Powerful Backs, But Pack Not So Strong

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 749, 23 August 1929, Page 7

Powerful Backs, But Pack Not So Strong

THE CANTERBURY TEAM TOUR OF NORTH ISLAND (Special to THE SUN) CHRISTCHURCH. Thursday. j If all its chosen players are fit and | well, Canterbury will field a fine set of . backs against Wairarapa. in the Ranfurly Shield match next Wednesday. Its forwards, however, are not of such good calibre: at present there is more promise than performance in their play, as a set. and much will depend upon their assimilation of coaching in the meantime, and on the acquisition of solidity in the scrum. When the Canterbury team reaches 1 Auckland for its match with the Auckland representatives on August 31. it will be different from that which is being fielded against Wairarapa. Three of its best players, and possibly four, will not be available for touring beyond Wairarapa. It is definite that S. R. Carleton, U. Lilburne and A. I. Cot- ! trell will have to return to Christchurch Immediately after the shield match, j Probably, too, C. Oliver will have to | return then. At the moment, W. C. Dailey, All I Black halfback, is hopeful that the shoulder which he injured in the Newcastle match will have mended sufli- | ciently to enable him to play in the Ranfurly Shield game. He has been doing some training lately, but has not yet had a proper work-out, and his fit- I ness may not be decided upon until ! the eve of the Canterbury team's) departure. T. F. Mullan, of the Christchurch Club, who has been playing j sometimes as a first-five-eighth and sometimes as a halfback, is the second I string to Dailey. M. L. Page, who has | taken Dailey’s place in club matches, ;

and who was asked to go to Australia as second-string to him there, before J. M. Tuck was chosen, is not available for Canterbury’s northern tour. However, Mullan is quite good: very good sometimes, but not invariably dependable. With all its best backs available Canterbury Avould have a fine combination in the centre —four All Blanks.

Dailey at halfback, H. Lilburne at first five-eighth, C. Oliver at second fiveeighth. and S. R. Carleton at centrethreequarter, are a fine quartet on which to build a set of backs. None of them, of course, has the brilliance of A. E. Cooke, but there is a lot of ability there, and it would indeed be hard to match that quartet with another of all-round strength in New Zealand at the present time.

G. F. Hart, a young and speedy but light player who represented Canterbury last year, is on one wing. The other wings chosen for the tour are J. Steel, the old All Black, who played for New Zealand against the Springboks away back in 1921, and W. E. Merritt, New Zealand representative cricketer. J. Harris, former New Zealand representative, is the fullback. Harris is playing well this year. He is a good tackier, fields the ball very neatly, and stops forward rushes well, but his kicking is not strong. With all this strength of backs, however, Canterbury has no assurance that it will be able to give them plenty of ball to play with. All Blacks J. T. Burrows and A. I. Cottrell are excellent forwards, but as hookers alone they are not particularly smart, and they have not got a very compact pack behind them. It is quite likely that they will be beaten for the ball in the] scrums, although Canterbury may do S well in the rucks. As G. T. Alley j went into retirement for this season i Canterbury has been without a big and first-class lock. S. Baird, who j is playing again in that position, ha.- j some weight, but not the physical ; shape for a really good lock. Of the other forwards', the best known is Toby Robinson, who played for New Zealand against New South Wales last year, but he prefers open play to the tight stuff. The others promise well enough, but have not developed yet to the extent of their potentialities. A trial match last Saturday showed that the line-out play of the Canterbury forwards was poor; they will need a lot of coaching in this. Their dribbling, too, is not up to Canterbury’s old standard. Their handling is better than their foot-work. After Cottrell returns to Christchurch, J. Kirkland will hook with Burrows. He is light but nippy, and : has more speed than most forwards, so that he is very useful in the loose. I He is also a hard grafter.