SPORTS AND SPORTSMEN

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19765, 21 December 1935, Page 22 (Supplement)

SPORTS AND SPORTSMEN

(By " Korotangi.”)

HOW WILL ALL BLACKS FARE? Welsh International To-day : Charlie Sjnith in London : ten Harvey’s Titles t Hardstaff’s youthful Form Jim Everest 1 s Selection : Somervell’s Bright Form : Caughey as a Genius : Nurmi’s Farewell.

IN THE MINDS of many people the most important matoh of the All Blacks’ tour will be decided to-day when the third international the Welsh Test —will be played at Cardiff. 'Besides inflicting the only defeat on the New Zealand 1905 and 1924 teams in the 63 matches of the two tours, Wales, generally, has a- much better record in international matches with visiting teams than any team in the British Isles. The present All Black team has'suffered one defeat on the tour so far, being beaten by Swansea by 11 points to 3. The lact that Tarr, the Swansea hooker, who gained the ball almost when he liked, and the Swansea schoolboy half-back, Tanner, who with Davies was responsible for the All Blacks’ defeat, have been included in the Wales team, will add a great deal of interest to the match. The All Blacks will be faced with three great problems to-day—-the ferocity of the Welsh forwards, the cleverness of the Welsh baoks, and the fervour of the Welsh crowds —and of the three the last is, perhaps, the most potent. Hours before the kick-off forty thousand people come into the Cardiff ground fervently singing “Land of My Fathers, Land of the Free.” The crowd is almost frenzied with excitement by the scheduled time arrives and, although there is a mighty roar when the visitors line out on to the field, it is nothing to the earsplitting thunder of applause when the home team flies out. Then there is the electrifying hush as the preliminaries are in progress and then the great throng breaks out again into mad yelling and wild cheering, seeking on every little occasion as excuse for vocal demonstration, cheering on their side and shouting down the opposition. No visiting team has been quite able to settle down to it and it is the cause of a wonderful difference in the play of the .teams.

Although many may be inclined to scoff there is just such a thing as “psychological effect” in Rugby, and this is one of the greatest things the All Blacks will have to contend with. Then there is the undoubted strength of the Wales team, and from the selection announced it cannot be presumed that the game will be a. quiet one without incident. The visitors have played against many of the men picked and know their ferocity. In T. Rees (Newport), and T. Williams (Cross Keys), the Welsh pack has forwards who stand six feet and scale 14st., and A. M. Rees (London Welsh) J. I. B. Lang (Llanelly), and G. Prosser (Neath), are big and strong packmen. With D. Tarr, the Swansea hooker, also included the pack will prove a strong opposition. w * « •

