INSIDE RUGBY BACKS MUST RUN STRAIGHT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 51, 31 May 1950, Page 2

INSIDE RUGBY BACKS MUST RUN STRAIGHT

It was, with considerable interest that an English Rugby club player watched a senior team play in New Zealand club Rugby, recently, and noted that he might have been watching a game in England. Only one point in the play reminded him that he was not in fact on an English field during a club match in London (writes a resident of Christchurch.) It was a small point, but an important one. Forwards in England are taught that the first thing to remember during a forward rush is that, having once set the ball in motion, the ball' should never be kicked. It should be allowed to bounce against the inside of the legs and shins, and so be kept under close control.

It is a crime in England to “flyhack,” an expression -which means booting the ball out of range, and usually into the hands of a waiting defender. But there was “fly-hack-ing” in the game watched on this Saturday, and nobody looked like wanting to dribble .the ball anywhere. There were forward rushes enough, but they were scattered and unsuccessful mainly for this reason.

Of the two ways of ’’taking on” the the dribbling method rather than the indiscriminate boot ahead method would seem to be infinitely preferable. The back play was uninspired, but one has to remember that it was the first match of the season. The noticeable thing about it was a point'which has been constantly on the pens of Rugby critics in England for the past three years. It is that, above all other things, the inside backs must run straight. If they fail in this, the wings have no chance of getting the ball at full speed, and their scoring- chances are correspondingly reduced. In this connection it is interesting to remember that the great feature of the never-to-be-forgot-ten All Black team of 1924 was the straight running of their insijde l acks, coupled, of course, with their speed. Mark Nicholls, though he himself only scored once, paved the way by his straight running for a large number of the 156 tries scored during* the tour.

•Y*