British Tour Of All Black Side

Taranaki Daily News, 10 September 1934, Page 11

British Tour Of All Black Side

PROGRESSIVE POLICY IN SELECTION IS VITAL NECESSITY

JTVER since, the selection of the New Zealand Rugby team which now is back from Australia was announced the prevailing opinion among Rugby enthusiasts in the Dominion has been that the selectors did not make sufficient use of the opportunity to develop promising young players for the tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland which is to be made in the 1935-36 season in those countries. Loss of the Bledisloe Cup wais of less .importance than rejuvenation of the New Zealand team. It is useless now to regret that, since the Bledisloe Cup has been lost, the opportunity to reinvigorate the New Zealand team, with a view to building up a’ really good team for the much'more important tour late next year, has also been lost. The necessity for genuine application of a policy of team-building in the elimination from, and final selection of players, for, the. New Zealand team of next year remains, though, and the provincial unions should keep this steadily before the New Zealand Union.-

The. visit to Australia has . had one useful purpose, although'it was not allowed by the selectors to develop a sufficient 'proportion of young- players. It has shown, in particular, the necessity for inculcation of more solid scrummaging that will give -the hookers pro-

per scope for their ability and at the same time give nicely-adjusted balance to the flank-forward play; the necessity for sharpening up the penetration of the inside backs; the need for development of wing three-quarters of some weight and strength as well as speed and ability; and the need for reducing the proportion of errors in handling the ball by the backs in general. Perfection in handling the ball is not asked for—we all recognise that to err at times is human —but a smaller percentage of errors in handling the ball by backs who have been given by their forwards plenty of possession of it certainly should be expected of a New Zealand team.

The match which was played in Wellington recently, between the All Blacks and what , is labelled as the second-best New Zealand side, was in no sense assistance toward the picking of the team to visit the United Kingdom and Ireland. The selection of a player who has been out of the Dominion for some time, the overlooking of some very promising young players, and the general arrangement of this so-called second-best team indicate that it was picked from the original nominations for the trials on which the New Zealand team for Australia was picked, but without sufficient inquiry about whether or not all these players were still available or about their

form in interprovincial matches since the trial games were played. It is unfortunate that three of the four selectors have been so indisposed since their appointment that they could not carry out their duties properly, but the fact that the New Zealand Union did riot appoint deputy-selectors, after the All Black team for Australia Was picked, suggests that the union itself did not regard to-day’s game as having any notable bearing on the preliminary selections for next year’s trials.

The peculiarities of this season’s selections indicate that the North Island v. South Island match, to be played in Dunedin on September 29, will be no more useful as a guide to probabilities in the picking of the All Black team of next year than to-day’s game in Wellington could be. The choice of that team will have to be based on an entirely fresh set of trials in the early part of next season—trials which will have to be much more comprehensive than this season’s, and approximating in nature to those which were held in. 1924. There has not been anything like a proper “combing” of some of the lessimportant unions this year, for players of potentialities as New Zealand representatives, but the 1924 trials did give players in those unions some opportunity.

The All Blacks of. next year are to play their first game in England on September 14; and so they must arrive in England about 10 or 12 days before. That means that they must leave New Zealand not later, than the last week of July. The players must have at the very least a month’s notice before that, for arrangement of their affairs. In 1924 the names of 16 players who had been chosen as certainties were announced at the end of May, and the names of the others who completed the team for the United Kingdom and Ireland were announced on the evening of Juhe 3, a few hours after the final trial game. The trials of that year had started on May 10. That , was so early in the season that the previous season’s form had to be, to a great extent, the basis of selection for them, but the trials were comprehensive enough, and graduated enough, to overcome much of that disadvantage. Such a series of trial games has its drawbacks, in demands of leave of absence for players, and in interference with club Rugby, but these disadvantages could be compensated for in a reduction of the annual programme of interprovincial matches, if the provincial unions were imbued with a genuine desire that the best team possible should be chosen for the big tour, and were resolute in giving that desire fulfilment. A.L.C.