A FORMIDABLE TEAM.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 197, 20 August 1931, Page 14

A FORMIDABLE TEAM.

Many Experienced Players On the Side. (By “ HACKA”) Under the guiding hand of Mr Tom Davis, who is likely to prove an efficient and genial manager, with such capable leadership as Malcolm can supply, a lieutenant so helpful as Jim Clark, supported by the experience in the party of players like Ross, Towers, Cerutti, Blair, Judd and Palfrevman, the Australian team of 1931 is likely to prove the most successful of the three Australian combinations which have preceded it. The selectors are now convinced, despite the absence of King, Lawton, Breckenridge, Ford, Storey and Finlay, that the team now chosen will mould into a combination capable of playing right up to the high standard recently attained by all representative Australian teams. After an exhaustive series of elimination trials the Australian Selection Committee selected the team to tour the Dominion. The party comprises representatives of three States—fourteen from New South Wales, nine from Queensland and two from Victoria. The selection has caused general satisfaction in Australia, though there are some notable omissions, many thinking that R. B. Loudon, an experienced breakaway forward who has twice toured the Dominion, should have been chosen. Others, too, consider that V. Thicknesse (New South Wales) might have displaced either of the half-backs chosen. J. B. Egan, the Waratah centre three-quarter, who has been showing fine form, had to make way for two youngsters whom the selectors preferred to the brilliant Waratah player. Brilliant Backs. The back division will be a particularly brilliant combination, and New Zealanders can look forward to a veritable feast of good things when they are in action. Every man selected is a champion, the outstanding ones being A. W. Ross, the famous full-back, Cyril Towers, now at the top of his form, and Sid Malcolm, the half-back of wide experience. Young Jack Steggall, of Toowoomba, is the under-study to Alec Ross. He is a much showier player than Ross, whose play has become a byword for consistency and high-class form. Steggall, too, is a fine player in any of the other positions from five-eighth to wing

three-quarter. In fact, members of the British team who saw him in action against them in an Australian XV. at Brisbane, in which the Toowoomba lad figured as a wing three-quarter (Ross being full-back), regarded him as the finest wing three-quarter they met throughout their Australasian tour. Steggall will not be on the sideline very often. The Wing Three-quarters. The wing three-quarters are all New South Welshmen. Palmer, a strong, resolute runner and fine defender, is the father of the party. He was chosen to tour with the Waratahs but could not obtain leave. He has retained his form in a remarkable manner, and, although over thirty, has undoubtedly won his selection on the merits of his play. W. Hemmingway toured New Zealand in 1928. He is a powerfullybuilt man, weighing in the vicinity of 14 stone, and is short, stocky and thick from shoulders to ankles, yet possessing remarkable pace for such a heavy man. In Varsity athletics Hemmingway has paced it with the champions in the sprints and in football togs he is capable of registering lOi seconds or thereabouts for his 100 yard dash. Harold Tolhurst, the youngest of the wingers, will probably prove the most fascinating. Two years ago he played in the junior ranks, when he caught the eye of Dr R. L. Raymond, who was responsible for his promotion to firstgrade ranks. He has flashed into the football firmament like a meteor. Possessing speed and cleverness, he has a capacity for picking his way through a maze of opponents and securing tries which would be impossible to many other players. He is a very sound defender, too. It was unfortunate for the selectors that Roy Lindsay, another player from Toowoomba, was not available. Probably Palmer would have been omitted to make room for this player, whose football sense stamped him as a threequarter above the ordinary calibre. In the concluding match against New South Wales his leg was broken and, though selected, his name was subsequently withdrawn on account of the severe injury. Towers Still a Champion. The centre three-quarters are Cyril Towers (New South Wales), Phil Clark (Queensland) and Harold Herd (New South Wales), a trio who promise to work together in that harmony of movement which is expected of players of international class. That Ben Egan should be omitted from among these players is an indication of their quality. Towers, of course, is well known, and he is still performing in his own inimitable manner, doing that bit more than the ordinary player which makes the difference between the ordinary and the champion. The five-eighths are Harold Primrose (New South Wales) and Dave Cowper

