RUGBY INTERNATIONAL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LI, Issue 16630, 9 January 1925, Page 7

RUGBY INTERNATIONAL.

VICTORY OF NEW ZEALAND. WALES BEATEN POINTLESS. (By Colonel Philip Trevor, C.8.E.). LONDON, Deo. I.—By two • goals from trice, one penalty goal, and two tries (19 points) to nothing, New Zealand beat, Wales on Saturday at Swansea, and so “1905” was avenged. Almost. from the very beginning of the match was it made crystal clear that the New Zealanders were the better side, and never —to me, at any rate — was their ultimate victory in doubt. They ought to have won even more easily. Once Steel, beating all his opponents, grounded the ball behind the goal-line. The referee had allowed! the try when it was seen that the New Zealand touch judge was holding up his liag. His decision was that Steel’s right foot had just caught the touchline. O’nce a New Zealand forward had one of the easiest chances of scoring. Nicholls on that occasion did about the cleverest thing seen all day. He feinted to drop a goal, cut inwards, sold a, double dummy, and then gave the forward in question (who, unmarked, was only half a dozen yards from the line) an ideal chest-high pass. That pass was fumbled. Once Cooke erred in a way I have never seen him err before. A great part of his well-deserved reputation he owes to his unselfishness. But in this particular case he had two comrades on his left (witli plenty of elbow room) when he approached the fullback. He attempted to beat him on his own, and failed. iSo, at any rate, the agony was not piled ap. UNNECESSARY VIGOR. It was not, I reluctantly admit, a nice game which we saw played, and there were two periods in it —just prior to half-time and just after half-time—■ when it was distinctly unpleasant. It

It was not, I reluctantly, admit, a nice game which we saw played, and there were two periods in it —just prior to half-time and just after half-time—■ when it was distinctly unpleasant. It is almost impossible to spot the original leper, but leprosy spreads fast. I saw a Welshmen deliberately kick a New Zealander; I saw a New Zealander give a. Welshman the upper cut with his elbow. On both occasions the ball was some yards from these fighters, and in each case the scrummage screened the malefactors from the view of the referee. Always was there unnecessary vigor displayed, and the tone was not the tone of the matches played, say, at London and at Oxford.

