THE BEST YET

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21539, 11 January 1932, Page 2

THE BEST YET

PRESENT SPRINGBOKS BUT BACKS FAILURES ORTHODOX METHODS. The South African Rugby team now demonstrating its prowess on British fields has made itself one of the most popular Dominion teams ever seen in this country, writes H. B. Heartland, South African Press correspondent with the South African team in the Daily Mail. With nearly half their programme completed, and still undefeated, the tourists have shown themselves a side of match winners. But something more than playing success is necessary to win the hearts of British sportsmen, and the popularity of the Springboks has been largely due to the spirit in which they have played their games. They account the method of play more important than the result, and their clean, sportsmanlike tactics have made friends of all who have opposed them on the field. There is a touch of romance in the rise of South African Rugby. Like all British games, Rugby -was introduced to the Cape by a few British settlers and civil servants, but the popularity of the handling code dates back only 40 years. In 1891 the English Rugby Union sent a missionary team to South Africa under the captaincy of W. E. Maclagan, a famous London Scottish forward, and the team carried all before it.

Maclagan had the true missionary spirit. He made his men rub their superiority into their opponents on the field of play, and at the pleasant convivial dinners following the matches he frankly told them their faults and what they had to learn. Once they had seen the game _as it should be played, it made an irresistible appeal to the young Afrikanders. On dirt grounds, as devoid of grass as an asphalt road, and almost as hard, the handling code obtafned its grip on the youth of the country, and it is not surprising that South ■ African Rugby has produced players noted for their hardiness and speed. Fifteen years after Maclagan’s team inade its missionary tour the first Springboks visited Great Britain, and such had been the progress in the interim that only two games were lost in a programme of 20 matches. NO CAPTAIN. ' Such were the haphazard methods of those days that when the team had embarked in the ship at the Cape it was found no captain had been appointed. A meeting of, players was held, and they elected Paul Roos as leader. In this casual fashion a captain, _ now recognised as one of the great international leaders, was produced. When the team arrived in London, Roos was approached by a Daily Mail reporter and asked to give his team a name, such as the All Blacks, by which the New Zealanders, who had toured the previous season, were known.

“We have a very pretty antelope in South Africa called the springbok,” replied Eoos. “I,think you had better call us the Springboks.: Not Springbucks, mind.” • ■ - ' Thus, by a compound English _ Bind Afrikaander word the South Africans wero ; known, and the name has since been applied to every national South African team.

All but four of the 29 men comprising the present touring party are of Afrikaander birth and speak Dutch in their homes. Almost half the team are university men, and they embrace a variety of professions. Three of the outstanding. players in a recent match at Twickenham, G. M. Daneel, J. A. JMacDonald, and D. Craven, are devoted to the Church. Ordained in the Dutch Reformed Church a few weeks before the team sailed from the Union, George Daneel with his polished play among the forwards has been one of the outstanding players in the side, and he has never lost an opportunity in proclaiming his faith at special sportsmen’s services, a* which he has occupied the pulpit in many of the cities in which the team has played. STUDENTS AND FARMERS.

MacDonald, who in recent matches has proved himself a great acoring forward and is one of the hardest men in the team, and David Craven, the 13Jst scrum-half who promises to he one of the stalwarts of the team in the internationals, are both divinity students at the University of Stellenbosch. Boy Louw, the 16st giant, is a bank clerk. He is ranked the beet forward in the team, and in one of the Twickenham matches was Been to eling an opponent out of a maul into the air with a powerful jerk of one arm, and then, when the whistle went a moment later, pick him up and set him on his feet with the other arm. His younger brother, Fanio Louw, who might < be taken for Jack Dempsey by his physical resemblance, is a grape farmer in the Paarl district, where the Cape wines and brandies are made. Several members of the team are engaged in farming—J. B. Dodd is a rancher and F. Bergh a Government agricultural expert. B, L, Osier, the captain, is an attorney, and G. B. Gray and F. Waring, who played centre together against Oxford University, are also in the legal profession. The method of the Springboks is based on an appreciation of the rules of the game. There is nothing flamboyant about their play, which is the essence of soundness. Strong, hard scrummaging, in which they use every ounce of their weight, is the first article of faith of their forwards. In their recent matches they have settled down in the first half to pack their solid 3-3-2 formation against the other side. Gradually their strong pushing wears down the opposition, and once it weakens the Springboks change to the quick-heeling formation of 3-4-1, and, getting the ball quickly to their backs, they soon run up a large score. THE BACK DIVISION. Depending mainly on quick handling from the scrum, their backs mostly rely on orthodox play, but it is no secret that few of the Springbok back division players have yet developed their South African form.

B. L. Osier is the brains of the back division, and lias ability which amounts almost to genius for observing a weakness in the opposition. He gave a glimpse of what may be expected from him recently when he made several splendid openings for an attack which constantly changed direction. J. C. Vander Wcsthuizcn, too, has a capacity for drawing his opponents across the field, only to elude them with a light-ning-like cut-in which either leaves the field open to him or provides the overlap for the robust Springbok wing. It is the opinion of South African critics that no better team has ever been sent overseas than the present Springboks. Hitherto, however, matches have been won by the power and ability of the forwards, and largely despite the inability of the backs to produce their best.