RUGBY FOOTBALL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23015, 18 April 1938, Page 15

RUGBY FOOTBALL

DOMINION' METHODS PACKING OF THE SCRUM LESSONS FROM SPRINGBOKS BACK PLAY SYSTEM WRONG [from OUR OWN correspondent] CHRISTCHURCH, Sunday "I am positive we shall be doing a service to the game in New Zealand if we adopt the methods of back attack which have proved effective in other countries," declared Air. J. T. Bur.{lo'j?' Zealand selector in 1936 and 1u V n a talk.to coaches arranged by tho Canterbury Itugby Union. A largo gathering of Ilugby enthusiasts listened with interest to the explanation by Mr. •Burrows of the scrummage system used ♦ •■. ? y ? ut ' 1 . African team which triumphed in New Zealand last year. °* v ' B,ue wa » learned about tmircir^ ln T T y cw Zealand team which !?" ed trreat Britain lh ly:J5, said Mr. Buriw™, JP.? d since been working on the vtP .! mw * -I he phenomenal success of W. it J ey a ?, a hooker on that tour had made mork, p^ar an essential part of the K. f 8 ®J '". e BCr /Uni , was to leave the rmfiV t e ? 0 P ,v °t on the shoulders of the - on ' , row . nien - He was convinced that inujrmciple had been the weakness of the thV"?. 111 ,f>ew Zealand. From it had arisen we .idea that it was worthwhile for a team nit a specialist hooker, who might th* » bls we ight in other departments of Ui game. e Springboks had exploded the whole Ir - Burrows. After the third test nn»«r a ' Auckland h'e had gone into the yneaupn thoroughly with members of I?, visiting team, in the first place there an»i no „,, f l ups 'ion at all of pushing at an •agie. the whole of the thrust in the scrum Hi 'd forward, and the hooker was so y bound to his outside men that, if he ® backward, the whole scrum moved nn nun. Again, it was apparent that New graiand did not understand the principles of ln» pai l kine ' 'fugby players had tried to pack i:" 3 ™ at the same time keep their feet well f«? ' South Africans showed that tho "i. even of the front row men, must bo far hack that if the resistance of the fin .scrum wero withdrawn they would l«.i il 9 n their faces. The further hack the •w» the lower the scrum was packed. No "Specialist" Hooker of the hall depended on co-Opera-liw. ii " e hooker and tho front row man in IsSi 111 011 "bich the ball was being put fnnt . "cruni. The hooker swung his further 'tinia u, and ,0 mcc ' 'be ball and at the same '< *(!!?? 'b e outside man swung forward his front J Jr'he packed down with one foot in front Other instead of parallel—and the two the hall and swept it down the Mr b between the hooker and his support. fh« S urr ? ws mentioned that as often as not hoi.-. i' L Africans hooked the ball back cnmKil n i■ feet . of the. outside man, the mIS. i- on .. working again in exactly the 'be channel down which the hall f '. ,vaH ' in effect, exactly the same • l!"xv ln " 1P ( ' flsc ot 'be old 2—3—2 scrum. sot npar 'be solution of the problem o v? w e packed the loose head with the scrum in South Africa in 1028," ■ Burrows. "It, only we had realised j *lth ii Hide adjusti;ient, we had the basis tin*,, 11 ™ principle in our old scrum formacarrv e South African idea was not io a specialist hooker, but to gain tho *Uv i,' nt Power by means of low packing, m .:, '.be feet back and the weight driving la#- A '' " lr hall. For successful hookh»W , re M " ls t be combination between the ■ tj 'SPck ami the hooker and his outside man. Craven and J. \V. Lotz had a most P«iect understanding Faulty Back Play dlirl'* ® ur . r ows said thai with four others, he imnlw ln Wellington'/<ways and means of I4nrf ? t '"' standard (it plav in New Zea- • a l n( ) the results of their discussions were 'tin a„,,V. in a I'irculur to unions. This report, inn 1 • wou ld come in for a lot of criticism, |mL" b , agreed that it would lie all for the in 'be game, but he was convinced that chun!! .respects New Zen la ml would have to frotiiS'i lts B'ile of play. Wlieu tho three- , serum was udopted New Zealand had h re ' a in 'he style of back play which •cm..,* 11 complementary to the traditional formation. W,»<v" as Obvious, however. Mb a t there was 'Of hail ln? i wro "i{ with New Zealand's system Indivwi v a >'- " was not merely that no great §|L 'uual players had been produced over The. reason, he thought, was to htJM ln 'be system. For years New ZeaKatiffil ■ \ of ked on the principle that pene- ™ ln back attack#- must com« from the