Far too large a section of the huge crowd (and' many of these bad sportsmen were in the’ grandstand) “boo-ed” the referee, Colonel Brunton —who,' as a matter of fact, did his difficult job very well and with strict impartiality—whenever he penalised Wales. I do not know if any of these malcontents were at Cardiff when, by reason of A. L. Graeie’s brilliant eleventh-hour exploits, Scotland heat Wales in 1923. If they were, they should have learnt how a great Welsh crowd could behave on a great occasion. Those Cardiff folk cheered Grade to the echo and carried him off the field shoulder high. Perhaps bitter disappointment- was the cause of their bad behavior (though (hero was no particle of excuse for it), for the Welshmen began in such promising style. The turf seemed to the eye to be in capital condition when play began at half-past two, but we afterwards noted that it was very soft. The New Zealanders then had the advantage of the wind; nevertheless, the Welsh .forwards, coming through quickly, at once began fo worry the New Zealand backs and to prevent them opening up the game. Loud, of course, was the cheering when this was observed, and hopes were raised which were soon to be dashed 1 . Only for half a dozen minutes were these forwards excellent in this way, and never afterwards did the Welshmen do anything which could legitimately encourage their friends. INJURY OF WETTER. A counter-dasii of the New Zealand forwards took the hall back into the Welsh twenty-five, and there a Welshman was deservedly penalised for palpable off-side play. Nicholls, seizing his opportunity, kicked a penalty goal. We then got the first few bars of the booing chorus. The New Zealand attack continued, and when the match was twenty minutes old the bigger and the more famous of the Brownlie brothers, M. J., to wit, cut through the defence and got a try, which Nicholls converted. This was not a “barge” try; it was obtained by clover observation of the unguarded route. At three o’clock Wetter was hurt and carried off the field. When after the interval the players lined up again Wetter came with them. It was plucky of him to do so, but it was also useless. He was' dead lame, and he had, of course, to give up playing stand-off half-back. He joined the forwards and did his best to push from the third row. But before Wetter was hurt I felt sure that New Zealand must win. A couple of minutes after he had been earned off a drizzling rain set in. It lasted then for only about ten minutes (Though at the close of the game we had more of it), but it had the effect of making the ball slippery.and the ground more treacherous. / Half a • dozen minutes prior to the interval Irvine, from a line-out, got the first of his two tries. He ,was very smart in doing this bit of scoring, and he caught the defence napping. Never in Hie second half did the Welshmen look like catching up. The reverse, in fact, was the -case, and as tho Irishman said, it was all over long before the end came. As a matter of fact, the exodus of tho crowd began when ten minutes still remained for play. From a scrummage forward near tho goal-line Mill gathered the ball and tossed it to Svenson, who scored. The whole thing took only a fraction of a second—lightning work. It looked to be a soft. try. It was not. The fourth and final try, converted by Nicholls, was obtained by Irvine after the best instance of play by nishing forwards we had seen all the afternoon. The ball was taken three-quarters tho length of tho field ere success rightly rewarded the movement. A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT. Tho whole match was, of course, a bitter disappointment to Wales. Their backs were entirely negligible in attack, and, quite apart from any question of morality, scrapping spoils all forward play, and tight scrummaging in particular. Tho Welshmen did not get the better of the scrapping with the big New Zealanders, nor, if they had, would it have helped them one iota towards match winning. In the loose the New Zealand forwards beat them for pace. It is hut fair to the Welsh pack to say that their hooking and heeling was better than that of their opponents, but, alas, it availed them nothing. The brutal truth is, that not for two or three seasons past have Wales been able to get a set of hacks who can threaten serious danger in combined attack. Saturday’s experience merely adds an. other chapter to a new and rather dismal book. The fine old book seems to be out of print. Delahuy showed rare pluck in sticking it out, and he did some smart things, while Eddie Williams moro than justi-

lied himself, and was never discouraged by the failure of the men in rear of him to do anything for their wing players. One especially sympathised with Rowe Harding. Johnson, though he slipped once or twice on the treacherous ground, did admirably, and 1 his judicious touchfinding was most helpful fo his side. The wing of a three-quarter limy is not the best training spot for a full-back. There you must “get into your stride in one” ; at. full-back it is a case of “safety first.” Johnson accommodated himself adroitly io the requindents of the new position. It. was a handsome victory which tho tourists won, and I imagine that, tho bonfires lighted to celebrate it thousands of miles away are still burning. By special decree of the Dominion Government, I am told, the post offices were opened yesterday (and they are rather strict. Sabbatarians) to spread through the two islands the news of tho happenings in this match—a match, by the way, which was not won by what-I will venture to call “New Zealandism.’’

Not. a, single combined movement by the New Zealand backs bad a practical result. There was tho Mill-Svenson flash t ry; the other three (one by M. J. Brownlie and two by Irvine) were obtained by forwards. It was the play in the loose of the New Zealand forwards which was the feature of the match. All seven were admirable, and if 1 noticed the two Brownlies and Irvine more Ilian the others that is probably because I have only one pair o,f eyes.

Nicholls is a great player; on Saturday last he was again the brains ol the side. Nepia was superb. Once moro lie brought off his dive. Ho cauglib the ball when going at full pace, and took bis header. He severely injured two pairs of Welsh feet with bis head, came up to the surface, got bis kick in, and found touch. “Ghastly dangerous fluke” said a Welshman to me. “I’ll bet vou if ever be dares to try that again he’ll . . I ventured to interrupt. I begged him to keep bis money in bis pocket. I assured him that Nepia made a hobby of it, and! that lie bad played in every match up to date.