N.Z. RUGBY TOURISTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 153, 30 June 1934, Page 6

N.Z. RUGBY TOURISTS

FIRST MATCH IN N.S.W. TWO DAYS AFTER LANDING. [ Per Press Association. ] WELLINGTON, June 29. The Now Zealand Rugby football team to tour Australia next month will not be allowed many days to find their land legs after arriving in Sydney. The chairman of the Management Committee of the New Zealand Rugby Union, Mr. S. S. Dean, explained at a meeting of the committee that the team would not leave Wellington until July 26 and would arrive in Sydney on July 30. The first match of the tour is fixed for August 1 at Orange, which is 200 miles from Sydney, and it was a question whether the Orange match should be played so soon after the team’s arrival. Mr. K. Tahiwi: “The Maori team in England in 1889 often played three matches a week.” Mr. Dean: “Yes, but footballers were footballers in those days.” Mr. W. J. Wallace: “And so they are to-day if you don’t pamper them too much.” It was decided to adhere to the original itinerary and play the openingmatch of the tour on August 1.