INTERNATIONAL RUGBY TEAMS

Waikato Times, Volume 104, Issue 17554, 8 November 1928, Page 3

INTERNATIONAL RUGBY TEAMS

TWO GREAT N.Z. SIDES COMPARED. WHY 1924 ALL BLACKS WERE SUPERIOR TO THE 1928. THE VALUE OF COOKE, NEPIA AND MILL. In the following article in the Cape Times, the well-known rugby Writer, Mr F. M. Howard, who has had almost a unique opportunity of comparing the 1924 and 1923 New Zealand teams, the former on tour of Great Britain and the latter on South African playing fields, gives his carefqlly considered reason for declaring the 1924 team the better combination. His opinions will, we feel sure, be read with great Interest.

Tn drawing a comparison between Lhc 1924 and the 1928 All Blacks' touring teams, it is essential to keep in mind two or three important lactors whieji made of the recent tour of South .Africa a markedly different proposition from that carried out through England, Wales, Ireland, and France try Porter's men. Ground and climatic conditions in Europe undoubtedly were more akin to those ■commonly found in New Zealand than [were those which the 1928 All Blacks encountered in the Union of South Africa, especially when away from the sea-coast. In 1924 again there were no sudden changes of altitude and no really long train, journeys to contend with, both of which, of course, impose •considerable physical strain on the players, however fit thev mav be. I But the biggest and most important contrast of all—that which had the greatest bearing on the difference in the results obtained by the two All Black touring sides—lay in this, that ! whereas, in Europe, the 1924 All Blacks were given ample opportunities, at the start of the tour, of finding their feet and settling down into a well-knit, confident side in the course of a dozen or more comparatively easy matches against obviously Inferior opponents, in South Africa Maurice Brownlio's men, with hardly time for any preliminary practice, came up against some really strong opposition right from the very outset. Morale Shaken. In the early matches against the Town,Clubs' fifteen and the Transvaal, the 1928 All Blacks met packs considerably stronger than any—with the exception of Newport—that they liad encountcred.in the course of their first fifteen games in Britain. These two early defeats shook their morale more than they cared to ad- ' mit, or perhaps even .. fully realised themselves at the lime. They left a feeling, on the team of being up against something altogether more formidable than they had expected to encounter. There was a sense of being "held" as in a vice, of being unable to obtain that freedom of movement which they had enjoyed in Britain, and to which they .were accustomed in Mew Zealand. Thus it came about that the 1828 All Blacks, with all this , early leeway in morale to make j up, took a very long time to settle down. In fact, they only fully , accomplished this towards the very end of their tour; and then only as the result of two things, i the adoption, of their somewhat I original loose-head movement, j and their narrow victory in the j Second Test, followed by a series i of comparatively easy matches which brought a string of victories and dally increasing confidence in themselves. I

often than not. he would be up to catch again full-pitch; his magnificent ! tackling; and his perfect and very •long touch-kicking, all contributed in i'J2-l to make of him the whole side's inspiration. Mark Mcholls very often engineered the openings. But his work, very telling though it actually was, did no't '"inspire" the All Blacks of 1924 to anything like the same degree as did Cooke's almost wizard-like brilliance. Therefore I maintain that the 1928 All Blacks never could and never did rise to the heights attained by their 1924 predecessors. Had Cooke, who was, of course, selected, made the trip, I do think that it is quite on the cards that Maurice Brownlic's men would not have lost a match—excepting, perhaps, the first Test.