(Victoria). The latter has been a reserve for Australia for the last two ; years in the big matches against New . Zealand and Great Britain in Australia, i It was only the presence of Tom Law- : ton and Sid King which kept him out ; of the Australian combinations. Ex- . tremely fast and an unerring tackier, he has initiative in attack and all the qualities which make up an international champion. Harold Primrose is a youngster who came into first-grade football during the current season. Playing in the same club as Malcolm, i the two have worked up a complete i understanding and Primrose has developed in a remarkable manner. Those ; who remember W. G. “ Greg ” George • will note a similarity of style, though Primrose has infinitely more liveliness i than the ex-New South Wales fiveeighths mentioned. His play forced the ■ New South Wales selectors to omit the one already regarded as certain for the position of five-eighths, Alan Newton, - and as a result of the trials Primrose ensured his position in the Australian team by admirable displays. Half-back as Captain. The half-backs are Sid Malcolm (New South Wales) and Gordon Bennett (Queensland) and, ably as Malcolm has ! played, the selectors consider that there j is hardly any difference between them in the point of skill, though each man | has his own peculiar style of play in ’ the position. Australia will be well ’ served by either of these two sterling little chaps. Malcolm has been entrusted with the captaincy of the side \ and his experience and guile and his . knowledge of the tactics of New Zea- ’ land should be- of inestimable value to [ the side. He has a quiet personality and also the capacity for getting good . results from the men under his charge. ’ Had either of these two not been available, two .other prospective cham- [ pions in the half-back position—V. , Thicknesse (New South Wales) and J. ' Taylor (Victoria) —were available. Never has Australia had such an abunT dance of high-class players for this important position. The average weight of the back divi- » sion should be in the vicinity of llist, that is, in playing outfit. Five Front Row Experts. I In the forward division New South : Wales won six out of the thirteen r places, Queensland gained six and Vic- > toria supplied one. Here again, players f who proved themselves on form have ; been selected and some of very good i quality were necessarily omitted, i The five front-row men are experts. - Bonis has been the Australian hooker for three years past, and his supports 1 are W. 11. Cerutti, who is regarded as - without doubt the finest forward in i Australia, M. R. Blair, a Waratah but ; little inferior to his famous confrere, 1 E. Love (N.S.W.), and J. Ritter (Q.) Ritter or Blair will be the substitute i hookers to relieve Bonis, r It is considered that the Australian

• | pack should, as usual, pbtain a fair » supply of the ball from the New Zea- ’ I land scrummagers. The second row forwards are F. • Whyatt, M. White (both of Queensi land) and B. Judd (New South Wales). - The two lock men are F. Reville (Q.) . and T. Perrin (N.S.W.L These are : five powerfully built chaps, not so big - as many who have played for New Zea--3 land, but possessing more speed than i the average All Black. They are more a cruiser weight than dreadnoughts, , and Australian teams have been mould- : ed on the policy that a certain amount - of weight may be sacrificed in the in- ; terests of speed. Average Weight about 13£ Stone. 1 L. J. Palfreyman (N.S.W.), a line-out * expert, J. Clark (Q ), and Owen Bridle (V.), are the breakaways. Clark and ' Palfreyman are proved players in the 1 position. Bridle so impressed in the 2 trials that he was chosen ahead of men ’ like Loudon and others who were re- ' garded as almost certainties. The best 1 eight out of the thirteen forwards chosen will prove a virile pack, capable of holding their own against the stem- / est opposition. t The average weight of the pack s should be in the vicinity of l3i stone. 3 Five of the men are over 6ft in height, i two others being 6ft. Tom Perrin, a i youth of nineteen and a half years, is i perhaps the biggest of the party. He 1 stands 6ft 3in in height, weighs over 5 Isst, and besides his scrummaging and * rucking propensities, is an exceptions ally good forward in the loose. He is s regarded as the successor to the famous - Jack Ford, who has been lock for Aus--3 tralia ever since the Waratah tour. ,r Owen Bridle, the Victorian (13Jst) is I taller than Perrin, but not so symmetrically built. Though giving the 1 appearance of being too larky for his job, he is composed of fibre that is very tough, and he will stand plenty of punishment. Palfreyman, w’ho hap not toured New Zealand, though he has played against the All Blacks since ! 1928, is also 6ft 3in in height and weighs about 14Jst. Jim Clark (Q ), breakaway forward, has been entrusted ' with the vice-captaincy and will be the ’ leader of the pack. FIRMS MATCH. i 1 The following team will represent the combined Blue and White Star taxi services to play the Gold Band taxis at s Waltham Park to-morrow at 2.30 p.m.— e P. Woods, J. Foster, B. Profit, W. WilIson, M Moody, W. Sutherland, W. Hannigan, D. M'Millan, W. Gray, S. Pauline, L. Dolhegey. R. Ritchie, G. Turner, R. 5 IT indie. D Collie A. Roberts. r ' -