LATE SPORT

NZ Truth, Issue 998, 10 January 1925, Page 8

LATE SPORT

OUR NATIONAL FIELD GAME

Vindicated !

WALES EASILY DEFEATED

All Black Forwards Shine,

(By E. E. Booth— Special "N.Z.T.") SWANSEA, November 29.

The second All Blacks team, by their overwhelming defeat of Wales, have certainly achieved their, greatest performance to date, establishing full proof of their prowess, besides removing the only stigma of defeat against their predecessors m 1905.

Such a performance by so young a team is remarka.bly meritorious, and marks the fulfilment of their ambition so far. The consumation of their desire is. to establish an undefeated record, and they are fast approaching that end, with every prospect of success.

They are now literally at the zenith of their form and power, and the most marked of the factors of their predominence is their virility, determination, confidence, allied to their undoubted fine physical qualities. After playing- over twenty matches together they have remedied most of their weaknesses and established themselves as a combine, with' fullest mutual understanding;. '

In the ordinary course of events the only way to defeat them will be to oppose them to a similarly built up confederacy of players. ' This is not likely to happen as the usual English procedure is to "wait and see." Just as Wales . was much too dilatory m making sufficient provision, so England, with bi-weekly lessons of defeat to. its sides, and the ex-perience of Ireland and Wales to profit by, awaits the future.

This meeting of Wales and New Zealand has been much expected and eagerly anticipated, and, consequently, an outstanding contest was looked forward to. Viewed, however, from an International standpoint, it was much below standard and disappointing generally.

As an exposition of the game between two teams o.f selected champions it .was neither impressive nor inspiring, lacking m most of the super qualities usually attached to a contest of this kind. There was a most palpable absence of any combined excellence or any sustained, brilliancy on either side.

The scientific spectacular features of Rugby were almost hidden under the o: ah ruggedness, the virility and spoiling adaptation of both sides. There were, Of . course, occasional flashes of great merit, such as Svenson's try, fine dashes by Cooke, '.Parker and Steel, also Irvine's second try, dashes by the Welsh greyhound, Harding, and some play by Delahay and Wetter,-; until hurt. Both full-backs, Nepia and Johhstone, were outstanding personalities and actual factors m the whole game, especially the former. These and some Titantic efforts by M. Brownlie, Richardson, and Cupples were nearly all flashes of the individualistic kind.

There existed an over-keenness that mitigated against a display of best collective play. Both sides were screwed up to concert pitch, and at some periods play almost degenerated into a disorganised scramble, devoid of either method or polish. The better qualities of play 'were submerged m a swarming struggle of virility and physical turmoil. *'■■''

Both sides .on occasions became heated, several players being quietly "worded" by an over-patient referee. .

As a result of, the two foregoing matches at Newport and Cardiff, when the Welsh packs made at least a creditable showing it was confidently expected that this We.sh International forward division would be the deciding factor m the game. . So confident were the. Welsh selectors of their pack that they altered their- formation to seven instead df eight, playing the same formation as New Zealand. This signally failed for several reasons and aroused the most latent vitalityMn the New Zealand vanguard; toi whom the honors of the victory are undoubtedly due.

The Welsh, m stemming the All Black torrent m the backs to some extent (although this Welsh effort, too, lacked experience and speed), simply played right into- the hands ,of the New Zealand pack, who simply dominated matters afterwards. Wales weakened what was actually its strongest point. It was a case of ambition "overleaping itself.

The Welsh team thus failed ignominiously as representatives of Welsh football to even fully extend their opponents. Newport had put up a more strenuous and skilful opposittion. In this- game all the intricacies of , the Welsh back play were absent. Their resolutions (except m tackling— their best feature) seomed somewhat -wavering as they kicked much too often, m something of a nervous state to get clearance of the ball. This is. m marked contrast to the old Welsh game of keeping possession at all costs and . repassing with many lei nds 1 * of fashion, confidence and trickery.

