RUGBY TRIALS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23320, 13 April 1939, Page 14

RUGBY TRIALS

INTER-ISLAND GAME ALLOCATION TO WELLINGTON CRITICISM OF OUTSIDE UNIONS Several of the Rugby Unions wlneli have been criticising the allocation of, tlio inter-island match to Wellington j again this year have goorl cause to] .complain that they have, not received just treatment down through the years, says a Wellington writer. There is not flio slightest question that the game should go round. But there is not any doubt either that final trial matches for the selection of New Zealand teams should be played in a central town, and Wellington, by virtue of its geographical position, must bo that town. Most unions will probably agree that this should bo so. Their quarrel is not with the allocation of trial games, but with the venue of the North-South fixture. The decision to give this match to Wellington for the third year in succession was apparently conditioned by the fact that All Black trials are being played here. But this should not have influenced tho position. A Definite Weakness

It is a definite weakness in the methods employed in the selection of] New Zealand teams that inter-island ] games should be regarded as trials. As an indication of the relative strength of the selected first fifteens of both islands they no doubt serve their purpose, but as a measure of tho all-round calibre of football- in tho two islands they may be a very poor yardstick. Yet, so far as the choice of sides both to tour Australia and to play Australia here is concerned, the NorthSouth match is almost invariabty used as tho basis of selection.

On very few occasions in the pnst have those responsible for the personnel of .sncli All Jilack teams included players who did not appear in the interi island fixture. The flaw in tlie system | is obvious. Tlie chances that the men | who play in this game are the best -JO ! players in the country are a 100 to 1 against. Yet, 011 the form shown, a New Zealand team is selected, and some admirable footballers who did not play in the match are left lamenting on the the touchline. Selective Tests Needed A side is to tour Australia. Maybe four wingers are wanted. What happens? Tlie four who appeared in the North-South game are chosen. Two might have been outplayed—might be definitely inferior to others in either island —but they go in just the same. They .were good enough f6r island teams. Fallacious reasoning, of course. Play the inter-island match by all means, but never as a trial in any year. Selective tests should be something quite apart. Such a system would mean added expense. Hut what of it? The players should be the first consideration. The North-South game this year will be regarded as a trial, and as a result, with other trialists added to bring the total up to (30 or 70, island representation may bo found to be more or less equal. Such a position, it can be said with certainty, would not by any means reflect the true distribution of .Rugby talent in New Zealand. Then, again, the selection of trial players from nominations without any preliminary district tests is always something of a "hit-and-miss" business. District trials have their weaknesses—there is not a system that has not — but they do serve to direct attention to men who really have the qualifications, who really deserve to bo sent forward for final trials. As it is, there may he, as there was in 1937, quite a number of players appearing in the trials who will not have a chance of selection from the start. There may also bo some first-class men who will not get even as far as Wellington.