FIRST GAME TO-MORROW

Taranaki Daily News, 13 September 1935, Page 12

FIRST GAME TO-MORROW

ALL BLACKS PLAY IN DEVON MEMORIES OF SOUTHERN COUNTIES WHAT WILL THE TEAM PRODUCE? (By “Side-Row.”) THIRTY years ago almost to the very day the first New Zealanff All Blapks to visit England as & fully representative ed thejr first match against the county team of Devon, To-morrow the curtain will go up on the first match of the Jr tour, once again in Devon, but against a team from the of Devon and Cornwall. * Although three decades have passed since that first match the situation to-day is much the same —-a team of which the capabilities are unknown. , 7

What will be the outcome? There is one thing certain. The All Blacks will play bright football, even as their predecessors did, and no one can realise what the different atmosphere of ageold England will mean. The forwards, most of them giants when they left New Zealand, will be even mightier after six weeks of ship-board lif° The backs, living in an atmosphere of football, will have little else to think about. Concerning the rest, a New Zealand writer has said:— * ‘.‘lt does not require a very vivid imagination to picture a Rugby team from New Zealand touring the British Isles and following in the footsteps of Gallaher and the players of 1905, or the roads travelled by Cliff Porter aqd the invincible combination of 1924?5. British hospitality, which, where New Zealanders are concerned, invariably has a refreshing spontaneity about it, will be extended to Mr. V. R. Meredith and the 1935 party in full flush. They will see the romantic glory of the British Isles—-the white cliffs of Dover, the Downs of Devon, the gently lapping tide of Loch Lomond and the hills where Rob Roy dwelt, the bjue outlines of Ben Lomond, of Ben Nevis, Stirling Castle, the Tower of London, and all the pulsating metropolis—all these scenes, rich in historical romance, will surround the players just as they surrounded the tearps Gallaher and Porter led in past years. "Two variations from past practice will mark the present tour—the new scrum formation, compared, with that New Zealand adhered to in 1924, and the increased power of the manager of the team. New Zealand Rugby has suffered more than it is yet prepared to admit over the

abandonment of the old ‘diamond’ scrum. It has taken all the play in between the death of that formation and the present time to adapt the forwards to the change, and for the first time in history New Zealand will challenge the Mother Country with a type of scrummage which South Africa has perfected. Big forwards have been essential to its success and South Africa has won effectiveness in scrummaging by weight and physique rather than by formation. England, Ireland and Wales, no doubt profiting from what the Springboks taught in that respect, have tended to build along the same lines, and it is not surprising, therefore, that the New Zealand selectors have let their choice wander along identical avenues. -They have looked for weight and speed, and, seemingly, have found it.” New Zealand has good examples to follow for to-morrow’s game. The first match, against Devon, in 1905 brought victory by 55 to 4, the All Blacks scoring 11 tries, eight being converted, and two penalty goals. The match against Cornwall was won by 41 to nil and in 1924 the victories were repeated, this time by 11 to nil and 29 to nil respectively. The All Blades have had no oppor-> turtity to develop combination as a match-playing side and the result of the first match will be awaited with bated breath. Will the new forward formation meet with the same success as the old “diamond” scrum of 1924? Will the fiveeighths rise to the heights of Nicholls and Cooke? Has English county football attained greater strength to oppose a New Zealand fifteen? No one in this country can say, and until the curtain rises in Devon to-morrow conjecture would be I fruitless.