WITH THE ALL BLACKS IN SPRINGBOKLAND

Putaruru Press, Volume XXVI, Issue 1351, 13 October 1949, Page 2

WITH THE ALL BLACKS IN SPRINGBOKLAND

J the doyen of South African Rugby commentators as follows: — H. B. Heartland: In the four Tests Scott has taken 13 penalty kicks and scored only six points, whereas Geffin has been in brilliant kicking moods and with 15 penalty kicks has scored 30 points for South Africa. Geflin’s kicking won two Tests for South Africa, and Scot’s bad kicking lost Saturday’s game. Heroes of the Game H. B. Heartland: Though South Africa won by virture of its backs —(N.Z. scored two tries to one, but S.A. backs shone in the second half; Babrow gives the reason.—Crossbar) —the New Zealand forwards were the real heroes of the game. They played together with tireless resolution and a South African crowd has rarely seen a Springbok pack so definitely outplayed. Nearly Missed the Test The long distances to be travelled in South Africa for Test and other matches result in ocean liners being used between large ports by Rugby enthusiasts. One party, which included some of the foremost personalities in South African Rugby, nearly missed the final Test as the following item shows: “About 100 harassed Capetonians stood on board the Athlone Castle,” wrote Louis Babrow, “scanning the horizon at 2 p.m. wondering whether they would arrive in time for the fourth Test at Port Elizabeth. The mail ship is usually in at 11 a.m., but engine troubles delayted her till 3.30 p.m. Radio messages were sent ashore asking for taxis and buses to stand by to rush passengers to the Rugby ground. “We all scampered like mice down the gangway into buses, led •by ‘Sport’ Pienaar and J. de Villiers.”

INTERPRETATION AND LAWS Changes in Roth Suggested in South Africa Interesting comment on the rules of’Rugby were made by Mr Winston McCarthy, New Zealand radio commentator, and Mr Jim Parker, manager of the All Blacks, before leaving South Africa. Speaking at Capetown, Mr McCarthy is reported as follows: “Rugby referees in South Africa are inconsistent in their interpretations of the laws of the game,” said Winston McCarthy at a meeting of the Western Province Rugby Referees’ Society last night. “The All Blacks have found that certain laws are interpreted differently in this country from New Zealand. It is time we had international uniformity of Rugby laws. “I have noticed in South Africa that referees are inclined to be too much like policemen when they go on to the field instead of entering into the spirit of the game. “In New Zealand when a man' falls on the ball in a tight or loose scrum and he hangs on to it he is penalised. In South Africa the tendency is for the man to hang on to the ball instead of rolling away from it. The opposing forwards try to hook it away from him and in doing so kick him or play the man unintentionally. The opposing forwards are then penalised. “The lineouts have always provided a great problem in Rugby in all countries, and the referee is inclined to blow his whistle too much for infringements such as barging and touching the man before he has got the ball.”

Getting Together In a farewell message after the fourth Test, before leaving Port Elizabeth for Capetown, Mr Parker said:— “Yesterday morning we had a team talk at which the laws of the game were discussed in the light of experience gained on the tour, and when we get to Capetown Mr Alec McDonald and I hope to come to an agreement with the South African Rugby Board with regard to amendments to the present laws, and that our joint recommendations will eventually be put before the International Rugby Board.” LESSONS LEARNED AND TAUGHT (By “Crossbar”) Now that the All Blacks’ tour of South Africa is concluded, all interested can view their experience in retrospect, summing up in the light of their own experience and judgment. Many class the tour as having been a failure, but on the other hand there is much to be said for the stand taken by those who hold

