All Blacks Cannot Understand The Referee's Rulings

Chronicle (Levin), 5 September 1949, Page 6

All Blacks Cannot Understand The Referee's Rulings

Received Sunday, 7 p.m. . . DuRBAN, September-4. South Afriea won the tliird Test today as it won tlie first at Newlands — by penalty goals. Three were kicked by Geffin, to aii unconverted try by Goddard. In many respects tlie game foilowed the pattern of tlie Newlands game'. j Catley hud clear cut superiority in the scrums, the lineouts finished fairly even and the All Blacks looked mueh. mcire dangerous on attack even though the ball did not come back quic'kly enough to Elvidge and Goddard' to exploit possession advantage. The only dift'erence vvith the first Test was that on tliis occasion the All Blacks had to battle against a deficit of two peiialty goals seored within the first six minutes. Had Scott been in the form known to New Zealanders, this deficit might have been wiped out but he niissed two reasonably easy shots.

"It is hard luck on the New Zealanders. They ' were distinetly the better side 011 the day 's play," said the former Springbok captain, Phil Nel, after the game. Many sxiectators endorsed his view. The All Blacks made a stirling effort to win. They had more lire in the t'orwards with Simpson leading.^ the pack grandly. The baeks had to^work under a lot of pressure but proyided some thrilling football when they did have a cliance to get clear. But all the team vvork in the world cannot offset penalties awarded to the oppositiou in handy positions. Two of Geffin 's goals were froin inside the AU Blacks' twenty-five and the tliird was in the middle of the field about 35 yards out. One of the penalties astounded the All Blacks as well as a big section of the public well versed in their Rugby . This was when Scott was penalised for allegedly using Elyidge as a shield when attempting to cleai. One of the world 's greatest fullbacks, Scott has proved clearly to the South Africans that his attributes are such that he has no need to descend to such tactics as using his own piayers as a shield to beat the opposition. However, the South African referees' interpretation of some of the laws of Rugby would astound New Zealand referees. In fact the present tour has set a record for the numher of penalty goals. In 22 games, 46 penalty goals have been kicked — 32 by South African teams and 14 by the All Blacks. In tlie tliree Tests South Afriea has converted nine penalties and the All Blacks two. Geffin now liolds the reuiarkable record of having kicked 27 out of South Afriea 's 36 points, the rejnaining nme being two tries and one potted goal. The previous highest tallies were 29 penalty goals in 30 goals! by the 1933 All Blacks' tour of South Afriea (of which six were in four Tests) and 23 in the Springboks' tour of New Zeadand in 1937 (of wliich iive were in tliree Tests). . Because of close marking_ of each other by both sides, todav 's matcli only occasionally rose to great lieights. The All Blacks showed that they had tlirown off tlie lethargy of the second Test and despite the crushing hurdon of two early penalty goals, their furwards played with dash and skill and certainly had. the better of the vanguard struggle. Won Most Scrums Catley won 26 scrums to 15, including nine off the Springboks' loose head. This is probably the lieaviest defeat a Springbok side had ever had in scrummages. It was also achieved despite the fact that the Springboks had the advantage in wreight, which points to the All Blacks having fully qiastered the science of applying weight in ihe three-four-one scrum. The only weakness in line-outs was that there was a lot of indecisive jumping for the ball which inevitably led to scrums. It was not a match for superlative back play. The markiug was too close for that and though Mchugh gave a creditable displav in an unaccustomed role of No. 8 forward, he was as deadly as his opposite Muller whose clever destructive Rugby caused the All Blacks a lot of headaehes. The main difference between the back "lines was that though the All Blacks were more dangerous at the

centre they never received th smooth and quick service provided by tlu opposing lialves. Throughout this tour the All Blacks have suffered from slowness near the scrum. Black did a lot of admirable work today and may still develop iihq a fine scrum lialf but there was not the precision in his combination with Kearney compared with that of du Toit and Brewis. Elvidge and Goddard, in con sequence, were always struggling wliereas their oposites Lategan and van Schoor, liad more scope. But when the real testing time camt Lt was Elvidge and Goddard who sliowed better penetration. The two outstanding movements of the first liull were the All Blacks'. Kearney cxploited the liigh kick to van der Schyff who was not always sure with his cateliing. From one of these Goddard bustled van der Schyff, Elvidge secured and in-passed to Goddard whose great dash carried him over the line in the arms of two tacklers. There was another grand movement started by Scott which went out to Henderson and in-field to Goddard who was brought down just short of the line. liere, to the aiuazement of : he New Zealanders who have so often been penalisd for the same offence, a lefender picked up a tackled ball before playing it with his foot, and tlirew it back to van der Schyff who eleared. The All Blacks were the better side up to lialf tiiue but their resoluti.m seemed to faltcr early iu the seeoml spell when Gefiin kicked a penalty from mid-field about 35 yhrds out, to aiake the scores 9 — 3. The All Blacks' version of this incidenG was that Geliih .kicked the ball elean througli their scrum but the referee ruled that they had infringed. [ Scott Always There For a while South* Airica canie into its own. They lauiiched a series of attacks which severely tested the All Blacks' defenee. ; But into wliatever predicament the All Blacks .£*11 . inspired period by the Springboks, there was always that grand last line of defenee, Scott. Eategan, Moss and Duvenage all made fine runs but wln-n they sought lo kick ahead, Scott was always there. When this pressure relaxed Henderson made a thrilling solo burst upJield He kicked over van der Scnyff's head but the latter effected a really remarkable save. Then Black sent Keariuy and Elvidge away. Goddard swervcd inlield and linked up with his forwartls but a knock-ou caused a scrum from which a penalty enabled South Afriea to clear. This was the last gocd movement of the match. The final stages were very scrappy. Of the All Blacks' forwards, »Sim]>son, (Jiowley and Skinner were always to the fore and McHugli did a lot dt' good harassing work and often dumpe ! opponents very hard. The Springbok pack was nowhere near as effective as at Ellis Park. Chris Ivoch, powerful front ranker, was a fine toiler but ha 1 it noAt been for Muller 's .clever destruc tive game, the All Blacks might easilv have got on top in the backs as well as forwards. The weather was brilliantly fine and a record crovvd of 32,000, sweltering and coatless, saw the teams played oa to the field by pipe bands to the tuno of Highland Lad'die.