THE ALL BLACKS

Southland Times, Issue 20618, 17 October 1928, Page 9

THE ALL BLACKS

A GREAT VICTORY MEMORABLE FOURTH TEST DOMINANCE OF FORWARDS (By Graham E. Beamish.) One of the greatest victories that a New Zealand team has ever carried was won by the All Blacks when they crowned the 1928 tour of South Africa by beating the Springboks by a potted goal, two penalty goals and a try, (13 points) to a goal (five points) at Cape Town’s old Newlands Ground on September 1. It was all the more magnificent, for South Africa had not been beaten at Newlands for 37 years. ! Just as it was an atrocious day when the Springboks and the All Blacks played a pointless draw at Athletic Park seven years ago, so it was a bleak and bitterly cold afternoon, with the weather alternating between showers and sunshine when the last test of the 1928 rubber was played. Twenty- | five thousand people shivered and cheered ■ when the teams filed on to the rain-drench-ed area. Then brilliant sun shone out and it was quite a pageant.. Under the shadow of historic Table Mountain, this historic battle was fought. Grenside led the All Blacks with their inspiring haka and before the last words of it had died away, Mostert and his men were chanting their Dutch war cry. Then the whistle sounded and Osler kicked off in the face of the sun into the arms of McWilliams who flung the ball far across the field to Lucas and away went the threequarter line in a sensational run at the outset with Nicholls backing up. It broke down in the Springbok 25 but after some , forward struggling a penalty came to New Zealand and Nicholls landed a fine goal from the side line, putting the All Blacks three points ahead in the first three minutes. Then the Springboks came with a brilliant rally and there followed a series of intensely exciting scrums on the All Black line, but the All Black defence was never under suspicion and good work by the forwards drove the South Africans back to half way. After 20 minutes play the Now Zealanders began to show that on the day they were the better balanced side and superior tacticians. The Springboks began like a team firm on their pedestal, but when ! it tottered under the extreme pressure and • the whirlwind methods of the All Black for- . wards, they were a beaten team. New Zeaj land took an intermittent command at the beginning and it was soon convincing. The spectre of the Johannesburg Test seemed to haunt the Springboks and in the end the New Zealanders held sway over all. South Africa had failed to revive from the shock they had received in the early stages. Even when South Africa attacked they were safely held by a defence which could not be penetrated. Brilliant Work Of All Black Forwards. It was to the brilliant play and magnificent scrummaging of the forwards that New Zealand owed its triumph, although it was, of course, the sensational play of Mark Nicholls behind the pack that won the points. In this game the All Blacks reached the perfection of wet day football. It was easib’ the best display of the tour, every man in the team playing the game of his life. The All Blacks certainly did not belie their reputation in this international. The more one thinks about the win, the more one realizes what a magnificent victory it was. The All Blacks had pranced through their games during the tour with a disregard for scrummaging that was hard to understand. Only in the last three tests did they do any serious scrum work. In this fourth test every man in the pack used everv ounce of weight with the result that often the Springboks were pushed completely off the ball. The All Black pack was like a rock. Harvey, who was the lock, said it was the best scrum he had ever locked and Swain and Hadley said their job was easv in the front row. What a pity the All Blacks did not realizef.arly in the tour that they would have to scrummage with terrific force to get the ball! However, the 1829 All Blacks rose to the occasion, squared the rubber, and scored a win that will long be remembered. Everyone who was lucky enough to see the game must have been thrilled by the sweeping and unstoppable rushes of the All Black forwards. They worked like a machine. There were no stragglers and their understanding was overbearing. A feature of the match which wall surely live in the history of the test was the movement which culminated in Swain’s brilliant try. The forwards had often indulged in pretty dribbling rushes before the interval, Hazlett and McWilliams often dashing out and blazing the trail of individualism. The pair were will ’o the wisps in dribbling and their alliance was a delight. Towards the end of the game came this sparkling piece of work. There was a line out 30 yards from the Springbok line Out of the melee which followed shot Hazlett with the ball at his feet. Swain was by his side in a flash, with the rest of the pack backing up. With brilliant control, Hazlett carried on the head of the movement, crashing through the defence with sweeping and unstoppable strides. A few yards from the line Swain took a hand He kicked over the line and with a great dive, he pounced on the ball for the greatest try scored by the forwards during the tour. When Nicholls kicked the ball from the side line, it soared high, looked a certain conversion. then dropped suddenly into the arms of Mostert a few feet short of the cross bar. The Avalanche. That was not the only movement of its kind during the match. Time after time the All Blacks forwards went prancing through to the consternation of the Springboks backs. It was a glorious sight to see the New Zealand forwards sweeping down the field like an avalanche. In their quick mastery of the ball, they were the arresting phase in the policy which actuated the whole team. Their work was spirited, speedy, virile, dashing and they were fleet in pursuit and possession. There were many hectic burets of play by the Springbok van, and they sometimes rallied in brilliant fashion. They had dash and energy in plenty, but it was the New Zealanders’ superiority as footballers in the best sense, of the word to which the All Blacks owed their victory. Who will every forget that rock-line All Black scrum ? The Springboks were routed just as the All Blacks were in the First Test at Durban. The New Zealand scrum in the last test was almost a 3—3—2 scrum, although the traditional formation was not altered. The two hookers still packed on either side of the middle man in the Springbok front row, but every time a scrum was formed, Stewart went down as a loose head, mostly on the blind side. He was not the loose head in the sense that the All Blacks used it in the second test at Johannesburg. He was there to do his hard pushing with the rest of them. And he did it. He did not break as he had done when playing the loose head game in previous matches. Theoretically he was not part of the scrum, yet in the way he packed he was actually a front row man. It was in that solid packing and by playing Stewart in the manner in which he was played that we were able to beat the Springbok at their own game. That solid scrummaging and the brilliant play of Mark Nicholls at second five-eighths was the deciding factor in the match. Individual Play. When one reviews the game and the play of the forwards, one finds that it is a hard task to assign merit, so well did each one play. Swain and Hadley, the hookers in all four internationals, produced their true New Zealand form, playing with grit and determination. They both showed brilliant opportunism and individual effort and when that final whistle sounded across the field, they were playing with as much vim as when they started. Then there is Harvey, who locked the scrum so firmly. One would have thought that after all the illness he had contracted during the trip,

