THE ALL BLACKS

Southland Times, Issue 20833, 23 July 1929, Page 7

THE ALL BLACKS

SECOND TEST DEFEAT PRESTIGE OF VISITORS UNSHAKEN TRIBUTE TO OLIVER (United Press Assn.—By Telegraph—Copyright.) Sydney, July 22. Referring to the second test match between Australia and New Zealand, the Telegraph Pictorial says: “Though the defeat may be disheartening New Zealand prestige is unshaken, as the team was disorganized through injuries. Oliver was playing the best game on the field when he was carried off. The absence of Nepia, Dailey and Stringfellow made Porter realize New Zealand’s precarious position and he decided to strip without consulting the doctor. Although lacking in match practice it was the Porter of old.”

The Daily Guardian says: “Malcolm, at half for Australia, was the hero of the day, giving a masterly display behind the pack. Tuck, in Dailey’s place at half, was the weak link in the New Zealand back division. The final fifteen minutes was an epic. Grimly the All Blacks buffeted the home defence, but the Australians held out despite the severity of the attack, McGhee was a shining fight in co-operation with Malcolm.”—Australian Press Association. THE FIRST TEST ALL BLACKS DISAPPOINTING. HECTIC TWENTY MINUTES. GAME OF DROPPED PASSES. Sydney, July 7. Australia won the first of the Rugby Union Test matches against New Zealand at the Cricket Ground yesterday by a single point—9 to 8 (writes Claude Corbett in the Sydney Sun.) Not for 15 years had the two countries met and in those days which seem so long ago, New Zealand won all three games. The last 20 minutes of the match yesterday saved it as a spectacle. In that time the great crowd bordering on 40,000 —-official figures were 38,111 —had all the expitement it wanted packed into one, long, continued struggle for supremacy. Green wave after wave broke down the field on to the New Zealand goal-line, bursting and rolling back from a Black forbidding shore. On it rolled again with greater force than ever, now in a wall; and now with a stream stretching ahead, represented by a lone player surrounded by New Zealanders in their sombre black uniforms hurling themselves into a breach where the dam looked likely to burst. Suddenly it gave! Out of the ruck a big Australian forward stood on the tip of his toes and hurled the ball. One! Two! Three! Four! You could count the passes as the ball travelled from man to man and over in the corner went the Australian right wing three-quarter, who scored the try which won the day. Pace Increases. Gradually the pace had been growing faster. It grew and grew, with New Zealand fighting desperately to retrieve the situation. Then we, who remembered the days when New Zealand footballers were invincible, saw the glories of the men of other times for the first occasion in the match. Those wearers of the Silver Fern lived up to the deeds of players who had made New Zealand Rugby Union football a name with which to ' conjure—except in one respect. They lost their heads when victory was in sight; when the brand was about to be plucked from the burning. Big forwards plunged down the green sward of the Cricket Ground. Alert, elusive backs raced in like destroyers among battleships. But the destroyers failed in their work.

Time was drawing near. Ten precious minutes remairled for play. A New Zealander landed the ball into touch from a penalty instead of keeping it in play! Five minutes left. Still, the ball was punted into touch! In between those exhibitions of tactless blunders the New Zealanders swept to the Australian line like a Black menace. Desperation was in the. air! The green-jerseyed men of Australia hurled themselves at the twinkling legs of the Maorilanders. Onward raced an individual or a mass of men intent on one determined purpose—to cross the Australian line. Miracles Happened! They must cross! Nothing could stop them! The crowd was frantic in its excitement ; everybody on their feet in fear or hope according to where their interests were. A miracle could alone save Australia after their stubborn uphill battle. That miracle came not once but several times. Knock-ons or a forward pass with the line only feet away, pulled up the New Zealanders. Lack of some genius who could direct the trend of play; some Gallaher or some Porter to steady the almost frenzied endeavours of the New Zealanders to gain the winning try; to direct the incisive movement which would cut its way through the defence and on to success. During all that 20 minutes there was a babel of sound nothing coherent, but just one great welter of noise to urge on friend or drive back foe. So it ended with the day passing into the gloom of evening; men limping off the field others jumping out of sheer exuberance of spirits; others dejected and obvious, ly down-hearted. Thank heaven for that last 20 minutes! Many Dropped Passes. Bright flashes here and there, with dropped passes and a scramble now and again, ■ tells the story of what went before. It is strange but true that all the representative games I have seen this season in the Rugby codes have lacked the brilliance which we were wont to see in other years. The players have appeared too anxious, or else the occasion has unnerved them. Whatever the cause, the fact remains that yesterday’s game between New Zealand and Australia was in that category. The first half was remarkable for the number of passes dropped by men on either side. They could not hold the ball. It wasn’t that the passes were difficult. Sometimes men snapped at the ball as if it was an object dangling on a pendulum; at others (hey knocked on just as the crowd was on its feet ready to cheer the player with the ball on his way to the line. A notable instance of this was in the first half, when Eric Ford, the .Australian winger, missed the ball with a try staring him in the face. The groan of disappointment could have been heard a mile away. Breckenridge had gathered the ball in the open and swung it to King who went ahead and made the extra man. Straight to Ford flew the ball, but he dropped it. Ford wasn’t on- his own. Gordon missed them, but the man of whom I expected most, having heard so much of his prowess, was the worst offender of all—Towers. He couldn’t have been himself. Towers simply could not hold a pass. Later he was injured and had to leave the field, being replaced by Thorpe, who, strangely enough, because of an extremely clever take of the ball, made the try possible which won for Australia. Australians were not alone in the mishandling of the ball. New Zealanders were just as bad, and they were as unlike traditional backs of their country in this respect as one could imagine. Replacing Injured Men. Before going on to telling how the points were- scored, I must refer to the replace-, ment of injured men. The practice is all right in the first half, when it is acted upon by both sides, but to allow a man to

