ALL BLACKS V. MAORIS

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12404, 25 March 1926, Page 8

ALL BLACKS V. MAORIS

EXHIBITION MATCH PROPOSED TO FOSTER GAME IN VICTORIA WOULD IT BE WASTED? By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. SYDNEY, March 24. A newspaper sporting writer, referring to the proposal from New Zealand that Al! Blacks and Maoris should play an exhibition game at Melbourne, says: “Such match would be the greatest football fixture of any code st.ogcd for some years, but it would, he wasted on the public of Victoria, where the Australian Rules game is invincible and the Rugby code is hut little understood or appreciated.” BETTER PLAYED IN SYDNEY The writer soys that he feels that a match between two South Wales teams of decent standard would give all the demonstration necessary it* Melbourne. If. as the result of the exhibition, public interest in the game was evinced, New Zealand teams could be sent over in subsequent years. There is' no doubt that if an All Black-Maori match wuere played .n Sydney followers of both Rugby codes would take the opportunity of seeing the game at played by two New Zealand teams of first-class standard. SCRUM FORMATIONS * Another argument in support of a Sydney match is that New South Wales is seriously considering returning to the two-three-two scrnm formation and a wing-forward, especially in view of the report of Mr Harold Baker, manager of last year’s New South Wales team which visited New Zealand. In his report he said that the principle of wing-forward play had been considerably changed, and in place of the old stumbling block of the past is a roving hack or extra five-eighth, who, more often than not, is a distinct advantage to the hacks rather than a hindrance to

the forwards. Hitherto critics haVe been able _ to base their arguments only on exhibitions of one side playing a seven pack and the other an eight pack, with the referee probably all at sea. A great deal more would be demonstrated and learnt from an exhibition of two teams playing with the seven pack and wingforward game, such as would be the case in a match All Blacks against Maoris, when the wing-forwnrds would be opposed to each other and each could be used to make opportunities to demonstrate and amply show his position.