ALL BLACKS BEATEN.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 2 July 1928, Page 5

ALL BLACKS BEATEN.

IN THE FIRST TEST. JSY SEVENTEEN POINTS TO NIL. (Special to Press Association.) DURBAN, Saturday. Twenty thousand people watched South Africa-''overwhelm New Zealand on Kingsmead Ground to-day by two potted goals, two penalty goals, and one try— l 7 points—to nil. New Zealand was literally never in the hunt, and only magnificent defence saved a bigger score. Territorially, the Springboks had SO per cent of the game. Fourteen of the points were scored !bjfeßennio Osier, the crack fly-half, ” CBb is now. regarded as a national hero, ne potted both goals and kicked two penalties. The average weights were as follow: —Forwards, New Zealand 14.2, Springboks 14.1; backs, New Zealand 11.10, Springboks 11.1. - - referee was Mr V. IT. Neser, the < ‘A'-6)xford double blue. jf WHIRLWIND OPENING.

II It was a perfect football day when ip teams took the field. There was o wind and the sun was hidden by ark grey clouds. [There was a hush among the crowd Aile the teams gave their war-cries; (y.cn Brownlie kicked off. For the first .few minutes it appeared that New Zealand would get across. It was a whirlwind start that raised the hopes of the k New Zealand supporters, but Fortune’s wheel turned several points against the New Zealanders in a trice. Strang was •collared while attempting to pot under Mostert cleared, and away ■w®®-the South African forwards in a •shattering run with the ball at their feet. Heeling out from a loose serum, the Springbok backs bad the New Zealand defence in a tangle. Mostert kicked through and smothered Lindsay, but .a force-down resulted. Play was fast and open at this •stage, with most of the game in the New Zealand twenty-five. The sun broke through the grey clouds, and, shining in their eyes, put the South Africans to some disadvantage. Scrum followed scrum, but Bennie Osier would not feed his backs until in the New Zealand twenty-five, and always persisted in kicking into touch. 'Carle* ( ten saved a desperate position a inlnJt ute later by smashing a Springbok back .attack. He kicked through to halfway, but Do Villiers shot the ball away from a serum, and Stanley Osier shortpunted. Lindsay, racing up, took the ball in his stride and cleared brilliantly. Hadley, Stewart and Swain dashed out from the ruck with the ball at their feet, only to be sent back by Tindall, the African full-back never failing in Risjßjfc kicks. From a penalty at lialfmade an attempt to .score, but bin kick fell just short. ROCK-LIKE DEFENCE. a blind-side run Robilliard was SiunK and became practically useless all throßgh the rest of the game. Away ■■werfit the South African backs in full cry again. Stanley Osier, with a clever short punt, gave a chance to Slater, who was played in preference to Brand. The winger collected the ball going at top speed, and bolted hard for -% the corner. Lindsay came across' just as fast, made one dive at the flying Springbok, and brought him down brilliantly. With run after run the South African backs kept the New Zealanders .guessing, and only a rock-like defence saved them. A MAGNIFICENT POT. Another scrum was formed forty ;yardsßir;om the New Zealand line. De Villiers sent the ball to .Bennie Osier, who beat Scrimshaw and

•manoeuvred for a drop at goal. He Jet drive and the hall soared high between the goal posts —a magnificent Idek which roused the spectators to a frenzy, which only simmered down when the New Zealand forwards set aboutthe task of recovery. They, however, ■could achieve very little. Only once, • close on half-time, did they look at all ytikc scoring. From a line-out, RobilliVard sent the ball to Swain, who gave a ireverse pass to Kobilliard again. He raced for the corner, but was held up •on the line, and South Africa cleared with a penalty kick. Half-time came with the Springboks four points up. South Africa 4 New Zealand .'.... 0 When play was re-started, Duffy, one ■of the African centres, did not turn out owing to injury. ■ A, change was also made in the* New Zealand team, Scrimshaw going from rover to extra centre rthree-quarter. Hardly two minutes of the spell had gone when the ball h r «PI came out from a scrum to BenjJ®snle r / and like a flash of lightanother fine goal. forward battle then went on wear with South Africa getting al*che best of it, and ending in Brownlie' being penalised for off-side. From this Bennie Osier kicked an easy goal. South Africa 11 New Zealand 0 The Springboks, although a man abort, were now playing better than ever. Their ba-cks developed a series of impressive thrusts. From ono run prinsloo was almost over, but was pushed out at the corner by Grenside. Three free kicks to New Zealand gave them n chanc-e to work up to half-way, where lotgieter had an unsuccessful attempt at goal from a penalty. J. A BRILLIANT SAVE. Pretorius opened up play well, and short punting found the All Black defence at sixes and sevens, but again magnificently, racing across the ball on the full and finding the line. 'The New Zealand

