CENTENNIAL RUGBY PLANS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23339, 6 May 1939, Page 12

CENTENNIAL RUGBY PLANS

Although plans for the All Black tour of South Africa next year were freely discussed at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Rugby Union in Wellington this week, comparatively little was said about the Rugby fai-e that is to be offered to New Zealanders themselves during Centennial year. There has been ample time for the authorities to see to it that the Dominion's national game is given due prominence during a period of national celebrations, but the official plans mean that New Zealand's chosen players will be absent in South Africa for practically the full duration of the 1940 season. There can be no argument against a regular interchange of visits with our greatest Rugby rivals, but, seeing that the Springboks were in New Zealand as recently as 1937, it should have been possible to arrange matters so that the Dominion was entertaining, not visiting, during her Centennial year. Commitments must be honoured, however, and thousands of New Zealanders next winter will follow anxiously the fortunes of their Rugby representatives on the fields of Capetown, Johannesburg and Durban. But, in spite of that, the New Zealand Rugby Union has a responsibility to bring the attractions of the game nearer home. The touring team in South Africa will not comprise all the Dominion's players who are up to international standard, and "a second All Black side could undoubtedly be placed in the field capable of providing firstclass exhibitions against a visiting team. An effort has certainly been made to arrange a tour by a British Universities' side, but the prospects in . this direction do not appear hopeful. Another suggestion is that the French Rugby Union should be invited to send a team to New Zealand, and this is a proposal that should be actively investigated.