The backs are, without a doubt, a first-class combination. C. W. Jones, the Cambridge University will-o’-wisp,} will partner H. Tanner instead of W. - j T. Davies, his partner in the Swansea match. Jones, w'ho has great pace off the mark and a wonderful eye for a gap, was regarded last season as the ■ best inside back in the British Isles. Wooller of Cambridge University, is 6ft. and although only 22 has great pace and determination and is ideally j suited for wing three-quarter. The other winger is G. R. Rees-Jones of Oxford University who made his name against England and Scotland last season. E. C. Davey, one of the centres, played brilliantly against the All Blacks when they were defeated by Swansea and has had six seasons of international play. The other three quarters J. Idwal -Rees is big and fast. V. G. J. Jenkins, the full back, has replaced T. 0. James. The back line has whips of pace and is a dangerous attacking force. The defence is also particularly strong and on paper the team easily looks the best; the All Blacks have so far cncount-1 ered. ; * * * * | At the time of writing the All Blacks team has not been announced, but it can be taken for granted that a very strong side will be fielded. There is some doubt as to the. extent of Caughey’s injury and, on his form in the previous Internationals, if he is not fit, New Zealand will lose a great attacking back. Tindill and Griffiths should play well together, however, and both should give their three-quar-ters every opportunity. The defence of the back line would be improved if these two are selected. The remaining members of the team are not likely to differ much from the other two International teams and as they have been successful before there is no reason to doubt that they will not again be hard to beat. Doubts as to the strength of the All Blacks were previously frequently expressed, but recently it has been admitted that they are worthy successors of the predecessors. ••* * , Supremacy of forwards almost invariably wins international matches and the most brilliant back line in the world is of little use behind a beaten pack, Mr V. R. Meredith and the All Blacks know this and it can be presumed that the team will concentrate on gaining the upper hand in this department. The forwards to produce a pack that shoulch.be more than a match for Wales arc available, but although the All Blacks may be slightly favoured the game will be very keenly contested. The 1905 All Blacks were beaten by Wales by 3 points to nil, Morgan, a wing threequarter, scoring the only try of the match following a bright back movement. The 1924 All Blacks more than wiped off the score, winning 19—0. M. Brownlie scored one try, W. R. Irvine two, and K. S. Svensen one. M. F. Nicholls converted one try and kicked a penalty goal. Great Feat in Golf. A feat which is probably unprecedented in golf was accomplished by Otto Hackbarth, the veteran Cincinati Country Club professional, and Johnny Fischer, the Walker / Cup player, in a professional-amateur four-ball competition at Cineinatti, IJ.S.A. They had a best-ball score of 59 —eleven strokes better than par for the 6100 yd. course. They won the competition by eleven strokes. They went out in 28, as against the parscore of 35, their figures being 3,4, 3,4, 1,4, 3,3, 3, Hackbarth holer! his tee shot at the 173 yd. fifth. They came home in 31, against the par 35. Their figures for the last nine holes were: 4,3, 3,4, 4,2, 4,3, 4. The individual rounds of the players were: Fischer 66, Hackbarth 67. Fischer took part in the Walker Cup contest in New Zealand in 1934. In the singles he beat Eric Fiddian by 5 and 4. He also took part in the British amateur championship at Prestwick, when he was beaten by Jack McLean, the Scottish international, in the fourth round by 2 and 1.

full-back with the New Zealand Rugby team in England, who has passed the century of points for the tour.

Len Harvey’s Record,

Charlie Smith’s Boots. When Charlie Smith, the big Hawke’s Bay Maori, arrived in London last week to play League football, he made the following bright statement in an interview: “I had to move pretty smartly to get the boat which dropped me here to-day. Here, look at this (pulling a pair of boots into view). 'Some of the mud from the Australian tour is still sticking to them. I almost forgot ’em at that, and I should have been annoyed, for these boots are real old friends of mine, and I should have hated to start playing in any others. I was all packed when I remembered them — grabbed them and tied them on the outside of a case which I did not want on the trip, and that’s the way they travelled from New Zealand.”

Cricketing Blood. Cricket is in the blood of the stylish English batsman, Joseph Hardstaff, the M.C.C. team’s most prolific 'scorer who has given some astonishing performances during the early part of the Australasian tour. A son of the former Notts and England player, he was born in 1913, being taken on the Trent Bridge ground staff when only 16 years of age. He made his debut two years later and in the following season compiled his first century when he knocked up an unbeaten 101 against Sussex. His 230 not out against an Australian XI this month is the best score of his career.

A proud boxing record is held by the English Boxer, Len Harvey who, | between 1927 and .1932, went through I more than 60 fights without a single j defeat. lie was formerly the middle, I cruiser and heavy-weight title-holder, I but he lost the middle-weight title to j Jack McAvoy, relinquished the cruiser-. weight and beat Jack Petersen for the heavy-weight championship. Subsequently, although conceding 3t stones, he took the British Empire title from the Canadian, Larry Gains, j but in June of last year lost both the j Empire and British crowns in one j fight with Petersen. , Youthful Cricket Feats. “Off-break” writes as follows: —| “From time to time I have read of various feats performed by youthful cricketers, but here’s one that I think will take some beating. A youth, Russell Wylie, who was 11 years old this month, playing in the schools competition for Normal School, has during the past season which commenced in February last and ended this month put up this average:— Twenty-four overs,x 28 wickets, 28 runs. How’s that? Alan Somervell Looks Well. The ex-Hamiltonian, Alan Somervell who a season or two ago was the Old Boys’ swimming club’s relay and sprint stalwart, is moving along great guns, at Wellington. The Evening Post ranks him as being- probably the fastest sprinter in the district and recalls that he was the Wellington sprint representative at the national championships last year at Auckland. Here he was unfortunate in experiencing car trouble and could not produce his best form but, nevertheless, he put up a.fairly tired liable showing. The essence of fitness, he looks to have good prospects for the current season.