inside men. England and South Africa held that penetration must come from the threequarters, but it could not be argued that New Zealand had produced any first-class penetrative inside backs under the present system of play, certainly no one to compare with Sjiong. of the Britisn team of 1930, or Harris, or the Springboks. That was not proof, but it was strongly indicative of something being at fault in tne system. A longer pass from the base of the scrum, so that the backline had more room in which to work, was the method exploited successfully in other countries, and should be adopted in New Zealand, said Mr. Burrows. He did not argue that the bali should be thrown further toward the aide-line. It should merely go further back behind the scrum so that the first five-eighths still had the same choice of working the open or blind sides of the field. "If we do this, it will brighten and speed up our football, which has been advocated for many years, concluded Mr. Burrows.

SEVEN-A-SIDE TOURNEY

MATCHES AT DEVONPORT The seven-a-slde tournament' held by the North Shore Rugby Football Club on Saturday was very successful, and the senior games provided keen contests. The results were as follows: Junior Boys.—Shore A, 13, v. Otahuhu, 2; Eden A, 18, v. Shore B, 0. Semi-final: Shore A, 10, v. Eden B, 0. Final: Shore A, 25, v. Eden A, 0. Intermediate Boys.—Manukau, 9, v. Shore, 0; Otahuhu, 5, v. Eden, 3. Final: Manukau, 8, v. Otahuhu, 3. Sonior Boys.—'Only ono entry (Suburbs). Sixth Grade. —Suburbs A, 18, v. Shore, 0; Eden, 8. v. Suburbs B, 3. Final: Eden, 0, v. Suburbs A, 3. Fifth Grade. —Parnell, 13, v. Marist, 3; Shore, 13, v. St. George's, 0. Semi-final: Parnell. 13, v. Marist B. 3. Final: Parnell, 5, v. Shore, 0. Fourth Grade.—College Rifles, IJ, v. Parnell 8; Suburbs, 0, v. Ponsonby, 0; Eden, 6 v. Shore A, 0; Shore C, 18, v. Shore B 0. Semi-finals: Suburbs, 8, v. Shore C, 3; College Rifles, 5, v. Eden, 3. Final: Suburbs, 15. v. College Rifles, 0. „ . . „ Intermediates.—-Manukau, 8, v. Suburbs, 0; College Rifles, 13, v. Eden, 3. Final: College Rifles. 0, v. Manukau, 7. Third Grade. —Technical Old Boys, 10, v. Bh Junio"' Grade.—Grafton, 0, v. Technical A, 10, v. University, 2; Grafton. 16, v. Eden. 5; Grammar. 10, v. Shore B, 9. Scmi-finaiiOrammar 10, . Shore C. 0; Grafton, If, v. Shore A, », after four minutes extra play. Final: Grafton, 10 i IOY d h a m'p lon ship, in Football Attire.j H Kirldand (University). 1; A. Brown Grafton.' 2; Referees. 3.

MARIST CLUBS' TOURNEY GISBORNE RETAINS TROPHY [by telegraph—own correspondent] HASTINGS, Sunday The annual competition between Marist Rucby clubs was held yesterday. The results were as lollows: Brennan Cap (morning). Wellington Marist B, 8. Nipler Marist B, 0s Hastings Celtic, 14, Wanganui Marist, 6. Spillane Cup (afternoon). Wellington Marist A, 12, Napier Marist A, 6; Glsborne Celtic, 0, Palmerston North St, Patrick's, 0; Napier Technical, 3, Gisbornc Old Boys. 3. Gisborne retained the Lydford Cup SCHOOLBOY PLAYERS STATISTICS FOR DOMINION [BY TELEGBAI'H—OWN CORRESPONDENT] HASTINGS, Sunday Interesting figures, which show that 78,103 boys. 10 years and over, in schools throughout the Dominion play football, were made available for publication by Mr. G. A. Maddison, chairman of the New Zealand Rugby Football Council's committee to report on football in schools. The figures show that 52,070 boys are in primary schools, 2304 in intermediate schools, and 10,881) in postprimary schools. Mr. Maddison said the proposal to raise the school leaving age would probably mean a substantial increase in the number. The reason for the compilation of the figures for the different Education Board districts was to show thfi distribution of the schoolboy population. This could be nsed as

