NEW ZEALAND FOOTBALL LESSONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2722, 16 May 1906, Page 57

NEW ZEALAND FOOTBALL LESSONS.

" QUICKLY FORGOTTEN."

(Faou Ou* Own Correspondent.) LONDON, March 30.

Mr H. Alexander, the well-known authority on football, has a good deal to say today about English Rugby fotball. He takes a distinctly pessimistic view, as may be iudged from the heading he has chosen for his article — viz. : " Short-Lived Enthusiasm," "'All Black' Lessons Quickly Forgotten," "British Rugbyites Back in the Old Groove."

He says: — "Now that the Rugby season is nearly over, we may take a general view of tho progress of the game through the past six months, and see to what extent the visit of the New Zealanders has left its mark. It must frankly be admitted that, whereas at the height of their career, the flattery was sincere enough to produce a certain amount of imitation, all four countries have, however, now discarded tho innovations and returned to the old style. More than that, there has been a very distinct improvement in the play of at least England and Ireland, since they again adopted the game with whicli they are familiar, and it canno* be said that the display of Wales at Richmond was such as to inspire one with any great confidence in their prowess under the new 6y£'tem. "The whole case seems to me to have been made to centre in a point which was wrongly accorded the chief place. The discussion as to the rival merits of the New Zealand and English formations gradually drifted into one of the advisability of playing seven or eight forwards, and little or no heed was paid to the placing of the rest of the field. Experience in this, as in many other things, has shown us that a half-imitation, whose offspring is a feeble hybrid, can avail nothing. No team that I know of, certainly no first-elasa team, has adopted a. root-and-branch policy and gone in for the New Zealanders' game in its entirety; yet so dependent is their machinery as a whole on its component parts that this half-imitation was not likely to be more satisfactory than would be the experiment of fitting the engines of a motor car in a railway locomotive. We may get aside the arrangement of seven forwards and eight backs, for purely defensive purposes, as a measure only resorted to in cases of -extreme need, for no team would be worth its salt which always took the field in a defensive mood.

" The New Zealanders found that by increasing the number of backs and placing them intelligently they could vary their attack more readily, and were often enabled to leave their opponents completely in the dark as to the side from ■which danger was to be expected. They found that their attacking strength, and consequently their try-getting and matchwinning strength lay with their backs, and accordingly developed a game which was to give them increased opportunities. But in order to put the reduced number of forwards on more equal terms with their opponents they realised that that depart-

tions, or at anyrate modifications. Their forwards were now to be a heeling-machine, quite subservient to the backs, and in order to attain their object more than ordinary skill in securing and heeling the ball was necessary. Hence eam-e the hookers, the lock, and the appointed peaces in the scrum, and, with these, increased efficiency in these several departments.

"'To make the most of the right backs and to avoid crowding-, the two nveyiightbs and three three-quarters came into being, and this arrangement of the outsides, with the one half and wing forward, is the strength of the formation, of which the seven forwards is_ only a corollary. It will be seen from this that to play an extra back in a more or less indefinite position, and to leave the seven forwards to muddle along as best they may, is a form of imitation which is but ill-calculated to strengthen the attack of a team. Nevertheless, this is what was done in every case by the home clubs, even when they professed to be making the alterations with a view to improved attack and not defence only.

" The net result of the whole experiment has been a complete and unqualified return to the old order of things, which is the result best calculated to please most of both past and presen^^Rug-by enthusiasts. It may be mere conservatism, but exoressions of approval at the grood old forward game played between Wales and Ireland were heard on c\ r ery hand, and n-hatever the attractions a game confined to the baciks may have for the uninitiated, there will .always be la-rg-d 1 tope .a. predominant — section which will appreciate good forward play and a good forward sssme. Such a game is by no means void of interesting play among the backs, but entails searching for opportunities on their part, instead of having every chance put in their hands by the forwards." *~

I In conclusion, Mr Alexander remarks: — j " What abundantly evident is that if the | outsides are to have it all their own way, •and the forwards to be quite subsidiary to them, the thing must be done in no ,/half-hearted manner, and something much more like the New Zealanders' game in its completeness must be learnt and perfected by t.he team which hopes to profit by this | style of play."