HOW TO PLAY RUGBY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20291, 28 April 1934, Page 8

HOW TO PLAY RUGBY.

Advice Given by Veterans of 1905 Team. That the sound methods which I caused the 1905 New Zealand team to astound the Rugby world by going j through a tour of Great Britain with ! only one defeat, still hold good to-day, j was proved by the intent manner in , which some forty coaches of Welling-1 ton Rugby teams hung upon the words j of two veterans of the team, \V. G. Wallace and A. M’Donald, at the Com-! mercial Travellers’ Club. Mr J. Prendeville, chairman of the management committee of the Wellington Rugby Union, presided. Mr Wallace gave practical illustrations of how to handle the ball, and the correct methods of passing and receiving. Wellington’s success in recent years, he said, had been largely due to the ability of such players as Kilby, j Page and Pollock to handle the ball , correctly and expeditiously. Players | should learn to handle the leather with their hands, as it lost time to gather the ball to the body. This was the reason why so many fast track runners were so bad at a pass; they too often ran without the ball The most important men in any Rugby team, said Mr Wallace, were the full-back, first five-eighth and half- j back, and the full-back should be the ■ best-trained man in the team, as he ! had to handle the ball more. Mark j Nicholls and Lance Johnson, he said, were example'- of ideal first five- > eighths. Mr M’Donald dealt with forward! play, advising coaches to try and de-: velop team spirit It was no use. he ; said, for forwards to indulge in what ; he called “ seagull chasing.’’ It was [ far-wiser to conserve their energies in the interests of the team by ani.icipat-] ing the run of play, and thus being ini a position in which they could render 1 most service. Cliff Porter had been a 1 master of anticipation, and it was this ! gift which had caused so many people to accuse him of being so often offside. I lie favoured the 3-4-1 formation, * though he still liked the 3-2-3 forma- ! tion, as this could give a little more i weight. Tt was quite a debatable j point, and teams would be plaving dif- j ferent formations for some time to J It was unfortunate that dribbling J had become almost a lost art. but it j had to be remembered that it was ! impossible to dribble the ball on a wet j day. The only thing to do on a reallv i wet day was to boot the leather, and j get after it. It was decided to hold the next ! meeting of coaches on the evening of , May 4. and to invite C. G. Porter and t M. F Xicholl®, two members of the' 1924 All Blacks, to be the lecturers for j the evening.