NEW ALL BLACK LEADERS MAKE GOOD START

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31119, 23 July 1966, Page 11

NEW ALL BLACK LEADERS MAKE GOOD START

I. J. D. HALL)

(From

QNE of the most intriguing v questions before the first test against the Lions was how B. J. Lochore would succeed as captain to W. J. Whineray and what would be the impact of Mr F. R. Allen who replaced Mr N. J. McPhail as coach of the side.

The question was answered most successfully and emphatically by the All Black team with its wonderful display of forward play and attacking panache 'in the backs.

When Whineray temporarily retired in 1964, the Canterbury loose forward, D. J. Graham, took over as captain. He led the All Blacks to two test victories but in the last test, New Zealand crashed to a humiliating 5-20 defeat. It was suggested then that the experienced All Black forwards were finding it hard to accept anyone other than Whineray as captain and that Graham had been unable to rally them when they were losing. That point was not decided in 1965 because Whineray resumed as captain, and led the All Blacks to a test series win.

When Lochore was appointed this year there were also some doubts whether such great players as the Meads brothers. Tremain and Gray would follow Lochore with the same dedication that they gave to Whineray. At 25, Lochore was one of the “babies” of the All Black pack. They did, and they did it magnificently. The way that Lochore led the side and the response he gained from his men resolved any doubts that New Zealand would not have a good captain and leader in this series. As coach of the All Blacks since 1961, Mr McPhail, in conjunction with many of the players who played at Carisbrook, had built up a most impressive record. During his five-year term the All Blacks lost only two tests and in that time beat every other major Rugby playing country. Under his guidance the All Black forward play reached an extremely high standard. His emphasis on forward drill produced an All Black pack that was the nearest thing seen to automation on a Rugby field.

Mr McPhail was assistant manager of the 1963-64 team to the British Isles and, like Whineray, was a leading member of the “All Black Club.” Even though Mr Allen was a member of the selection panel since 1964,

there was still the unanswered question whether Mr Allen, like the new captain, would get the same response from the All Blacks that Mr McPhail did.

He certainly did. His training session on the Thursday at Carisbrook would have made a sergeant-major Tuning the bull-ring green with envy. Even the veteran All Blacks could not remember a more ruthless training run. In the last 15 minutes the players were thrashed by him as they xyere driven to ruck to line-out to passing rush, up and down the field, across the field as he squeezed the last ounce of physical effort from them. But there was no resentment from the players. Amazingly they enjoyed it

and even after the test win they were still talking with some admiration about that run rather than the game itself. Mr Allen has a different approach at training from Mr McPhail. The training is used for physical effort whereas Mr McPhail used to intersperse team talks and discussions with his actual running. Before the test Mr Allen told “The Press” that the All Blacks would run the ball at every opportunity and he defined “opportunity” as good possession and anywhere 10 yards outside the All Blacks twenty-five. It must be said that this was greeted with a certain degree of cynicism—those words had been used before and often had not come to fruition. Mr Allen was proved right. The All Black backs did try and spin the ball: and they did it positively and attractively. But even though the display by the All Blacks backs was most encouraging, Mr Allen still was not satisfied. “We still need more polish. There were too many mistakes made by the backs both in handling and kicking when the ball should have been passed. By the time the series is ended. I hope to have a back-line that people will talk about just as in recent years they have talked about our forwards.” One can only hope that

Mr Allen realises his ambition. Even with the great record of the All Blacks in recent years there has always been the niggling thought that they perhaps have not quite realised their full potential because they did not always bring the backs into play enough even when the forwards had achieved control. Now it seems that the All Blacks are going to play complete Rugby. If they can achieve this it could be a great series even if the Lions do not realise their full potential.