LOOSE FORWARDS MUST BE MADE TO PLAY TIGHT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 167, 18 July 1939, Page 4

LOOSE FORWARDS MUST BE MADE TO PLAY TIGHT

ALL BLACK SCRUMS AGITATION STILL FOR THE McLEAN FINLAYSON TYPE LESSONS SOUTH AFRICA TAUGHT N.Z.

“If New Zealand wants to win against Soutn Africa, tall, loose forwards like IT. F. McLean and I. Finlayson will have to go to give place to the more solid type which will put weight into the tight.” This remarkable comment appeared in a provincial journal (it was the “Chronicle”) the other day. It can hardly be allowed to pass without criticism, states a metropolitan journal, in reply. McLean, of course, has always been accused of being content to hover around the fringe of forward play—a “shiner” has been his typical appellation, the metropolitan journal goes on. Well, we don’t know about that. But we do know that in his best form he has been one of the most valuable forwards developed in New Zealand in the last decade. A player of his capacity would have been entirely wasted had he been a man who put his head down in the scrums and kept it there. A footballer with grey matter, and McLean had that (he still has), has other avenues to exploit besides putting his shoulder into it in the tight. A side-row man who keeps his eye on the ball and gets after it once it leaves the scrum on the opposition side is worth a dozen of the fellow who still has his head buried when the ball is 30 yards away. It is often said that if a forward hasn’t been noticed during a game it can be assumed that he has played sound football: tbat he has been doing his graft where it has been most needed—in the tight. This reasoning is quite fallacious. The point is: Did he have his down only when the occasion demanded it.

or wa.s he one of a struggling mass of players who much of the time were never whore the hall was? It. is one thing to know when Io ■ keep your head down and another when not. II is not to bo assumed from this I hat wo have not. a just appreciation : of I hr value of light, play. A pack that, neglects this most important ' phase of the game will run into very hoavy weather against first-class opposition. J But at the same limo there is al-1 ways a. fair percentage of loose play ; in any match, and the man who| moulds his game io the particular oc-i casion is the one likely to prove thc| greatest asset. That is why McLean ; was, and still is, a fine forward. I The suggestion tlfht a player of t ho I type of “Bunny” Finlayson should | have no place in the 1940 All Black { side is. to say tho least, well- amaz-| ing. The trouble for years with for-1 ward play generally in this country has been the lack of men of the Fin-; I ays on class. If Now Zealand could put down five Finlaysons behind the front row in the Tests in South Africa next year, then there would be very good cause for vanguard optimism. But, alas, miracles just don't happen in Rugby r football. t Of course Finlayson was a loose 1 forward—when he had to be. And he could work with the best of them in - c the tight. He was a splendid line-out t man, too (a much neglected phase of ( the game these days) and was a smart ( q handler. Altogether one of the bestir

New Zealand forwards on the tour of South Africa in 1928. Ask Ted McKenzie if he would care to have a few of the calibre of Finlayson at his disposal next year. When players who have been idols in any game are criticised it is natural that they should be defended, and the |

idols of the Rugby game are usually those players who play loose, are seen and take advantage of opportunity. New Zealand does not need to look far for the McLean—Finlayson type of forward. Tori Reid (Hawke’s Bay),

at his best, was the equal of them. But the search in this Dominion today is for Maurice Brownlies. If the metropolitan journal had said this: “If New Zealand could put down five Maurice Brownlies behind the front row in the Tests in South Africa next year, then there would be very good cause for vanguard optimism,” most people would agree. Ever since New Zealand lost the art of scrummaging, and it was lost when the rules dictated that there should be a three-man front row, the i Dominion has bred a race of loose | forwards. In other words the type of play indulged in by the McLeans and Finlaysons has been copied by all the forwards, to the detriment of tight scrummaging. One of the greatest lessons taught New Zealand was taught between the first and second Test in 1937. South Africa fielded a pack in the first Test which allowed the loose New Zealand forwards to stream through with the ball at toe. It was recognised at once by the South African executive that to beat New Zealand it would be necessary to check the All Black looseness, and the only way to do that was to tighten the scrummage and so control the ball. Broad-chested Philip Nel wa.s brought back into the lock position and rotund, master-of-Rugby, “Boy” Louw was put into the front row. It is history, now what ha;ipened and one can be forgiven for repeating “Fanie” Louw’s comment—“We scrummed the All Blacks into the ground.” ( Surely those Tests must have im- T pressed any student of the Rugby £ code that to win against South Africa , Ihe search must bv for forwards of the Maurice Brownlie type, the lan s Harveys, Ihe W. Cunninghams. New Zealand, so confident after the first Test in 1937 that the loose game was ] the thing, made the pack still more loose, by playing J. G. Rankin on the ; side and this at a lime when South Africa was dropping the tallest forward the team had, G. L. van Reenan. i

To-day, the search is for solidity in ] the pack, and not so much for the f loose playes. q Let it be said that both Finlayson and McLean were good forwards in the type of game New Zealand has encouraged in recent years. It has inspired many a Rugby enthusiast to j see that type ruggedly smashing its way through solid opposition, but that style of play has been to the detri- n ment not only of tight scrummaging, but to back play as well. It is well remembered how, only a year or so ago. Frank Kilby used McLean to attack Taranaki, McLean breaking away from the pack to take the ball from Kilby, on the blind side of the scrum, draw the full-back and send .Nelson Ball on to score. That could I be done because seven Wellington forwards could outplay Taranaki s • eight and McLean could afford to be j loose and he played a great game. • In South Africa conditions will not be i so easy in the major matches, and the I scrummage the All Blacks put down i must be equal to countering the machine like pack the Springboks will ! field. While we have floated round and won with good loose forwards, ' many of whom deserve to be idolised, i because their type of play suited in ’ the circumstances, South Africa has i mastered the 3-4-1 pack so thoroughly 'that the dive r<ass and widely spaced! : three-quarters, fast off the mark, . could cary the ball yards away from even the fastest of New Zealand’s breaking pack. To-day, we want a pack that will at least give the New Zealand three-quarters a chance’— “Crossbar.”