it would have been a great 'risk to play him as lock in this fourth and final test, but Harvey went through the game without the slightest suggestion of ever tiring, appearing in the end as fit as the rest of the pack. He was able to do just what he wanted with the scrum. Now he screwed it skilfully, now he held it, now he kept the ball in the scrum. In the open, Harvey was one of the fastest men among the forwards, following up resolutely and combining with the others in their dribbling rushes. He played a fine game. Maurice Brownlie and Finlayson played their best games jf the tour. In the three previous tests Brownlie produced something very near his old form, but in this final international, he even surpassed his excellent play before. Perhaps Brownlie did not show out so much as the others in open play, but when it came to desperately hard work in the tight, he had no peer. All through he was a marked man, but he often shot out of the ruck with the ball under his arm and two Springboks hanging on. Brownlie played one of his great games that day. Finlayson, recognized as a great loose forward, showed that he was equally great in tight work and scrummaging. He was in the thick of it all the time, using his height with good effect in line out play, shooting out here and there to make good openings. In the open, he was, as usual, brilliant. McWilliams and Hazlett, the two men in the back row, who have shown themselves to be two of the best forwards on the tour, played even better football than they have done all through. Packing firmly, they put all their weight into the scrum, but it was in open play that they made their names. They continually harrassed the Springbok backs and they played with incisive and trenflhanfc d/lsh, flashing out with the ball at their feet to go down the field with brilliant dribbling rushes, or shooting away from line-outs to start passing rushes among the forwards. Tn defence Hazlett is a valuable asset, for he often drops back to support his backs when he sees that they are in danger. Brownlie is even more conspicuous in this phase of the game. Stewart as the loose head, played a rare game. He is a vivacious player and his work all through was exceptional. He was not the fast breakaway that he had been in other games, but he too was a solid scrummager, pushing with all his force. Stewart can share the honours with Brownlie for hard work in the tight. His solid tackling was a feature of his play and his work in the open was attractive. Subtle Backs. Of course, it was not a day for brilliant parsing rushes among the backs, but evenin spite of the greasy ground and the slippery ball, the New Zealanders combined with traits of intuition, adroitness and decision. The back play of the All Blacks was far fore subtle than that of the Springboks. Mark Nicholls, played his first test match of the tour, showing what a really fine footballer he is. He was the presiding genius behind the All Black pack) deftly meeting attacks and launching offensives. He rode in the whirlwind, directed the storm. He played excellent football, conjured, side-stepped, swerved, drew his men. He studied- the outlook before making a move and plied bis men round him with subtle and generous touch. Mark Nicholls was to New Zealand that day what Bennie Osler was to South Africa in the first test. Nicholls scored 10 of the 13 points and was fiendishly unlucky in not scoring another four which would have equalled Osier’s record of 14 in the first test. The first drop at goal that Nicholls tried hit the upright and bounced back infield. Johnson who partnered Nicholls, was the cool, calculating scheming Johnson who has played such sound football all through the tour. He never faltered and his play had the backing retribution of brilliant defence. His line kicking was clever and his short punts often found gaps in the Springbok defence which allowed the All Blacks three quarter line to shine out in attempts to break through. Dailey played a masterly game and rose to even greater heights than he had done the previous Saturday against Western Province. He handled the greasy ball admirably, whipping it out with neverfailing accuracy and sending it out so fast that his five-eighths had ample roonj to work in. He worked the blind side judiciously and he was always a pretty problem to the Springbok forwards. Robilliard, Lucas and Grenside, the fast three quarter line, were a constantly dangerous trio, never letting an opportunity pass them by. Several times during the game Lucas and Robilliard made things lively with fast attacks and Grenside was sometimes seen in a dashing foray down the touch. Robilliard’s two fine attempts to crash over the line from the blind side, were notable and Lucas time after time smashed the Springbok attack with shrewd anticipation.

