TEST DEFEATS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23034, 11 May 1938, Page 24

TEST DEFEATS

DOMINION STANDARD FORMATION OF SCRUMMAGE .THREE MEN IN FRONT ROW DELEGATES COME TO DECISION lb wis anticipated that delegates to the annual meeting of the New Zealand Rugby Union would have something to say regarding the standard of the game in the Dominion, and that they would express widely divergent views. The defeat of New Zealand in the test series last season provided the delegates with ample scope for ventilating their feelings. The most lengthy discussion took place regarding the scrum formation that should be adopted, together with a rearrangement of back play to coincide with the change. Eventually the meeting. favoured the adoption of a three-fronted scrum, it being left an open matter as to how the men behind the front row should be placed. Experience of selecting New Zealand teams over a period of something like 14 years had proved to Mr. E. McKenzie, Wairarapa, that each set of selectors in turn had done its job. Yet from time to time the number was changed. "While teams were winning, he said, the method was held up as the best, but when, as happened last year, the New Zealand team lost the rubber there were bricks for the selectors'. He did not think that the desire to have the alteration in number of selectors was brought about by anything else than the result of the game. Various suggestions were put forward as to?the number of selectors required for the North Island, South Island, and New Zealand teams. Eventually, it was decided that there be three selectors for each island and one for choosing the New Zealand team.

POOR CAPTAINCY .WEAKNESS IN jUE GAME SOME PLAIN SPEAKING At the meeting there were some references to leadership and captaincy. "One (treat weakness with our methods," said Mr. S. S. Dean, chairman of the management committee of the New Zealand Union, "is in not giving our players the chance of showing their capability in captaincy on the field." Personally, he would like to see the captain as a selector.

• '"A" "weakness in football to-day ia captaincy," said .Mr. G. Pownall, Wanganui, at another stage of the meeting.:; "The teaching of leadership should be one of the essentials. The lack-of it was exemplified in the matches last year with the Springboks "The captaincy in the third test last Tear was* nothing short of shocking. Unless captains in particular are taught to think and reason things ont for themselves, our standard of play will not improve. "Time and time again you see a match lost because a captain not the brains. You have to Use vour brains. The game is not always to the swift." It was Mr. Pownall's firm conviction that something on captaincy should be included in the new book being prepared for Rugby in the schools.

INTERNATIONAL RULES REPLACEMENT OF PLAYERS ,r ", . Presenting the report upon the playing aspect of the game, Mr. E. McKenzie gave it as his opinion that if international rules were to be adopted they should be adopted in their entirety. By that he meant that the replacing of players should be eliminated. There were no replacements in international matches, and, citing the case of last year's first test—in which New Zealand was a man short for most of the game—he said that players should be prepared for such an emergency.. Delegates, however, agreed to the recommendation that, with the adoption of international rules, the present x practice, of replacing injured player* ; should not. be interfered with.

REPRESENTATIVE GAME / MATCH AGAINST WAIKATO Auckland's sole selector, Mr. F. W. Lucas, is keeping a close on the game and its players. He has attended Eden Park on both Saturdays of senior championship matches, and last week was out' on the sideline on No. 1 ground in order to get the best view possible of what was going on. The first representative •fixture of the season will be against Waikato at Hamilton on June 6, and in the course of the next fortnight or so the selector may be expected to announce the names of the players he has chosen for training for this match. There is every indication that there is going to be keen competition for senior'' championship honours this season.. With only two matches played, there are but three teams which have not yet suffered defeat —Grafton, Grammar and Marist. Ponsonby and North Shore have each had one loss, while Otahuhu, Manukau and University have yet to register a win. The following games will be decided next Saturday in the first division of • the championship:—Otahuhu v. North Shore. Grafton v. Marist, Grammar v. University, Manukau v.. Ponsonby. The meeting of the two unbeaten teams, Grafton and Marist, is likely to create exceptional interest. It will probably be played as the main attraction, and a keen encounter seems assured. . With the transfer of R. H. Ward from Southland to Hawke's Bay, the selector for the latter province will have four All Black forwards to call upon, the other three being T. Reid, E. Jackson and D. Dalton. The Hawke's Bay team should be a particularly strong one this season.