ALL BLACKS IN BRITAIN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 168, 20 July 1935, Page 4

ALL BLACKS IN BRITAIN

MEMORIES OF THE DAYS OF DAVE GALLAHER ALONG THE TRAILS OF THE 1905 AND 1924 TEAMS

“All Blacks off Colour," was the heading descriptive of The match the 1905 team played against Somerset, the eleventh contest on that memorable tour. New Zealand wen by 23 to n il. Mynott scored two tries, Seeling and Wallace one each; Gillett kicked a penalty and Wallace a field goal and a conversion. The absence of three star players, Smith, Hunter and Roberts, was no doubt responsible for the team’s failure to maintain its display of brilliant football. Stead played half in this match instead of Roberts, whose absence was more keenly felt than that of the other two. Naturally so, for it was to the half, primarily, that the team looked to provide the backs with the ball quickly enough to reap reward from any ha rd-won possession gaiued by the forwards. If the backs were off colour, however, the forwards were not. It was due to their efforts that the result turned out as it did, for, despite the fact that they were opposed to a solid pack, they played with their usual vitality. Possession was gained from a majority of the set scrums and that was a factor which enabled the All Blacks to keep Somerset from scoring. In the loose the Somerset forwards played magnificently, lasting the distance out to a. man. They were led by G. V. Kyrke, an old Oxford “Blue,” ami they quickly broke up and swarmed among the New Zealand backs. That quick frustrating of attack, plus the disorganised note about the New Zealanders’ play, due mainly to the absence of Roberts, caused the Haring headline “Off Colour” to be used by the Press in summing the match up. Yet, a team which can pile on 23 points and be off colour, must be a very fair side! “Against Somerset it was a scramble from start to finish,” wrote S. Al. J. Woods (English International), but he realised that the All Blacks were a fine team of athletes and it would take a very good side to beat them. New Zealand was represented against Somerset b\- the following team: — Full-back: Gillett. Three-quarters: Wallace, Harper and Boot h. Five-eighths: Deans and Aly not t. Half-back: Stead. Forwards: Casey, T,x lor. Glenn, O’Sullivan, Nicholson. Corbett Seeling and Gallaher. 1905 v. Devonport. “('hanged tactics anfl an electric finish,” was how the Press described the New Zealanders’ form against Devonport Albion, their 12th match, which was won by 21. points to three. Thompson scored two tries, Seeling, Seeling. Nicholson and Gallaher one each; Gillett kicked two converting kicks and Cunningham one. Devonport Albion kicked a penalty goal. “The New Zealand missionaries who are touring the country in search of .converts to the game of Rugby football continued their good work at Devonport and. incidentally, gave the Devonians ap object lesson in the art. of try-getting which should prove of practical value.” wrote F. T. Brail after the match. “In many respects it was one of the hardest games the New Zealanders have yet been called upon to play. For the first time on the tour they were called upon to play a combination and not a collection of individual units, and it speaks volumes for the originality of their methods aud genius of their players that, after having none the better of a keenly-fought first half, they gradually wore their opponents down, and. at the finish scored pretty much as they chose . . “The contrast between the methods of the two teams was most marked. On the one side everything xxas done according to a previously arranged plan, which was not to be varied in the smallest particular The New Zealanders had their plan, too, but its working out was left to the men them selves, and. if considered advisable, it could be entirely altered. . . . The New Zealanders put practie.illx their best team in the field, Mallace being the only notable absentee. Belli in attack ami defence JStead xxas the best man on the side. . . . ’ The N’ew Zealand team w;!>: Full-back: Gillett. Three quarters: {Smith, Stead, Thump son.

Five-eighths: Hunter aud Mynott. Half back: Roberts. Forwards: Gallaher. Cuuningham, Nicholson, O’Sullivan, Seeling, Tyler, Johnston and Glasgow. 1924 v. Yorkshire. Fifteen thousand spectators saw a very one-sided game at Bradford when the 1924 All Blacks defeated Yorkshire by 42 points to four. New Zealand’s team work was excellent from kick-off to the final whistle. Yorkshire rarely looked dangerous. It was the old, old Rugby story of forwards winning every scrum and every line-out. This match was a wonderful one for Nepia from a goal-kicking point of view. He had ten shots and got the ball over eight times, and, out of the successful kicks, there were three of exceptional merit, one from near halfway from penalty and two conversions from right out near the sideline. Steel, the New Zealand threequarter, had to retire early in second spell and Parker played on the wing. The Now Zealand team was: .Full-back: Nepia. Three-quarters: {Steel, Svenson. Tlart. Five-eighths: McGregor and Paewai. Half-back: Dailey. Forwards: Parker, McCleary, Irvine. Richardson, Masters, M. Brownlie, C. Brownlip, Stewart. 1924 v. Lancashire. “Shea lassie from Lancashire, Just a lassie that I love dear. . Memories of the quaint ballad were, recalled as the 1924 team arrived hA, Manchester to play their twelfth match. The Rugby Union grounds in that city were considered too small to accommodate the crowd, so the match wae played on the excellently-appointed playing area of the Manchester United Football Association at Old Trafford. There was an attendance of 35,000 and they saw the All Blacks carry the day by 23 points to nil. Lancashire had the best of 4he first ten minutes, but after that New Zealand gained the upper hand and held it for the remainder of the spell. Score? came one after the other and at half time the board read: “New Zealand 17. Lancashire 0.” There was one uneasy moment early in the second spell, when the .Lancashire forwards dribbled over the line and Ne|jja just managed to force. Although the New Zealand team won convincingly, the display the side gave was not so polished. Play was very scraggy aud, in the second half, a triile over-keen. Nepia had a bad day off at goal kicking and only got one over out of four. The New Zealand team was:— Full-back: Nepia. Three-quarters: Svenson, Cooke, Hart. Five-eighths: McGregor and Paewai. Half-back: Dailey. Forwards: Porter, Irvine, White, Afasters, AL Brownlie, Richardson, Cuppies aud Stewart. (Next wqpk the thirteenth and four teenth matches of the respective of 1905 and 1924 will be recalled. 19" v. Midland Counties and v. Surrey, and 1924 team v. Cumberland ami Ireland). The records so far traversed in these articles stand as follow: 1905. v. Dexon, won 55 to 4. v. Cornwall, won 41 to 0. v. Bristol, won 41 to 0. v. Northampton, won 32 to 0. x. L.’icester, won 28 to 0. v. Middlesex, won 34 to U. v. Durham, wen 16 to 3. v. Hartlepoolg, won 63 to 0. v. Northumberland, won 31 to 0. v. Gloucester, won 44 to 0. v. Somerset, won 23 to 0. x. Devonport Albion, won 21 to 3. 1924. x. Dexon, wou II to U. v. Cornxvall, won 29 to U. x. Somerset, won 6 to 0. v. Gloucester, won 6 to x. Swansea, xvon 39 to x. Newport, xvon 13 to 10. x. Leicester, won 27 to x. North Midlands, xvon JU to 3. x. Ch esire, xvon IS to 5. x. Durham, won 43 to 7. x. Yorkshire, xvon 42 to 4. x'. Lancashire xvon 23 to 0. “CROSS-BAIL"