ALL BLACKS

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 12007, 9 December 1924, Page 10

ALL BLACKS

OFF-SIDE ALLEGATIONS GENERAL, KENTISH CONDEMNS SUGGESTION. INSULT TO VISITORS. Bv Teleirraob—4«*i>.— Corrrright (Sydney “Sun”- Cable.) LONDON. December 7. Brigadier-General Reginald Kentish, British representative on the Olympic Council, condemning a letter in “Sporting Life” suggesting that the English representative team should include a clever place-kicker who will reap the benefit of many penalties a strict referee would give against the All Blacks, says that aH fair-minded Englishmen will be incensed at euch insults to our guests and kinsmen. It is time, he declares, that such unfounded statements and insinuations, which only antagonise the Dominion player*, w ere ended.

TEMPTING OFFER

BIG SALARY FOR NEPIA. Several All Blacks have rejectee tempting offers t<> join Union clubs. Nepia ha? been offered £ISOO and also a big salary.

GETTING THE BALL

ALL BLACKB' TOUR W. J. STEAD’S STRONG COMMENT. ‘T have had letters from both E. E. Booth and P. A. Vile, ex-British international,” said Air W. J. Stead (In- . vercargill), vice-captain of the 1905 All Blacks, when asked if he would care to say something about the progress of the All Blacks to date. “They look at the subject from two different standpoints, consequently their opinions are particularly valuable. Both are of opinion that English Rugby has not improved. Booth is especially emphatic. He says he does not think the play has improved one iota since 1905. He also says: ‘Yon know about the Welsh debacle,’ meaning that the game has gone back in Wales. “Vile says he does not think he would have such a bad time as halfback against the present All Black side aa he did in 1905. He had, at the time of - writing, refereed one match and seen three others, and he Bays that, in all of these engagements the local side had got its share of the ball. Although I say it myself, it .was mighty seldom that any English team got the ball from us in 1905. HAWKE’B BAY TEAM WOULD SUCCEED. “I can’t fatlieom the team at all. They don’t seem to have got the scram. Booth is a very shrewd judge and, although I have not seen eye to eye with him in the past on some aspects of football, I value his opinion on tho play very highly. He sees with colonial eyes and knows what we regard as good football. My own honest opinion is that the Hawke’s Bay team would ’ tour Britain with equal succors. I also think that until Rugby at Horae is hacked by the masses it will never improve. They have surely had an object lesson in the different teams from all parts of the Empire in the last thirty years or so. With all these teams travelling it must have shown them that their football was not up to standard. I am very strongly of the opinion that it is the support of the public that is needed. Booth says that the gamo is still largely confined to the leisured classes. “I think our team has been fortunate in meeting Wales at a lean period, just as the Springboks caught New Zealand on the hop a few years ago. I don’t care what kind of weather it is for the English match, the turf at Twickenham will be good. I would-only prophesy a win if they are sure of .getting the hall. England has got bulks, from what I have read and fossicked out, and if they are going to get * seven-five chance with the hall they might make themselves very formidable playing a forward game. “Wakefield mentions the need of trying to beat tho All Black/, on tbe lineout, and the reported non-success in •he scrums leads me to think that they have developed their line-out play. If the All Blacks get the ball in the scrum I should say they will win. They now hare a good chance of beating onr record, and this I would think would bo their biggest incentive. “GRAVE TROUBLE AHEAD.” “I can’t get over the omission of Badeley. I think he is their first five- * eighty with Nicholls and Cooke in that order out from the scrum. I wonder if the mariher in which ■ the captaincy was taken away from him has anything to do with it? The tour has lost interest for me. largely on account pf Badeley, and, if this is true, I think when tho whole thing is threshed out Auckland will go over to Leagne. They are already smarting under a sense of injustice. They feel what was done then over Wright. I may he pessiniistic, but I foresee grave trouble if this Is correct. If one of the Southland representatives was treated in this way, don’t you think we would be hostile? I can’t see, with the poor scrum work, that these other players could have, improved so much as to make Badeley into a second-rater. I hope I am-wrong. That’s all.” —Christchurch “Stai” special telegram.

BADELEY’S POSITION

A POSSIBLE EXPLANATION. COACHING THE TEAM. Letters which have been received in Wellington from members of the All Blacks’ party indicate that during the early part of the tour at Home there was a strong feeling among the members of the team and those associated with them that unless the form generally improrod the outlook for the remainder of the tour could not he regarded ,ns bright. The need of a coach was keenly felt. The players were "training, and doing the best they could under the circumstances, but the course did not appear to bo suited to all inom--1 ets of the team, some of whom, showing signs of staleness, required somewhat different preparation to the others. The position was not improved by the action of the English Rugby Union in deciding against an official coach-trainer. The team, therefore, agreed to make use ot services available from its own ranks, and, according to the reports by letter, Cl Badeley, who captained the team on the preliminary tour to Australia, vas appointed to act as coach. This would account for the fact that he has taken part in only two matches.