The PACHYDERM PACK

Cue (NZERS), Issue 31, 15 September 1945, Page 28

The PACHYDERM PACK

PROBABLY no visiting team has JL captured the imagination of the Rezo Zealand Rugby public in the way the 1937 Springboks did. The manner in which this combination romped through New Zealand winning match after match and losing in only one engagement, the first Test, stamped it as a precision machine comparable with the famous 1921/ All Blacks and certainly earned it recognition as the greatest touring side New Zealand has ever seen.

It is a matter of more than passing interest that South Africans serving in Italy have expressed themselves as confident that their country can still field a team of the class of that they sent to New Zealand in 1937 under the captaincy of P. J. Nel. Young players have appeared in recent seasons, they say, of whom big things are expected —fast backs and big, hard-working forwards who are being prepared to carry on where Nel’s men left off. One gathers from the South Africans that the style of play developed within the era of Benny Osler, the scrum, heel and kick-into-touch policy, has gone for ever, replaced by the open tactics which give the backs every opportunity of getting into action. The future, possibly in the shape of the next All Black tour of South Africa, will show whether this happy ideal has been borne out.

Not every touring team can be as fortunate as the 1937 Springboks in being able to fill all key positions on

the field with ’’star” players. More than that, the team was aided by the fact that none of the key men, such as. J. Lotz, wizard among hookers, D. Craven, scrum-half, and T. A. Harris, fly-half, sustained injury during the tour. Then again, weather and ground conditions treated the visitors well for the majority of their important fixtures, there being a comparative absence of the muddy grounds of a normal New Zealand winter, and consequently they were able to employ their open style of play to advantage. No one can say that it was not a good thing for the game, for the Rugby Nel’s team provided was often exhilarating and always spectacular and afforded lessonswhich should be reflected in New Zealand football in the post-war years.

The Springboks arrived in New Zealand fresh from a string of cricketscore successes in Australia, where they won both internationals and, though losing to New South Wales, gave a glimpse of what lay in store for enthusiasts in the Dominion. In Australia the tourists rattled up no fewer than 444 points in eleven matches to a total of 76 scored bj their opponents. They tried out their new open style of play and found tha it paid rich dividends. With a magnificent set of forwards, they cultiva ed the intensive backing-up methods which are a traditional feature of All Black teams and developed their scrummaging to a solidity bordering on perfection. By their solid packing they drove home one of the elementary e

sons of Rugby, that possession of the ball is the biggest advantage of the game. And, having devised the means of ensuring possession, they saw to it that their backs had plenty of the ball and were given every opportunity. There again they were fortunate, for, as every Rugby enthusiast in the Dominion knows, they had the talent in the back-line to see the job through —as proof of this, it is only necessary to point to the fact that of the 87 tries scored during, the tour 52 were gained by members of the three-quarter line.

The Springboks at once gave a pointer to their calibre by beating Auckland in the opening match of the New Zealand tour by 19 points to five. At Hamilton, where they played a combined King Country-Waikato-Thames Valley fifteen, they encountered muddy going and were held to a 6-3 victory after the combined team had led at one stage by three to nil. Hard-pressed throughout, the tourists gained their six points in the last nine minutes of the game. Better conditions at New Plymouth enabled them to defeat Taranaki by 17 to three (though the trend of play was far more even than the scores indicated) and then Manawatu and Wellington were overwhelmed in turn, the scores being respectively 39-3 and 29-0.

Coming just before the first Test at Wellington, these two defeats sent a wave of Rugby pessimism surging throughout New Zealand —a feeling which was not relieved by the knowledge that not one of the All Black backs had previous international experience and that J. G. Rankin, liailed as an outstanding loose forward, had contracted influenza and could not play. The (Springboks, on the other hand, were not without their worries. It began to rain the night before the Test and there was a steady drizzle on the morning of the game, while the full-back, G. Brand, was suffering from a muscle injury and had to be

replaced by Turner. Both Nel and M. M. Louw were dropped by the team’s selection committee.