the All Blacks have done well. Taking everything into consideration, surely it must be admitted the team has done well even if we do not like the four defeats in four test matches. Previously, in this column, it has been said that no team in the world, not even with a Cavanagh as coach, would have beaten the present Springbok side. J The exceptionally hard grounds (no game was played in the wet), the unusually hot season, the defensive destructive play devised by South African coaches, the vast difference in interpretation of the rules, the exceptional fervour of the barrackers heightened bythousands of coloured All Black supporters, plus the exceptionally high standard of the Springboks in at least two fundamentals of the game lost sight of by most New Zealand coaches (solid hard tackling and good line-kicking), all combined to place the home side in an almost impregnable position. Two good points have been made by Mr Parker (manager). He has urged a shortened programme, confining the tour to the cooler months with far less travelling, and the selection of the All Black side at the start of the season in which the tour is made. All touring teams have complained of the strenuous nature of the African trip, for nothing makes a side so stale as night after night spent in a train, especially when coupled with extreme changes in climate. If the dates could be so altered as to allow the All Blacks beihg selected as suggested, then the move would be a very good one. Not so much as for the likelihood of discovering a “Bert Cooke” in the few early weeks of a season, but for the reason that those in the running would be encpuraged to train hard during the summer improving their ability in various aspects of the game.

If there is one apparent fault with the average player to-day it is that he is not prepared to take the game seriously enough and to put himself out for training. Bert Cooke" did not acquire his wonderful shortpunting ability in Saturday matches; he spent the summer before tfie 1924 tour practising with the ball. With sticks planted in various parts of the field, he would run at top speed until without losing pace by a fraction he could drop the ball on his instep and land it close to any specified stick. The result was that no one ever saw Cooke indulge in the stupid practice of booting the ball straight to the opposing fullback as most backs in New Zealand do to-day.

Too many critics excuse this practice by referring to the wonderful positional play of so and so at fullback, unmindful of the fact that the field is 75 yards wide, a distance which even a seven-leagued fullback with seven feet could not cover when opposed by a Cooke. The reason why there is so much aimless kicking is that backs are not taught to kick these days—in fact, they are discouraged from doing so. Further, they do not practice the art and do not keep a mental picture of the opposing players in mind during play. Another weakness in coaching which anyone can check for themselves on going to almost any practice field, is to see the backs run in line when practising passing, instead of in deep eschelon fashion, with a slightly rising pass going in front of each player in turn, so that he must put in an extra burst of speed to take it. Because of this weakness in training we read of All Blacks over-running the man with the ball (in a straight rush), and passes going forward; also of referees (they are only human) at times pulling up a straight pass as being forward. These faults have happened on several critical occasions on the recent All Black tour.

Too many critics complacently ascribe the failure of the All Blacks to lack of speed among the insides. This is far from being the whole truth as anyone can discover for himself if he likes to take the trouble to draw a few diagrams.

Admittedly there has been a bad tendency to concentrate on defence when selecting insides, and to select Trevarthens for goal-kicking ability. Cart horses can never take the place of racehorses for speed, but while acknowledging this we should not overlook the fundamentals of what has happened, that is, that only a new rule can supply an answer to Muller, and that for years the positional play of our first-fives has, to any side or country possessing halfbacks who can throw a long pass, handed away the overlap on a platter right at the start of a back rush.

There cannot be straight running in a back division if a first-five has to run across field and the rush cannot be straightened up satisfactorily by the outsides because the more they do so (unless there is a lucky

gap through bad spotting), the more they actuate the overlap. There will be inquests in plenty before the British team arrives next year and it •will be most interesting to see just how the management (note the word) reacts. Two things stand out clear as crystal: (1) younger coaches and selectors of the Saxon—Cavanagh type are required in high places, and (2) more attention must be given to country players to discover a few more Ropers and Whites. LIST OF POINT-GETTERS And Appearances in Games Appended is a of the players in the 1949 All Blacks, together with the points scored by them. The figures after each name shbw in the following order the total number of games played, the number of appearances in Test matches, and the total points scored by each individ-

Points for, 230; points agaiipt, 148. Of the points scored against the All Blacks only 24 came from tries, as in the 24 matches their line was only crossed eight times. Played 24, yv on 14, lost 7, drew 3. It is interesting to note from the above appearances the effect on the players of the hard grounds, for la percentage of matches played by Individuals the tour has possibly an all-time low record on this account. However, one reason for this was the policy of giving every player s chance to make good. i Simpson, “the iron man,” played in most games (18), and is followed by Scott, Henderson, Crowley and Skinner with 17 each. Gudsell (5) played in the fewest matches, and was followed by Boggs (8), and Botting, Conrad, Fraser and Delamore, with nin, each. None of the team approached the record of Nepia in playing in all 30 games in the 1924 tour of Great Britain, or Gilbert, who took part in 26 out of 28 matches on the 1935 tour of that country in which soft groundh are mostly played on.