go on for another in the second half savours of a picnic game—not an international struggle. That happened yesterday, when Stringfellow took the place of Nepia, who had injured a muscle in his back. Stringfellow began the second half in Nepia’s place. While on that subject it would be interesting to know why Thorpe was so long coming out to replace the injured Towers who sat on the touch-line for fully 10 minutes before Thorpe made his appearance. Surely Thorpe, who was one of the reserves, must have been in readiness in case he was called upon? Not Like Old Teams. To be quite candid, I must confess that this New Zealand team does not compare at all favourably with those of former years in my estimation. First of all the forwards have not the great physique which has always characterized Dominion vanquards. Nor is there the nippiness among the backs. Those incisive passing movements which usually paved the way to tries, were missing. Once they had our players running in all directions to stop the flying wearers of the black jersey. Only once yesterday did. we see the real New Zealand back division. That was in the first half, when, in a grand passing burst, the ball swung from one end of the ground to the other, with man after man handling, and backing up for his turn with machine-like precision.

There were flashes in which two or three men appeared, but it is absolutely true that not once in the first half did the ball reach the New Zealand wing three-quarters cleanly after going among the inside backs. That’s not New Zealand football!

New Zealand went within an ace of opening the scoring, in fact it was a hair-line decision which took a try between the posts away from Hook. Lawton had sent a lob pass towards a comrade in the centre of the ground. Lilburne leaped for the ball, brought it down on the tips of his fingers, and shot ahead. Geddes came in, and taking the pass, appeared to slide over the line for the try, but Referee Mayne ruled against him. Australia Score First. Lawton landed a nice penalty goal for Australia and gave their supporters joy with a three points lead. Australia, continued to attack, but the handling was faulty, and the assaults were easily repulsed. Nepia made two attempts with penalty shots, missed, but landed the third, and the scores were three all. Then New Zealand got to the front, and a dropped pass enabled Hook to toe the ball through, gather it, and pass to Oliver, who scored alongside the goal, a post of which he cannoned into and laid himself out for a few minutes. Nepia kicked the goal, and New Zealand led by 8 to 3. Before half-time Lawton landed another penalty goal, making the scores 8 to 6 in favour of New Zealand. Another shot struck one of the uprights. Just before the interval New Zealand again appeared unlucky to miss a try. Ross had misjudged the bounce of the ball, which Hook darted in and gathered. He was over the Australian line before he was recalled. There was certainly no knock-on by Hook in picking up the ball, so that whatever happened must have been elsewhere. That try would have been made between the posts. A Fine Try. There was only one score in the second half. That was a fine try by Australia. Palfreyman- picked up the hall in the ruck, passed to Lawton, to King, on to Thorpe, who scooped up the ball from around his knees, and turned it in a flash to Gordon, who shot over in the corner. There were many other good bursts, but none better than that in which Lawton, J. Ford, Breckenridge, Malcolm, and E. Ford carried the ball from their own 25 to the New Zealand line. A lot of blind passing in the subsequent excitement took?- place. Tuck and Oliver made a couple of capital individual dashes, Waterman missing a pass from the latter when he might have been dangerous. Malcolm and Lawton combined finely once, and McWilliams. made a desperate charge at the line.

Lawton and King were the best of the Australian backs, making several good runs, and handling the ball better than the other backs. Malcolm fired the ball away from the scrum well, but there was little variation in his style of play. Ross caught the ball and found the line in great fashion. Of the forwards, J. Ford, Thompson, Finlay and Breckenridge appeared to be the best, while Bonis of Queensland, gave the backs a big share of the ball. McWilliams and Snow were New Zealand’s best forwards, but the only back who was up to highly consistant standard, was Oliver.