SCRUMS MUST BE WON

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 376, 9 June 1928, Page 7

SCRUMS MUST BE WON

Lesson for New Zealand THE KIMBERLEY EXPERIMENT

(By

J. G. M.)

NEW ZEALAND’S exuberant theory that she had developed Rugby to a pitch at which the scrums no longer counted suffered a severe jar when the news of what may be handed down as “the great Kimberley experiment,” greater than any Kimberley diamond, filtered over the cables on Thursday. This may introduce a new era, not only to international and representative Rugby, but also to club games. What club in Auckland will be the first to pioneer a three-man front-row?

r PHOUGH it is conceivable that the Kimberley experiment was only the happy diversion of a day, and a day only, it is much more likely that the All Blacks undertook it as a serious effort to discover whether it would not serve to remove a major difficulty from then path. Since the experiment justified itself on Wednesday, and allowed the backs to execute some movements which, despite the gloom of the cableman, must have been very pretty and impressive, it is reasonable to assume that it will be tried again in to-day’s match against the Transvaal.

It took the All Blacks only two matches on African soil to learn that fast backs and fast-breaking forwards cannot completely redeem the regular loss of the ball in the scrums, particularly when behind that scrum there are alert backs and nimble drop-kick artists of the Osler-Rousseau type. Indeed, New Zealand

perhaps owes a deep debt of gratitude to flaxen-haired Rouseau, a student at Capetown University, for thus early in the tour showing the All Blacks one of their chief dangers. Quick breaking and command of the scrums will be the only effective weapons against these sharp-

shooters among the African backs, and while the All Blacks may already pos-

sess the one. they are n6t neglecting to cultivate the other. VANISHED DELUSION The necessity to do so is, of course, contrary to those principles which, if not openly acknowledged, have at least won tacit adoption in New Zealand, where the success of the 1924 All Blacks taught a receptive race of footballers that possession was not necessarily nine points of the game. The 1924 All Blacks on English soil shared in a minor degree the experience of the present team in Africa — they had by no means a, monopoly of the ball. The causes thereof are partly traceable to all-round improvement in the English scrummage system since the 1905 All Blacks, by winning scrums as they liked, set an imprimatur upon Maoriland’s pet innovation, the 2-3-2 formation; and partly to the fact that as hookers and hookers only, the frontrankers of the 1924 team were inferior to their prototypes of 20 years before. But whereas they are so far parallel, the experiences of the 1924 and 1928 All Blacks diverge from this point. Either through the fact that it had exceptional opportunists in Parker, Porter and Cooke, or because the opposing backs were not so quick and accurate as the South Africans, the 1924 team could redeem its scrumlosses by implacably shattering movement after movement of the opposition backs, so that ultimately Cooke, Mill, Porter or one of those other predatory opportunists, was able to swoop down and set a great scoring machine in motion.

Clearly these playful practices were not found possible at Capetown. Loss of the scrums there proved to be a handicap indeed, and a handicap that turned into a calamity when, after Rousseau had sent the ball between the props, a portentous figure 4 appeared on the Newlands scoring board. The 1928 team does not claim to possess any really artistic hookers. If there are any they must be Burrows and

Hore, for both Hadley and Swain, though excellent front-rankers, are first of all good huntsmen, who can keep the pace with a fast-hunting pack. But even without any actual artists the team should, in the opening matches, have been capable of getting

possession at least on a fifty-fifty basis. When it could not do so, and a defeat was already on the books, there was no option but to adopt some drastic measure—and that measure took shape at Kimberley. The disadvantage under which the necessity to conduct these epochal experiments will place the All Blacks need not be emphasised. The situation speaks for itself. There are some side-issues, however, with which it is of interest to dally. In th© first place, the adoption of the three-man front row for the rest of the tour will almost certainly mean that three hookers, instead of two, will have a rest each game. By playing Burrows as a light “swinger” between Stewart and Ward, who are much bigger men, the All Blacks on Wednesday only followed precedent. It is the

usual custom in such a formation to have a light man, who is almost suspended, with his feet free for rapid movement, in the middle of the row. Consequently it is possible that the lour hookers with the teaiq. may have to do more than the

pected share of standing down, while th© general average weight and height of the scrums will go up automatically in consequence. PROSPECTS STILL GOOD

Speaking generally, it canont be held that th© need for these experiments encourages optimism about the remainder of the tour; but the team is still capable of developing such combination that it should win at least three of the tests.

A hint of the combined skill that may be expected in more perfect form as the tour advances was disclosed in the match against the Griquas; and by the time the Tests come round that bewildering certainty of action and support should be at such perfecton that Africa will be unable to give it an effective answer.

The adoption of the four-threequar-ter line will strengthen the combination, and means that New Zealand is playing the Springboks at their own game, but with backs we belieye to be the more resourceful and speedy. That even the 1924 All Blacks were not loath to take desperate measures when the exigencies of the case demanded it was shown in the match against London Counties, when Parker was made a fourth threequarter to mark the speedy R. K. Miller. The Counties at that stage led 6-5, but New Zealand ran out to the tune of 31-6.

As for other experiments, it is only necessary to recall that a year or two ago, during R. N. McCullough’s captaincy, the Auckland University side took to playing weird scrum formations, often with a three-man iront row, and once; with one hooker only. Though these experiments were net conspicuously successful, the experience of the All Blacks teaches that a good three-man front row can give any two hookers a problem. Thus a cherished New Zealand theory goes overboard, and from now on there can be no surprise if club teams desert the 2-3-2 formation in efforts to secure a guarantee of possession.