RUGBY FOOTBALL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18398, 16 May 1934, Page 13

RUGBY FOOTBALL

SANE SCRUMMAGING PRAISE FOR PRESENT RULE That the present scrummage rules were the best the game of Rugby had ever enjoyed was the view expressed by Mr. W. J. Wallace, the 1905 All Black,; in addressing Wellington Rugby coaches on Monday. He referred to the resentment felt by the British players in 1805, and the South African team in New Zealand in 1921 regarding New Zealand’s method of scrummaging, and the wrongful interpretation of the scrummage laws by New Zealand referees. The Now Zealand team learnt in South Africa in 1328 that two men could never beat three in the front row of the scrum, and had to follow the Springboks’ formation. Then in 1932 came the gentlemen’s agreement to do away with the wing-forward, and New Zealand in Australia in 1932 had to learn scrummaging all over again, lie described the experiments the All Blacks tried in Australia until they came to the conclusion that the 3-4-1 scrum worked best.

“The present rule is the fairest we have ever had,” declared Mr. Wallace, “as it stops locking and swinging bookers. We must have uniformity. It is no use clinging to the methods of our grandfathers. That old wing-forward of ours never did us any good on overseas tours, and only led to a lot of unpleasantness.”