Was Mr M’Kenzie Right About British Tactics ?

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19134, 29 July 1930, Page 7

Was Mr M’Kenzie Right About British Tactics ?

VISITORS CERTAINLY DID OBSTRUCT IN SOME INSTANCES IN SOUTH ISLAND GAMES

(Written for the “Star.”)

THOUGH there have been cases, as far as South Island matches were concerned, when the British Rugby team introduced obstruction methods into their play, the offences were scarcely glaring enough to have been made the subject of public reference by the manager of the New Zealand team for the third test (Mr E. M’Kenzie) on Saturday night after the match.

As one who saw all the British team’s matches in the South Island, the writer can state definitely that there were good grounds for Mr M’Kenzie’s criticism. As far as one can judge, there was little obstruction in the visitors’ methods until the match with Otago, by which time the British had their test team in good working order, and had their methods down to a fine art. It can be said that some of these illegal methods were adopted to frustrate the New Zealand wing-forward, whose positional play was anathema to them. The first real efforts at organised obstruction were noticed in the match against Otago, when Britain had their prospective first test team on the field. In that match the referee (Mr S. Hollander) stood on the playing side of the scrum. Murray, the British scrum half, put the ball in the scrum from the blind side in such a way that it cannoned off a British leg and out to* the rear of the scrum, where the two breakaways, while still legally attached to

the scrum, spread themselves out to form a fan to protect the half-back from the New Zealand wing-forward and breakaways. In this way Murray was not interrupted in his' task of sending the ball out to Spong. It was this obstruction from the scrum which resulted in the New Zealand wing-for-ward paying most attention to Spong as the ball came out from Murray’s “ protective works.” In the line-outs, also, there appeared to be an organised scheme of obstruction. When a British player gathered in the ball from the throw-in, the forward in front of him and the one behind closed in between him and his opponents, thus leaving the way clear for the man in possession to send out to the scrum half. There were cases of shepherding, but only once or twice were they at all glaring in matches in the South Island. Shepherding was practised on occasions by provincial teams.