THE FINAL TEST MATCH

NEW ZEALAND “ INSIDES ” Effect of Exceptional Winter Latest clippings from South African papers contain interesting comment by well-known Rugby personalities on the fourth and final Test match and other phases of the All Blacks’ tour, nearly all of which further ' confirm the opinions expressed in this column as the tour progressed. N.Z. Positional Play Louis Babrow, brilliant attacking centre with the 1937 team, had emphatic opinions on the manner in which our positional play of recent years has given away the overlap, and also on players. Here it is:— Louis Babrow: Henderson is the most improved player in the All Blacks’ side. With a little more football brains, this athlete would be a great Rugby player. His smart measuring saved two certainties. They (Elvidge and Goddard and Delamore) stand far too close to one another, and Delamore creeps up too far to give his backs a reasonable chance. I am afraid that although he gave Elvidge his try, he spoilt many promising passes by Savage. Long-passing Game The introduction of the Ibng-pass-ing game to the final rrjatch resulted in open play. In this final unofficial match of the tour against Western Province Town Clubs, it was evident the Springboks and All Blacks had taken lessons to heart. One report stated:—

Both Conrad and Wahl concentrated on getting the ball away quickly. Factors mainly responsible for the open nature of the game were the quick heeling, and the fine long accurate passes between the scrum and fly-half (first five) on each side. Jim Parker’s Summary In this report it was evident that the “Muller No. 8 destructive game” was not played. The influence of the exceptionally hot winter was touched upon by the All Blacks’ manager. In a lengthy farewell message published in the press, Mr Jim Parker (All Blacks’ manager) made the following comments of interest: “Grand Fellows” “One thing I must do before leaving is to thank all the players who have opposed us throughout the tour for the sporting spirit in which they played. They are all grand fellows and they have played in the spirit of the game. ... “During the trip to Rhodesia we struck an exceptionally warm spell of weather and this coincided with the time we had to spend eight out of 11 nights in the train, and the other three nights we had official dinners and functions so that the players did not lead a normal life for two weeks. “Not One Wet Day” • “Several players quite lost their form as a result for a time. Added to this is the fact that we struck an exceptionally warm winter and our players, used to soft grounds, never had the relief of a single wet day.” The 1928 tourists played several games, including one Test match, in rain, or on wet and slippery grounds. On the whole grounds were far more to their liking than on the tour just concluded, while the winter was 'a normal one. Further, the general standard of play in South Africa was not so high then as it is to-day. Standard of Play Jim Parker: I should say that the present Springbok team is equally as good as the team which toured New Zealand in 1937. If Tries Only Had Counted R. K. Stent (Rand Daily Mail): “South Africa made it a grand slam by winning the fourth and final Test. “Had only tries counted in this series, New Zealand would have won three out of the four Tests, since they were the only side to cross the line in the first and third matches, and scored two tries to one yesterday. South Africa were, however, deserving winners of the series. They had the better finish and they had the greater lasting power.” Scott and Geffin ’ The goal-kicking duel between Lcott and Geffin was touched on by

ual:— Pld T Pts ■Scott ... IT 4 60 J. Goddard .... ... 7 0 32 Henderson ... 17 4 21 Allen ... 12 2 18 Kearney ... 14 3 18 M. Goddard . ... 10 2 15 Meates ... 15 3 9 Bolting 9 0 6 Elvidge _ ._ 14 4 6 Thornton, ... 10 1 6 Simpson - 18 4 6 Boggs .... • ... 8 1 3 Black - 11 1 3 Conrad ... 9 0 3 Savage ... 12 3 3 Grant ... 12 2 3 Crowley ... 17 2. 3

Johnstone 12 2 3 McNab 14 3 3 Fraser 9 1 ,3 McHugh .... .... 12 1 3 Dalton 12 0 3 Gudsell 5 0 • Delamore 9 1 0 Harvey 11 1 0 Willocks 12 3 0 Catley ...1 .... .... .... 12 4 0 Wilson .... .... 10 0 0 Christian .... 11 1 • Skinner 17 4 0