a guide in the allocation of monies, or in any efforts in connection with school football The distribution of primary school boys in the varlouß districts (with the numbers of intermediate boys in parentheses* is as follows : Auckland, 15,551 (1G!V2); Taranaki, 2568 (nil); Wanganui, 3832 (202); Hawke's Bay, 3f>o-i (200); Wellington, 6531 (342); Nelson, 1887 (nil); Canterbury, 807-1 (346); Otago, 4430 (182); Southland, 3337 (nil). PUTARURU SUB-UNION OFFICERS FOR THE SEASON A successful season s football was reviewed in the report of the Putaruru Rugby Football Sub-union presented at the annual meeting held in Putaruru. Arohena won the senior competition and the Ibboison Shield, while Putaruru won the junior competition and Leslie Shield, also the cup, presented by Mr. V. S. Meads, for the winners of a junior knockout competition. The three senior representative matches played bad all. been won by the union's representatives. A Junior team had travelled to Hamilton and it was hoped to give the players another trip this year. With the object of allowing clubs an opportunity of building up their teams, it was decided to play one round of the senior and junior competitions before the start of the championships. The knock-out competition will be held later in tlie season. The election of officers resulted as follows: —Patron, Mr, A G. Lcggatt; vicepatron, Mr. W. Yandlej vice-presidents, Messrs. 1-'. Brown, J. Campbell, K. S. Cox, I'. Cotter, F. W. Hosking, J. Jones, A. L. Mason, <>. A. I'earce. I\ J. Paitry, M. St. J. Paxton, A. B. Smyth and- A. Sloper; secretary, Mr. J. Etwell; delegates lo (he Waikato Rugby Union, Messrs. J. Orahume and N. O. flimmonds; treasurer, Mr. .7, I!. 0. Lochheail; selector, Mr. J. Grahame; management committee, Messrs. N. G. Simmonds and W. A. Paul and the Puketurua. Arapunl and Tokoroa delegates

TAURANGA . UNION [BY TELKCRAFH —OWN C'UUitKSPONDKNT] TAURANGA. Sunday 'i'here was a good attendance of footballers and club delegates at the annual meeting ot the Tauranga Rugby Union. Mr. K. .1 Rennie presided. The uunual report disclosed u credit balance of i."20, while the building fund had a credit of £2O. The flection of officers resulted as fotlows: —Patron, tiio Hon. B. C,. Kobbins, M.L.C.; president, Mr. K. J. Rennie; vicepresident, Mr. J. E. Ward; secretary, Mr. T. Wylie; treasurer, Mr. C. 1. Hardy; honorary surgeons, Drs, J. B. MacDiarnud, .1. Mark, S. Stuart and J. L. Frazerliurst; honorary auditor, Mr. A. J. Gallagher; honorary solicitor, Mr. H. O. Cooney; delegates to Bay of Plenty Union, Lieutenant h. J. Browning and Mr. G. Fisher; selector, Mr. J. Tanaitu; management committee, Lieutenant 15. -V. Browning. Messrs. c ' *b pr ; J. A. Ciulnness, J. MeF.wen, S. AMlllsms, junior advisory board, Messrs. J. Baxter. H. Wilson. WAIHEKE CLUB'S TOURNEY [from our own correspondent] PUTIKI BAY, Sunday The Waiheke Rugby Football Club arranged a very successful Easter seven-a-slde tournament on Saturday in conjunction with the opening of the Ostcrid Reserve. The matches were played on the reserve, six teams entering. A silver cup presented by the president of tho Waiheke. Club, Mr. H. G. Carter, was won by the Waiheke team. Tho results were as follows: —Waiheke, '2o, v. Grammar Old Boys, 0; Grammar Old Boys A. 13, v. Grammar B, 0; College Rifles, 8, v. Orniha Bay, Waiheke, 5; Grammar A, 6, v. College Rifles, 3. Final.—Waiheke, 8, v. Grammar A, 5. A school match between Ostend and Surfdale was won by Ostend by 21 points to 0.

The ri'fereees wero ' Messrs. G. E. Hill and 11. G. Carter.