THE ALL BLACKS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22807, 17 February 1936, Page 9

THE ALL BLACKS

LONG TOUR ENDED REVIEW BY MANAGER STANDARD OF BRITISH RUGBY FAST AND CLEVER BACKS (Per United Press Association) AUCKLAND, February 16. In a special radio message to the Press Association Mr V, R. Meredith, manager of the All Blacks, who will arrive to-morrow, says: j The long tour is ended and after seven strenuous months of travel, plea surable and interesting although it all was, everyofae is glad to see New Zealand again. Viewing the tour on broad lines and adopting the only possible view that trips of this kind have a greater significance* than the mere winning of games, I sincerely believe that the tour can be locked on as a really successful one. In three games we were beaten, and on the day each of those sides thoroughly deserved to win as each was a team.

STANDARD OF BRITISH FOOTBALL It is difficult to say to what extent British -football has improved as 1 have not previously seen their form in their own country. The general opinion theru is that as 'a result of the visits of various dominion sides there has-been a considerable .advance in the standard of their football. However that may be, there are at the present time in Great Britain a number of exceptionally fine players,.particularly amongst the backs. One might mention just a few, Gadney and Craniner of England, Cliff Jones, Wooller and Davey of Wales, and Shaw, Lind and Dick of Ireland. The Irish forwards with their beautiful footwork, especially with a greasy ball, were also something quite worth while seeing Fast livings were plentiful, Obolensky being particularly fast. With the individual players at their disposal, if their team wofk was as efficient as it might be, their; sides would be more dangerous . that thej: were. Surprise may have been felt at the narrowness of some of "the scores. We found that only on rare occasions did we meet weak sides. The British method of qualification is much more elastic than ours, with the result that combined counties’ sides always produced a -big quota of inter- " - nationals. We had the pleasure of meet* - ing players like Kendrew, Davey, Tarr, and others many times. This was really all to the good, as it made the games . more even, though something may be said locally against the dropping of players usually playing for a side in favour .of importations. SCRUM WORK We packed three men in the front row of the scrums, as the New Zealand : Union : agreed to do, and found that we had a-deal to learn about this method of packing. In the early stages we were badly pushed, and, with the loss of Hadley in the first, game, we were unable to’ get a fair share of the ball from r the set scrums. Later these scrum difficulties'were overcome, and this, with ihe retard of Hadley, enabled us definitely to befit in scrumming any side we met. Our superiority in obtaining possession in the latter part of the tour was one of the best features of our play. ‘ TEAM A HAPPY FAMILY The team itself has been a particularly happy one, welding into one big family. Everyone is well with the exception of one or two minor injuries. In the early stages of the tour we had rather an unfortunate run of casualties, i Hadley and Page being the most serious.' Hadley recovered after a few weeks, but, unfortunately, we lost the - services of Page after the first match. He ;played later on against the North r , of . Scotland to try his leg out, but it ..was. hopeless; Still, that was all in the luck of the game, and is only a replica ■ of what happened to the British side in Nefr Zealand in .1930 when it lost Sobey, its brilliant half-back, in the first game and broke up the famous Sobey-Spong : combination. ; ' UNBOUNDED HOSPITALITY We had the pleasure of meeting many of -the 1930 British team in various places. They all spoken with enthusiasm of their visit to New Zealand and went to great lengths to return to ns the hospitality they had received. One cannot speak t*o highly of the way the team was received everywhere. In fact, at times the hospitality became almost embarrassing. Our reception by the British Sportsmen’s Club on our arrival was a thoroughly representative gathering arid a wonderful gesture. INCESSANT TRAVELLING 'After leaving Newton Abbott which, unfortunately, had no ground on which to practice, we found the incessant shifting most irksome and we assume this is .one feature of these tours which requires rigid revision in the interests of the touring side. The playing of matches has nothing like the wearying effect as the inability to get settled in any one place for more than two days at a time. One recognises that travelling to a certain extent is necessary, but in Great Britain where all the main centres are so close and with their rapid transport nearly all matches could have been played from the few main centres. This would have obviated-one trying feature of the tour. INTERNATIONAL GAMES . The internationals were all very fine games and were played in an excellent 'sporting spirit. One very pleasant feature of the tour was that, with one game as an exception, the games though keen and hard were devoid of any undue roughness or unpleasant incidents. We met in all our matches very large crowds which, generally speaking, were very fair and kindly disposed. In Cardiff, after a particularly brilliant movement by our combined backs and forwards, the unstinted applause was continued long after play restarted. I had never heard such prolonged appreciation by a sporting crowd. We had the experience of Welsh singing first in Llanelly before the game. Led by a fine band, ’ a crowd of 25,000 sang all Welsh songs and sang them well with inspiring effect. It was only surpassed by the singing of “ God Save the King ” by the vast crowd at Twickenham, at the English international on the appearance of the Prince of Wales. The Prince had previously received the team, and had also attended the international. He showed keen interest in the game and a very vivid and accurate recollection of his visit to New Zealand. HAPPY RECOLLECTIONS Manchester, Oliver and four other members of the team spent some days at Lydnev as the guests of Lord and Lady Bledisloe. our late GovernorGeneral. Lord Bledisloe attended all the games he possibly could, and each member of the team was the recipient of a piece of plate as a Christmas present from Lord and Lady Bledisloe.

Some of us had the opportunity of meeting Lord Jellicoe at the house of General Freyberg (“Tiny,” of Wellington) exactly a fortnight before his'death. He was, when we met him, in excellent health and spirits, and was speaking for some time of his happy recollections of New Zealand. WEATHER CONDITIONS We had no really bad weather conditions except at Belfast and Oxford, where the games were played in steady rain. The match at Belfast with the ball almost unplayable by the backs was one of the finest forward exhibitions I have ever seen. The Irish forwards were mostly internationals, and on the day the honours were fairly even, the Irish playing the close dribbling game and the New Zealanders the more open loose rush style. Tindill potted a beautiful goal in this match, but an Irishman just managed to touch the ball in its flight and no score resulted. The Oxford game will always be remembered for Gilbert’s magnificent goal with a filthy ball from the touch line. The kick was right on time and was required to win the match. COMBINED TEAM WORK The combined team work of the side was excellent, and it was this combination of backs and forwards that resulted in most of our scores. WEAKNESS OF INSIDE BACKS Our main troubles were first the lack of experience in the new scrum formation in the early part of the tour. This was more than remedied later. Secondly, there was on the part of the inside backs a certain lack of ability to penetrate. This was, of course, accentuated by the loss of Page. Everyone in the team gave of his best, and I am proud to say when we got beaten they, were the first wholeheartedly to congratulate their opponents on their well deserved win and not rob them of any of the pleasure by grudging qualifications. On leaving London I think we left a host of friends, and I hope a good reputation for New Zealand. TRIP ACROSS CANADA Our trip across Canada was interesting. All the country until we crossed the Rockies was under snow and ice. At Vancouver the Canadians met us most hospitably and two games were played at Vancouver and 'one at Victoria. The standard of play here is quite good, though lacking for want of competition with strong outside teams in the more scientific tactical moves. Oliver and myself attended at two of the colleges and-, explained our system to a fairly large audience at each place. As their players are drawn from the same type as our own there is no reason if opportunity were given for more outside competition, they should not really improve their standard. We left after playing at Victoria. At Suva we were met by the Fiji Football Club members, who entertained the team till the departure of the Aorangi for Auckland. Now we are home and looking forward to seeing our own friends and people again.

A civic reception is to be tendered the All Blacks at Auckland to-day at 12.15 p.m., when all national radio stations will broadcast the event.