation of the side as one which believes in attack all the time as the major point of tactics —a belief which will not lessen its popularity with the New Zealand public. The visitorsare to be heartily congratulated upon having gained first points in the series of test matches. The result will intensify the interest with which the following ones will be awaited. For New Zealand the reverse should not be without its valuable lesson. The selectors have been criticised keenly over their choice of a team for the first international. That was inevitable. A Prime Minister selecting a Cabinet does not meet so much or such intensified criticism as the board which chooses an All Black team. In one particular the comment seems to have been justified by the outcome. Little fresh blood was introduced. The selected players almost all had established reputations—established rather too long ago, the critics have said. To the ordinary observer, the selectors appear to have missed an opportunity. The occasion to be venturesome, to try new players, was surely the first test match. It was necessarily less critical than those which will follow, with one reverse already suffered. They have reduced their opportunities of discovering new men qualified to represent New Zealand, and have put themselves in such a position that they must be cautious about trying to do so. For all that, the selectors will be wise if they accept as the lesson of the first test the simple truth that even a representative footballer cannot escape the effects of passing years.