Fallbacks Scott And Meyer Give Brilliant Displays

Chronicle (Levin), 30 June 1949, Page 5

Fallbacks Scott And Meyer Give Brilliant Displays

' • RecCived Thursday, 9.10 a.m. . ' ' '. KRONSTAD, June 29. , Brilliaiit displays by both the fullbacks, Scott and Meyer was a feature of the All- Blacks' drawn match with Grange ■ Free --State today before a record crowd of 13,000. . ■ Scott kicked tw.o penalty goals and potted a magnificen- " field go'al from an. acute angle. Meyer kicked three penaltj goals to make thexseores nine-all. *>•■ The half-time score was 6 — 3 in favour of the home side The All Blacks took the lead ha'lf-way through the 'second " spell, bnt Meyer levelled in the last 'five minutes.

The" football wa's of a lively, hustiing nature, with the defence of "both sides being: sueh that attaeking movements- rarely got far. The All. Blacks actuaily ' sv/ung the ball about more freely; and early in the first spell Henderson was almost over. after chain passing, but this was the only really dangerous rush of the match. The . rearranged All Black team went very well in spasms, Johnston© and Thornton being much more, lively than the side rankers in the previous game, with the result that the opposing inside backs, •who included Joffe, one of Ihe 32 chosen for selection for the first test, were bustled into a lot of ' errors. .However, when the All Blacks . attepipted to dribble through from these positions, smart cover defence, as well as the excellent positional game by Meyer, thrust them back. Meyer showed an uncanny sense of the right posilion. " In the second spell, "when Kearney serffc through several welljudged punts and also some which were too strong, Meyer was always handy to take the ball and clear. Similarly, Scott repulsed attack after attack of the Orange Free State, which was mainly based on kicking through and following up Scott opened the scoring in the first five minutes with a penalty goal from wide out on Orange Free State's twenty-five. Eight minutes later Meyer levelled the scores with a penalty from an easy angle 35 yards out. Meyer then kicked another *good penalty. J Just before half-time a fine All Black passing rush saw the ball go out to Henderson, who raced round his' onponen's and tore for the corner fiag, but Meyer bundled him into touch with a grand tackle. ' Scott levelled. the scores halfway through the second spell. He failed , with a clearing kick near the side- , line at halfway, dodged an opnon- 1 (entr;ran.a few yards and, then "! dropped* a great- goal. -1 V. , Heartened by this success, the A'l Blacks pressed and from 25 wr rds out on an acute angle Scott kicked another nenalty goal. -Only Meyer s grand dishay kept the Ail Blacks out at this stage. Meyer kicked a further penalty to make the scores even. ' ' | All Scott's and Meyer's kicking T/as the best seen on the tour. Each .missed, one shot. * The only disturbing feature of the match was the noise made by a section of the crowd as Scott took one of hiskicks at goal. It evid-

ently unsettled Scott, as the kick missed.