‘English League Halves will Be Best Line Ever Sent on Any Tour of Australia.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18469, 22 May 1928, Page 14

‘English League Halves will Be Best Line Ever Sent on Any Tour of Australia.”

CRITIC DISCUSSES CAPABILITIES OF TEAM COMING TO NEW ZEALAND.

EVERY English team that has visited Australia-r-that is, those of 1910 (J. Lomas, captain), 1914 and 1920 (11. Wagstaff), md 1924 (J. Parkin), has been defeated by New South Wales it least once, and has beaten New South Wales at least once (states “ The Cynic ”in the Sydney “ Referee ”). The first three earns were undeafeated by Queensland, but that of 1924 went down at Brisbane by 25 to 10. These facts are interesting in the light of impressions from .he manager and others cabled to Australia, and of the altered standing, from time to time, of the two Rugby League States. Will the history of 1924 be repeated in State and Test matches? If so, England will retain international honours.

The English team left Tilbury in the s.s. Cathay for Sydney on April 21, filled with hope and confidence for a successful campaign in Australia and New Zealand. Naturally, they always 'are. This time, too, there is a feeling that Australia will not be so formidable as in the past. James Sullivan says the loss of J. Moores and E. O’Rourke will be felt by Australia. No doubt. But there is plenty of material coming along in both States, and the prospect of compact State teams being organised, and, after that, of test teams, is quite good. Open Passing Game. Mr Edmund Osborne, joint manager of the team, in a cabled note, is reported to have said:— “A real good side, and equal to any that has gone out of this country. We will play the open passing game, and have adopted the Australian play-the-ball rule. Our four half-backs are, perhaps, the best line ever sent to Australia. England has never had such fine goal-kicks as Sullivan and Gowers. The latter can kick goals from behind half-way, unassisted by the wind. The team is young, but the average weight is similar, to the 1924 combination.” James Sullivan is not so good as he used to be, but he could afford to have lost some of his speed and yet be a champion full-back. He says he feels better than ever. He kicked 1000 goals in seven years, of which 104 were kicked th’s season. He would have been disappointed if he had not made this tour, as he thinks the Sydney Cricket Ground is the best he has ever played on. Mr Osborne says the team , is younger than that of 1924, the average ages being 24 to 25 years. Halfpenny (21) is the youngest, and Parkin (34) the oldest.

Fast Forwards. The tourists expect to do as well as any previous English side, though they admit much depends on how the youngsters fare in the process of teambuilding, as many of them have had

small experience in first-class Rugby. The forwards, almost all of whom are over 13sfc, are a very fast lot Halfpenny is reputed to be able to run a hundred yards in 11 sec, in spite of weighing 13st 81b. The team is confident that the hard Australian grounds will add several yards to their speed. They are unanimously agreed that the half-backs are the best that ha ve t ver toured from England, more than making up for a possible deficiency in the centre. Much is staked on the big

winger, Ellaby, tp whom Sullivan pays tribute as “brainier than Blinkhcrn ” Great Half-backs. Mr Osborne is an enthusiast, and he may be right in his rating of the halfbacks. But if they have halves better than Fred Smith, Parkin at his top, and other young gentlemen of speed, trickiness and daring we have seen in other teams, we are in for a sui prise and a delightful feast of half-back play. Until we see it, however, we must be sceptics. What Australia will be like at half-back no one knows exactly just at the moment. We may be sound behind the scrummagers, but the fiveeighth position is somewhat obscure. Nevertheless, if the Australian teams be selected strictly on their merits, irrespective if where the men hail from, they will .be strong enough to give England a great battle. With every respect for the views of the manager, and James Sullivan, the advice one has received from England is that the English team will not be quite so strong as they are reporting it to be. And Australia's strength among the backs is problematical, there being very few established stars whose form is certain at this period in the season. Possibilities. Mr Osborne thinks the coming team will do as well as any predecessor. The men may do so and yet not prove as fine a team as some of the others, owing to the falling away in Australian strength, though the improvement noted last winter may be continued. If so, the State teams may be a surprise for the tourists, as those of earlier years were. It is worth noting, as evidencing the change in strength of New South Wales and Queensland over the years, that while the 1910 and 1914 English teams were not defeated in Queensland, and the 1920 team was defeated there only in the first test match (by S to 4), the last team was defeated three times in Queensland, and only once in New South Wales, the State team having won the second match by 33 to 18. ? This small statement of fact will familiarise readers with the change of the relative strength of the States, though, at the moment of writing, one is not going to subscribe to an opinion that Queensland is now stronger than .New South Wales. This State touched bottom two or three years ago, and ras been build ng up * its strength since, whereas Queensland reached its top three or four seasons ba~lc, suffered a setback, and is only beginning to make the recovery. There may be striking equality in the strength of the two States this winter. Members of the English team are as follows: Full-backs—J. Sullivan, W. Gowers. Three-quarters—C. Askin. J. W. Brough, A. Ellaby 4 , T. E. Gwynne, M. A. Rosser, Jack Evans, J. Oiliver, A. Frodsham. Half-backs—L. Fairclough, J. Parkin, B. Evans, B. E. Rees. Forwards—O. Dollan, N. Bentham, W. Burgess, H. Bowman, F. Halfpenny, W. Horton, A. Fildes, R. Sloman, A. Young, W. Thompson.