ALL BLACKS’ TOUR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20500, 30 August 1928, Page 15

ALL BLACKS’ TOUR.

THE SECOND TEST. A GRUELLING STRUGGLE, TOURISTS’ STERLING DISPLAY. FORWARDS IN FINE FORM. (Special to Dailt Times.) JOHANNESBURG, July 23. Mr A. J. Pienaar, president of the South African Rugby ..Union, correctly summed up the ; play in the; second test match, which was won by the. All Blacks after a gruelling struggle, by seven points to six, when he said the New Zealanders deserved victory because the forwards gave a sterling display, playing their best game of the tour, whereas the Springbok forwards were singularly devoid of life. It does riot detract from the New Zealand victory when it is emphasised that neither the South African forwards nor the South African halves played as welTas they did in the first test at Durban, but it is the old old story that no team can , play better than its opponents allow it to play, and one is left wondering to what extent the falling away of the South African team was due' to the vastly improved showing of the AU Blacks. The. tourists went on to the field determined'to win, and it was their determination which at one stage threatened completely to wear down the magnificent Springbok pack pitted against them. Without exception the whole or the touring team gave a remarkably fine account of itself. There was cohesion among the forwards which has so of ten been absent in some of the matches, while to a man they played the ball and , made things more than willing for the somewhat overconfident Springboks who, at one time, fairly wilted under the persistent pressure applied against them. But even so, one can scarcely conceive that the Springboks made most of the opportunities, and at a critical stage of the second halt when they were leading by six points to three, there wafc a fateful hesitancy about their play and weak reliance on the none too successful defensive kicking, _ which must have heartened the All Blacks and paved the way to their ultimate triumph. The military axiom that attack is the best defence has generally been accepted as a truism on the. Rugby field, but South Africa forgot it for a time, and it was only when the All Blacks had obtained their single point lead that the Springboks woke up and hurled a succession of thrustful movements on the New Zealand line which were beaten out on the . rocklike defence. In the final 30 minutes the All Blacks fought a stirring rearguard action which brought them a well-deserved victory. The home team fared well enough in the early stages to encourage them to play to the three-quarters. All went " according to plan ” when brilliant touch kicking for position was followed by sparkling three-quarter attacking movements. There was one particularly fine effort in which Brand ran down on the wing, and when checked some 15 yards from the line he dead centred a crosskick in front of the AH Blacks’ posts, where Prctorious and Daneel had followed up in anticipation, but the ball bounced badly and a Trausvaaler, in attempting to gather, knocked on, and so wbat proved to be the best movement of the match went unrewarded. Still, though unable to dominate the the same extent as the Springdid at Durban, the home side had the better of the exchanges, and Mostert opened the scoring with a magnificent drop goal from a yard or so inside the halfway line from a mark, and Brand made an almost equally brilliant effort with a kick from almost the same position which struck an upright and rebounded into the field. • The first mishap that overtook the Springboks was an injury_ to Tod, the right wing, which left him lame and practically; ineffective for the rest of the match, and Pretorius had to be taken out of the scrum to assist the threequarter linci From .this stage the Springboks virtually lost their advantage. Instead of packing eight forwards against seven, such as one expects in a match between South. Africa and New Zealand, it was largely a case of South Africa playing ‘seven men against their opponents’ eight, as the New Zealanders were often packing three men in their front rank. They brought, Stewart, the rover, into the front row on the inside, arid thus gave the tourists a loose head, which permitted what is generally their first hooker to hook the ball and thus turn the tables on South Africa, .who have hitherto enjoyed that advantage. While no dOubt the extra weight played its part in wearing down the South African pack, a mulled pass by one of the three-quarters presented Strang with an opportunity, on which he pounced like a hawk. Footing the ball past Tindall, the- latter managed to recover, but under the pressure miskickcd to touch, near his own corner flag. . The All Blacks made valiant efforts to .force their way over, but-vthe Springbok forwards staunchly responded and won their way clear-to the twenty-five line, where a penalty for offside gave the All Blacks an opportunity, and the sure foot of Lindsay enabled them to equalise the scores and incidentally bring his tally of points to half a hundred in six matches.

But if the first half was largely in favour of the Springboks, the All Blacks came into their own in the second half when they Lad much -the better of the game territorially. ■ A penalty against the All Blacks, seemingly for an illegal tackle, enabled Bennie Osier to give bis team the lead, and once this Was obtained the Springboks either contented themselves with a drab exhibition of defensive play or else_ were forced on to defence by the sterling work of the .All Blacks’ hacks, who seemed to be completely wearing down their opponents. At this stage, too, the defensive kicking of the inside players deteriorated, and the long, accurate touch-finders which had extricated the Springboks from difficult positions in most of. the big matches began to fail. Osier’s kicking fell away, but he persisted in touch kicking and punting, generally to the full-back, whose returns kept his forwards on the attack. The superb marking of the New Zealanders was largely responsible for this.- Whenever the ball came out a couple of men followed; hot after it, and gave no time for leisurely kicking. The. ball had to be got rid of quickly 'or else its possessor was downed with more vigour than ceremony. There was no by yopr leave ” about the. play of the All Blacks at this fateful stage of the game. One and all they rose to the occasion. ' Whenever they got the ball they made use of it, launching attacks_out to their wings who, however, were given little scope by the defence, and had no hope of-'penetrating,.with the result that they, frequently changed their direction of attack with a pass infield. .It was a movement like this after the South Africans had been bottled near their own twenty-five for a considerable period, that enabled Strang to score the drop goal that Won the match. The ball came from a scrum to Strang, who saw his line held up by. several defenders, and without hesitating the clever little AH Black dropped the ball in his stride and kicked it clean between the uprights from an acute angle. This had the effect of waking up the Springboks, and once again their forwards took control and the backs launched movement after movement, but it -was all too late. The. All Blacks had the lead, and they hung cm to it with grim tenacity. Never a man was unmarked 1 as the Springbok lines came .up : in ■ attack.' and never a man missed his tackle. Throughout the New Zealanders played as if sure of the result, and on each occasion the Springboks attacked it was the signal for the tourists to redouble their efforts, -whereas the Springboks’ play lacked the same persistent sting. The whole of the All Blacks’ pack played’a, great game. Maurice Brownlie set a fine example to the team, and the other outstanding men were Stewart, Finlayson, M’Williams and Hazlett. But the whole of the pack gave their very best, and were dominating the game until about 20 minutes before the end. when Hadley injured his collarbone and was unable to scrum down in the front row. Dailey and Lindsay were the most distinguished of the backs. The former was a towfr of strength tfl his side, while the full-back never'put a band or foot wrong throughout. His kicking was superlatively good and his defence was equal to all the demands. _ Indeed, he really saved his side when Vander-West-huizen broke through and seemed sure to score, but he was downed by the speedy All Black full-back.