THE ALL BLACK TOUR

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11030, 31 December 1928, Page 3

THE ALL BLACK TOUR

M. F. NICHOLLS’S IMPRESSIONS

A wealth of detail Information and many interesting reflections on the All Black tour of South Africa in 1928 are contained in Mark Nicholls’s book, “With the All Blacks hi Springbokland,” a copy of which we have received from the author! Nicholls discusses at length many aspects of play and tactics and methodically compares the conditions fexperienced by the All Blacks in their latest tour of South Africa with those encountered by earlier teams. The book is a mine of information for all Rugby enthusiasts and no doubt will win wide popularity. It includes full reports of the matches played and gives a good deal of information about earlier tours. In addition there is a series of statistical tables covering the records of matches, individual performances, and the successes of the various teams in tli e scrums, line-outs, and penalties. The pages are freely illustrated with photographs, the majority 0 f which have not appeared in New Zealand papers. It is written in a pleasant readable style. The author deals at some length with the much discussed question of scrum formation, observing that the traditional New Zealand formation has had a severe trial during the past seven seasons. He speaks also of a serious falling-off in the quality of New Zealand line-kicking. In the early matches of the tour, h e says, it was pathetic to watch our men attempting to find touch, Lindsay being the only man who ad anted himself at all in this respect. On the other hand, the Africans were-usual-ly accurate.

It is interesting to note that the All Blacks were handicapped not only in place-kicking, but also in linekicking, by the eight and six seam balls universally used in South Africa. The latter _nre not as sharply pointed as the New Zealand footballs, and are without the centre seam passing lengthwise with the lace. Strange though it may seem, the New Zealanders were unable to master the hall after a few practices.

The South African refereeing, Nicholls says, was consistent, with the,officials very strict in certain respects. Rebounds ar e almost invariably considered knock-ons; a scrum is given against a player who is offside to a forward pass; and a straight pass is considered forward. The South African referees’ societies are run on similar lines to those in New Zealand On the whole he considers there is more uniformity in regard to rulings in South Africa than in New Zealand.

Summing up South African Rugby, Nicholls says that there is no doubt that the game is on a very high plane and that the strength lies in their forward play. They are past-masters of rucking play, and heel out very quickly to their hacks. The train journeys were found rather arduous and irksome. The team did not always travel on the fast trains, and very often the travelling time could have been reduced by about half. The itinerary could have been better arranged from the tourists’ viewpoint mnsiiuirh as several of the hardest matches were played early in the tour. On the four very few team talks were held, and the team did not adopt the practice followed in England in 1924, when a team talk, with a blackboard for demonstrations, was held after every game.