forwards then got away in a combined movement, but the Springbok battlers scon swept them back. The ball came from a scrum to Bennie Osier, who short-punted, but after he had got in his kick, Johnson bowled him over, and a penalty was awarded the Springboks for obstruction, which B. Osier turned into a goal. South Africa 14 New Zealand 9 South Africa were winning fore and aft now. Being given plenty of ball by their forwards, the backs started to throw the ball about particularly well. Lindsay bad a shot at goal from a penalty at half-way and just missed. Again the South African backs got going at top speed, and Prinsloo lost the ball when actually over the line. The next moment it came along the line of backs from tbe scrum to Stanley Osier, who threw away a certain try by holding on too long. A few minutes before time, when the Springboks had been attacking continuously, Do Villiers worked the blind side brilliantly. The ball went to Bennie Osier and then to Slater, who cut clean through the defence to score a great try. B. Osier just missed goaling. South Africa 17 New Zealand 0

The New Zealand run of the whole day came a minute later, when Stiang cut in after receiving from a serum. The position looked quite hopeful, but Scrimshaw dropped his pass, and . the opportunity was lost. The final whistle went with South Africa still on the attack. The crowd at once surged on the field, cheering and congratulating their men.

FIENDISH FATES. While the fates were fiendish in committing the New Zealanders to a dreadful chain of errors, they were certainly the less worthy of the two teams. "Everything was tragic for the All Blacks. They could do nothing right. The game went to the better balanced side, and the superior set of tacticians. At the same time, it must be stated that for tlic bigger part of the match New Zealand played with a three-quarter line of “crocks.” Grenside’s knee, injured in tiie last match, failed him early. Robilliard, when downed hard by Slater, rose limping badly, and could hardly run for the rest of the day. Carleton, in the first few minutes, had a thigh muscle badly damaged. Even as sore as they were, they played a magnificent defensive game, smashing the Springbok attack time and again. SPRINGBOK DOMINANCE. With a pack that was ' obtaining easily the larger share of the-, scrums, South Africa’s dominance radiated to a fast and elusive three-quarter line. The two Osiers combined with line precision, cleverly drawing their men or varying the play with short punts or a line kick. De Villiers was a very clever half, getting the ball away to his men without hesitation.

Taken altogether, the New Zealand backs, except for., stubborn defence, were disappointing. The forwards were overwhelmed in the scrums, but held the upper hand in the line-outs. lhc most brilliant exhibition of full-back play seen on the tour was given by Lindsay to-day. He had a tremendous amount of work, but never failed, being •sound in every department. Dailey was wayward and uncertain, and failed to get the New Zealand back machine on the move.

Johnson suffered as a result, but at the same tim6 be, too, was not impressive.

Strang was good in patches. The forwards battled hard and hopelessly, with Stewart, Swain and Brownlie the most prominent workers. The South African forward front row, Mostert, Kruger and Van Drutcn, formed a .splendid trio, who played a great - game. Pretorius was another fine forward, who played centre three-quarter when Duffy was injured. There may have been more brilliant and scintillating exhibitions of the code in international matches, but it is doubtful whether there has ever been a match more strenuously fought.

There is only one epitaph to record: New Zealand was beaten by a better team.