v There was surprise and elation in New Zealand Rugby circles when the much-maligned All Black team smashed its way to a 13-7 victory after a hard, dour match. Despite the loss of R. H. Ward to replace D. G. Cobden after the latter, on the wing, had been injured, the forwards rose to the occasion in magnificent style and completely outplayed the heavier Springbok pack. In the back-line there were many flashes of brilliance by the mercurial J. A. Hooper, while J. L. Sullivan tied down L. Babrow, regarded as the most dangerous man in the opposing line, and the magnificent boot of D. Trevathan brought 10 invaluable points. The team as a whole played like a machine in the traditional pattern of New Zealand football, with the backs striving for openings down the middle and the forwards swarming up to- carry on these thrusts. Only one try was scored on either side, but the All Blacks played winning football all the way.

Having beaten a combined Nelson-Marlborough-Golden Bay team at Blenheim by 22 to nil, the South Africans went on to Christchurch to smash Canterbury’s fifty—years unbeaten record, winning by 23 to eight. West

Coast-Buller went down by 31 to 6, and (South Canterbury by 43 to six before the time arrived for the second Test at Christchurch.

With Nel this time in command, South Africa took the field determined to scrum the All Black pack into the ground and it was obvious from the

first that the pressure was on in the tight scrummages. Nevertheless, the New Zealand eight managed to hold their own, and even assert a slight superiority, in the first half, during which Sullivan scored two opportunist tries to give the All Blacks a half—way lead of six to nil. The way appeared to be open for another New Zealand victory, but the turning point of the match came with a brilliant try by F. G. Turner who, when apparently cornered on the touch-line by J. Dick, J. M. Taylor, and H. 'Simon, cut infield almost at right angles, caught the opposition on the wrong foot, and flashed up the centre of the field to score under the posts. Brand converted, and a little later obliged similarly following a try by W. Bastard ; Brand, indeed, scored seven valuable points, for between the two South African tries he registered with a penalty. The Springboks rushed the All Blacks off their feet during most of the second half and eventually ran out deserving winners by 13 to six.

Southland (30 to 17) and Otago (47 to seven) fell victims to the tourists before the side returned to the North Island, where they encountered a snag in Hawke’s Bay, who, playing for most of the game with fourteen men, held the Springboks to a 21—12 victory in what the tourists themselves admitted to have been the toughest match in New Zealand outside the Tests. Hawke’s Bay led 9-8 at half-time and in the second half narrowly missed scoring on several occasions. The tourists went on to beat Poverty BayBay of Plenty-East Coast by 33 to three at Gisborne, and then came the third Test.

Before the tenth Test match between South Africa and • New Zealand at Auckland both countries had won four matches and one had been drawn.

Moreover, this was the crucial match of the 1937 rubber. Only one change was made in the visiting team from that for the second Test, G. P. Lochner replacing J. C. White, while New Zealand replaced Dick and Phillips with N. A. Mitchell and T. H. Caughey and substituted Ward for Rankin in the pack. Ordering scrummages instead of line-outs, Nel adopted the same packing tactics as in the second Test and the huge Springbok forwards, toiling concertedly all the way, steadily wore down the opposing eight and at the same time ensured their backs of a big share of the ball. Craven, Babrow and Lochner did outstanding things and Williams, the winger, was ever a thorn in the All Blacks’ side. The New Zealand pack was almost entirely subdued from end to end, and by the defeat of the forwards the backs were foredoomed to failure. Mitchell and Caughey received few chances and iSullivan, the best back in the side, was wasted on the wing. The final score, 17 to six, was a reasonable reflection of the relative merits of the two sides on the day. In the final match of the tour the South Africans beat North Auckland at Whangarei by 14 to six.

New Zealand learned much from Nel’s team. They showed that in the right going and behind a good pack the open type of game could be turned to advantage without being employed recklessly. They showed the value of penetrative inside backs and flying three-quarters to take advantage of the openings they provided. But more than anything they showed the value of honest scrummaging, of having eight big, fast men trained to. pack low and push hard. The Springbok scrum in the final Test averaged fifteen and a-half stone jper man. Truly a Pachyderm Pack I