Forwards Equal. There was not, I think, much to choose between the 1824 and the 1822 All Black forwards. "Morrie" Brownlie certainly only found his form during tho last three or four weeks of the South African tour. Until then he was only the shadow of his 1924 self. And I do not think the 1928 pack were even as v/ell led as were the forwards of 1924 by that great forward and grest leader, Jock Richardson. But, otherwise, I think it was a case of "fifty-fifty" as between the two sets of forwards. The 1928 pack, however, were up against, greater physical power opposite, in match after match, than were the 1924 j forwards in the great majority of ! their games, especially of the earlier ones. Then 1 feel that not nearly enough use was made in South Africa of Mark Xicholls, the one centre player of real constructive genius .in the 1928 team. Here in New Zealand Selection Committee blundered badly. I think that, in any case, they were rather over-obsessed with New Zealand form, and did not lake sufficient notice of their various players' possibilities under South African conditions. The 1928 AH Blacks had no wing three-quarter as good as Jack Steel; but, in his own way, I believe Scrimshaw might, had lie been given the chance, have made a great name for himself on the wing. Lindsay, after all, developed into a very fine fullback —one of the happier experiments of the 1928 New Zealand Selection Committee. Lindsay never was a second Nepia, but at. his best he was better than any South African full-back of the moment. Dalle/, Stewart and MoWilliams were without question three of the "star" men of the 1928 side, while Hadiey and Swain could well bear comparison with Donald and Irvine, of the 192-i team, which is paying them no light compliment.

One can, therefore, hardly put the two tours on all fours one with the other and use mere figures and statistics as a basis of true comparison. In the main British packs were quite as clever, at times in fact distinctly cleverer opponents than those encountered in South Africa. But they had not the South African's splendid physique or sheer physical strength, and they were consequently n.ore easily worn down and th.eir.grip more readily loosened, so that, towards the end of a game, the 192-i All Blacks far more frequently than their 1928 comrades, had to deal with an exhausted opposition. The tackling of British sides also was on the whole less ruthless and effective than that usually met with in the Union of South Africa. Then, finally, the 192-i All Blacks never met Scotland, the champion country of that season, and one possessing at the hack of an excellent pack of forwards and (wo very good halves, that famous Oxford threequarter line: this line, behind a very weak pack, had given Ihe New Zealanders a fright at Oxford—a match described by many of the 1921 All Blacks as the hardest of their whole tour.

The Mighty Scots. Taken fore and aft, my own opinion «f that. 1924-5 Scottisli Fifteen is that they were a finer, -more penetrative combination than any side, international or otherwise, that the 1923 All Blacks met in South Africa. And even England and Ireland, lacking Scotland's speed and especially her fine combination, each ran the 192-i All Blacks to 0 points (17 —11, and o—o0 —0 respectively).

j The "comparison," however, all really boils down to this, that there never was, in the 1928 side, the same perfect combination or deadly thrust in the centre that made the 1924 men a team of world-boatero.. . That, and the inexplicable omission -of Mark Nlcholls from so many vital games, msdo up tho one big difference botwebn the two All Blacks touring teams. Great side though they shewed themselves to be in the final Test, the 1928 All Blacks, even on that day, dirt" not equal the best of which the 1924 team wen;, capable.' But they were for all that a great team at Xewlands, and worthy to rank with all but the very greatest in Rugby history.

Despite these various arguments, which must in all fairness be taken into account, I am abso- . lutely convinced that the 1924 All Elack side was a greater team, herder to defeat, and more thrustfulln attack, than wore the 1828 New Zealanders. I base my contention, arrived at after witnessing every match of the 1028 tour and about 24 (Including every "big" game) out of tho 30 comprising the 1924 tour, very largely on tho following fact. Tho 1928 All Blacks had no playor in the centre oven approaching to the calibre and genius cf A. E. Cocko. There is the additional fact that they possosscd no fullback aa cutstanc-ing as was Gobrge Nopla, and no scrum-half . quite equal, oven at his very best, to Jimmy mill.

The Genius of Cooke. At first sight it may seem almost absurd to assert that one man can by himself make a marked difference to the effectiveness of a team. But A. E. Cooke could do so, and I believe can still. Cooke is a Rugby genius such as turns up no more than once in every generation, if so often. His amazing speed off the mark; his lightning dash through the smallest gap; his perfect mastery of the short punt which, more THE 1928 CAPTAIN.