- The issue of the game was ndver m doubt and directly both teams walked on the rfield the Welsh, m their scarlet jerseys^suffered very much' in physical compacison with the well set up, round limbed- *~Maorilanders; The Welsh appeared more' angular and much lighter-; ••■' -besides lacking m actual stature..

There us little wonder that with such a physical discrepancy that Wales lost, especially when several of the Welsh team were getting into the veteran stage and some had been installed on. past reputations. Generally lacking m skill, speed, and science, they were completely outplayed by a much younger set of more accomplished artists. ■ . ''

The All Blacks not only showed a, superiority m actual scrummaging",: but the.' forwards displayed much better footwork, m the oioen, more aptitude for handling, and getting possession on the line-outs. In the latter stages as instancing the lack of judgment, the -Welsh played a 3-3 scrum — six men only.

The Welsh; resistance did not equal either that of Newport or of Cardiff m the final 20 minutes, and the game was not: nearly so inspiring as even the Swansea match, where the New Zealand backs showed more precision arid collective thoroughness.

There is no doubt that the moral effects of former defeats of the Welsh clubs was reflected m this International side's display. .. The result is without question an irrefutable proof of the deterioration of Welsh . football, and to see a Welsh team so completely out-manoeuvred m almost , every point of play was an experience I had never hoped to see. Whilst prophecying an All Black victory, I never suspected a demolition of, Wales. There was nothing m the Welsh play reminiscent of the past. Lack of leadership, want of penetration, indifferent passing, forwards as individuals slogging against .the black avalanche of persistent aggressive attack and determined defence was like the sea beating itself against a high rocky, cliff.

The element of luclc was against the •Welsh, otherwise they might have opened the scoring by kicking a penalty goal or two. Most of' the penalties given m the match were against Wale**, mostly for wilful offside play, principally 'by Morris. Their over- Anxiety made them, overrun the ball and come round the scrum too soon.

Th'e nature o f the scoring, all by the forwards, except Svenson's try, is most indicative of the general order of the play and the respective merits of the All Blacks' play. It is a singular index to the whole game and quite exceptional; of the tour.

The .scoring list itself does not adequately; show the true difference between the teams. Notice must be

taken that both Steel and Parker actually crossed, the effort lacking successful finality owing to a foot having slipped a few inches over the touchline.

Harding and Finch both made sensational runs for Wales too. The N.Z. backs missed quite three easy chances of scoring through weak fielding, mr sufficient backing up and dilatory passing. Several times Cooke ran clean away from his supports.

Altogether against the opposition the wonder is the New Zealand backs did not alcomplish more scoring. Their passing was inclined to be too long. Still, reviewing the New Zealand display, it was distinctly meritorious and most particularly m the vanguard where the game was won. The real New Zealand forwards materialised at. the most opportune time.

Had Wales played many younger, heavier and better forwards they undoubtedly have, and maintained the established concrete eight pack they would have mer^d Avith less points against them and more honors.

Irvine's dash for his second try was the culmination of some fine solo dribbling past Johnson, the Welsh back. In fact, the other tries were the result of massed foi*ward • movements, close to the line, by dribbling and rucking, then the quick grasp of the ball, ' and a flying- Black player shot like a torpedo over the chalk line.

The referee, Colonel J. Brunton, had a most unenviable task, which he carried out with honor and impartiality. During the game the crowd demonstrated several times against him. He was rather indulgent, allowing the Welsh too much latitude m coming wilfully offside, and over allowance of time granted the Welsh lying on the ball, which taxed the All Blacks' patience to such an extent that it became exhausted and consequently they resorted to other methods of persuasion which were ■effectived even if the crowd boohed some.. Like previous English referees ho does not encourage "markings," and has most technical interpretations of knocking on and fair catches.

Much of the warmth shown by both sides was the result of continued mauiings and melees for possession of the ball. The referees over here have orders to minimise scrums as much as possible, hence their allowing these bad features to continue. I persoially trace much of 'all the trouble to this. This matdi required most diristie measures at the very start. !ntoinational players should not need enforced firmness. Still the referee emerged well from probably the greatest test that any referee could be submitted to.