The Wanganui Chronicle. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1935. A WIN FOR THE ALL BLACKS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 277, 25 November 1935, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1935. A WIN FOR THE ALL BLACKS

MEW ZEALAND’S victory over Scotland on the Rugby football field at Murrayfield, Edinburgh, on Saturday, will restore to new life the rathfr wilted faith many New Zealanders had in the ability of Manchester’s team to rise to the occasion in the bigger matches of the tour. It was a conclusive victory, won in a manner befitting an international side, and will-doubt-less result in many of the hard things said of the New Zealand team being taken back. There will be a new approach to criticism from now on. It was an’achievement to defeat Scotland on its home ground and in front of a large crowd buoyed high with that fervent national spirit of which wild Caledonia is famed, and the fact that the New Zealanders, back and forward, not only rose to the test, but came through, with the becoming stamp of international merit about their form, will make people wonder anew as to why their play has been so relatively poor up to now. Apart from those handicaps which beset a team on. tour — over-heavy entertainment programmes and injuries on the field—it must always be remembered that the standard of Rugby in the British Isles is higher to-day than it was in 1905 or 1924. South Africa's tour through Britain in 1932 confirmed that, and tlie whole of last season was utilised by the Rugby powers of Britain to prepare for New Zealand’s invasion. Appreciating those points, Saturday’s victory is all the more meritorious. There are still heavy matches ahead, however, and ever the possibility of loss, but it is refreshing to find a team which, was so definitely written off as of little above the ordinary, rising to international vigour and to a place among the international teams of the past. Let us hope that the experimental trend of Mr. Meredith’s mind is over in so far as it applied to the present tour, and that he and the powers with him know to a nicety just what the players are capable of and will apply that knowledge to do the best possible, paying due regard to all-that has gone before, and to all that is in store in the future. And, lest it be forgotten, let the great Rugby public of this country express appropriately its appreciation of Saturday’s broadcast, which brought countless thousands to within all but seeing distance of Murrayfield and allowed them to picture the scene, even to hearing the trains whistling by. If the yonuger generation of footballers in this country were thrilled enough to applaud as the announcer's voice told the story, what must have been the feelings of those old players like Wallace, Stead, Hunter, Nicholls, Glasgow, and the rest of them, as they watched the little lighted dials so intently, as though expecting to see old faces, old teams and old fields leap out from them from the long ago"