Lilburne came through a hard afternoon’s work with the honours with him. His play all through was exceptionally good. He worked with good anticipation, tackled firmly and kicked accurately. Nobody could blame Lilburne for failing to stop the try scored by the Springboks. He went up to meet the ball when Osler short punted, but Van der Westhuizen got there before him and with a speculator, kicked over the full back’s head the ball falling Under the goal posts for Van der Westhuizen to pounce on it before either Lucas or Grenside could get there. The try was obviously not the maturity of constructive intention. The Springbok’s Tactical Blunder. Although on the day nothing could have held the brilliant play of the New Zealanders it seemed that the Springboks made a tactical blunder by playing George Daneel as a rover. Apparently the South Africans thought that thiir seven could hold the eight All Blacks and it was not until the second half that they realized their bloomer and put Daneel back in the pack. Either Phil Mostert, the Springbok captain, or the South African selectors were responsible for the policy. No matter who it was, the mistake was made and New Zealand benefited. But the Springboks played only as well as they were allowed to play and only a few times during the match were they a serious menace to the All Black fine. Then the All Black defence, brilliant at all times, never wavered. There is not a great deal to be said in favour of the Springbok tactics for they were beaten ’fore and aft and never really looked like a winning team, Mostert seemed to be somewhat stale and although he worked hard, he was never the danger he was in previous tests. Van Druten and Daneel did a lot of good work. Pierre De Villiers was the one who stood out above all other Springbok backs. He worked with ease and decision. Bennie Osler is essentially a winning side player and he was playing behind a beaten pack. The rest of the backs were only middling, except Tindall who did a tremendous amount of work at full back. All South Africa thought the Sprinkboks would win and bets were actually made and accepted at five to one on the Springboks. It was a big blow to South Africa to see their team beaten at Newlands where they had not been beaten for 37 years. The crowd paid tribute to the New Zealanders who had trounced their opponents as decisively as the All Blacks had been beaten in the first test. There was a demonstration when three staccato blasts of the whistle brought this sensational game to an end. Brownlie was carried shoulder high to the pavilion by the New Zealand supporters and the crowd cheered as the All Blacks left the field. And so the 1928 tour of South Africa by the All Blacks ended in triumph. BRILLIANT EXHIBITION. NEW ZEALAND RULES. Played under New Zealand rules, the All Blacks match against the Combined Universities of Cape Town produced some of the brightest Rugby of the tour and gave the Newlands crowd of some 15,000 a very fair conception of the game as played at the present time in New Zealand. They seemed delighted. A deal of praise was given the New Zealanders for agreeing to play this extra match at the end of a long and arduous tour and the authorities were highly pleased that I the match was able to be put on. Right

from the outset, the South African Rugby public had hoped that a match such as this would be played, for they pride themselves that the Cape Town and Stellenbosch Universities play the brightest football in the country. They certainly know how to throw ball about. Lighter all round than the fifteen All Blacks put on the field, the ’Varsities showed that they were able to stand up admirably to the heavier New Zealand pack. There was not a dull moment in the whole match, the artistry of both sets of backs standing out supreme. It was a long way from an easy win for New Zealand, for the ’Varsity three-quarter fine was liable at any moment to open out in perfect alingment and carry out dangerous movements that took keen defence to block. There were many rare gems of football by both sides during the match. Brilliant individualism was often peeping through when backs of either side would make sensational breaks of 50 or 60 yards only to be brought down by sensational tackles. Lucas and Van der Westhuizen were the ones who shone out most in this phase. ’Varsities were the first to score. J. J. Pienaar, the fast wing man, intercepted and punted infield over Lilburne’s head. T. G. Osler got to the ball before Rushbrook, putting three points against ’Varsities name on the score board. The lead was to last only a minute or two for the All Black forwards started their rush tactics and play was soon in the ’Varsities 25. Here McWilliams made a typical McWilliams break from a line out. He side stepped a man, fended off the full back and scored a briliant try in the corner. Nicholls missed. A minute or two before half time, Nicholls landed a penalty goal and the All Blacks led by three points. Right from the start of the second spell, ’Varsities attacked. Gray, being fed from the scrum, short punted, and racing through fast, beat Lucas for the ball to score a good try. With the scores level, the crowd cheered frantically. When Johnson got the ball from a ecrum, he cut out Nicholls and Lucas, throwing far across the field to Grenside. Lucas raced round on the outside and when Grenside was tackled, Lucas took his pass to score a fine try. Within a few minutes of time, Lucas, with fine anticipation and quick opportunism, and with lithe bewildering swerve, carved his way through the backs and scored a brilliant try. Nicholls goaled. The ’Varsity Spirit. Hundreds of spirited ’Varsity boys packed a grandstand at one end of the field, and led by an orchestra, sang and shouted throughout the match. There was the true ’Varsity spirit at the game, the leader of this huge chorus doing a tango on a dais while his “performers” urged their champions on. Their din could be heard above all else and their songs, full of clever tropical references, were almost as entertaining as the football match itself. This shouting and delightful foolery increased in volume as the scores alternated in quick succession. It was the first time in South Africa that the All Blacks had seen this sort of thing.