Amateurism Impossible? | 'lt is widely believed in France that conditions in many present-day sports make absolute amateurism impossible, and leaders of the new movement prefer to be frank about it rather than' to continue pretence. Already the French Football Federation has withdrawn from the Olympic Games tournament to be held in Berlin next year. They say that professionalism has been adopted in France, and that they i would have sent a genuinely amateur} side to Berlin, but that the reluctance; of some other countries to recognise professionalism will tempt these countries to include paid players in their teams. French ski-ers and skaters also have withdrawn from the Olympic Games because of the alleged impossibility of confining Olympic representation of their sports to amateurs. Wendell Bill’s Promise. Wendell Bill, the Australian righthander, who opened the tour of F. A. Tarrant's team at Colombo with a century, plays very breezy all-round-the-wicket cricket. His biggest in-! ning» for New South Wales against; Victoria are 100 and 83; against Queensland 153, 95, and 80; against South Australia, 76 not out, 46, 44, : and 41; against West Indies, 47, and 33; and against South Africa, 47. He; has generally had to open the innings,! which, for a young batsman, is an; ordeal, when seam-swinging, fastish j bowlers are generally called upon to start the cannonading. Wendell and Waldo Bill are twins. Wendell was christened after Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Waldo after Ralph. Waldo; Emerson—so the story goes. Waldo is a left-hander, but not so good a player as Wendell, who will go still further in cricket if fuller opportunities on foreign fields be given him.

! TO TOUR NEW ZEALAND. I 1 ' | Two Australian tennis stars who j have been granted permission to lour Aew Zealand this season. I

Cricket Colt’s Selection. The youngest of a family of proved cricketers, Jim Everest has justly deserved his selection for the South Auckland Hawke Cup team which travels to Palmerston North in an attempt to wrest the Hawke Cup from Manawatu next week. Ted and Dick Everest are brothers who have done well in both Rugby and cricket, but the youngest of the family, a stylisli left-hander, shows every promise of eclipsing their performances. He is an artist in timing—an attainment which may have induced him to overdo the late cut, which is a stroke he applies to perfection. Despite his training at the Hamilton Technical High School where fielding is elevated to a fine art, Everest is inclined to be sluggish in the field, but it is possible that the broader experience which he looks like obtaining will work improvement. ICOUIIUUeU (U «9iS CHIUUUI.i

Nurmi’s Queer Farewell. A queer way was chosen by Paavo Nurmi, Finland’s wonder runner, to make his exit from the stage of world’s athletics. Instead of retiring on his laurels or making his final appearance in an important track event, he elected to take his leave in a freak charity race at Helsingfors on September 24. His opponents included the local police chief, the salvage corps president, opera singers, and members of Parliament. Most of them had done no more running than is necessary to catch an omnibus, but Nurmi made it a dead-heat with someone, and then stalked solemnly off the track as gloomy as ever. An Impression of Caughey. The following is an English critic’s comment on the All Black five-eighth, T. H. C. Caughey: “The most interesting player of all was T. H. C. Caughey. He likes room to move, and when he is hemmed in a sort of football claustrophobia seems to overcome him, so that he makes fantastic panicky mistakes. But when the ball comes sweetly to him on the run, and the defence, is the least bit unsettled, lie will go swerving and side-stepping through it like forked lightning. He .must be a difficult man to play to, but for about two minutes in every . io he is a footballer of Aumius.”