THAT HARD WANGANUI-MANAWATU PACK

Chronicle (Levin), 31 August 1946, Page 5

THAT HARD WANGANUI--MANAWATU PACK

"When a forward from the busli meets a forward l'roin ihe oliice, and tliey collide, or bump eacli other 011 tlie Rugby lield, the lorward from tlu busli in tliese days of softer living, comes olf best, writes "Crossbar" 111 tlu; Wanganui Ghronicle. Tliat is tlie roal answer to the criti cisni froui Australia regarding tlie plas iu tlie Rugby niatch 011 Spnggens Par. 011 Wednesday, betVee.11 tlie combinm, .Mairawat.u-Wtplgan'ui side aml tlie |ou r ing Australiaiis. Actually, it i's a pity tliat tlie mattei was raised in Ihe way it was, beraust it might be j-hat it will be irtierpreUu as a wail from tiie pi.iyers t liemselves l'hey may have felt hani done by, per liaps were inclined to be critical, but there was little in the match tliat war ranted the crit'icism that 1 lardcastle, who iindoubtedly was Australia 's best forward, took a "roal street bashing from lisls and lioots. " lt was hara Rugby, and it is likely tliat Ihe pia) will get harder slill, especiallv when tlie Xew Zealand pack plays, though, it- is doubthil wliether a niore ruggeu pack will be fielded against the Aus tralians anywhere in New Zealand than that led so ably by McXicol and Tupaea ( Whiskey), of Wanganui, and Richard son and Bresnehan, of -Manawatu. Jn Australia the Rugby Union code draws its men largely from whai " P>anjo " Patterson called the "cuif aml collar" class. That is not said in any di'sparagiug way. Tliev come niore from the oliices ilian from ouldoor occupations, and when they meet players in Xew Zealand who are (lravvn from niore vigprous occupations they niust lind the going liard. Australia 's answer to Xew Zealand forwards will not lie in attacking the ref'eree, nor in blaming the ruggedness of men like Tupaea, who is a contender for a place in the Maori All Blacks to play the Austraiians, but in iinding ami developing players like "Wild Bill" Cerutti, "Iron Alan" Hodgson, and Bridle. Those players knew that Rugby was liard, certainly not cricket, and tliat when a game demands that clerk aiid professor have to bump into blaeksmith and bushman, then the clerk and the professor must _l)e enough to do the bumping.