Story Of Goals That Were Missed During Tour

Chronicle (Levin), 17 October 1949, Page 4

Story Of Goals That Were Missed During Tour

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WelLIN (JtTOjS , Uet. 15. - Neitlier feight-sjeiitriba ball hoi sirrljiiy a riiii of bad. lu(ik stich as aiflitit ed Ber't Suteliffe ia tlie edi'ly stages Oi the cricket tohr Was tlie rhajor reason Why Bob Sbott taissfed so mhhy. goals il. Soiitli Afrifla, ' Principal cause was the strain under which alinbst every kielt" had to be taken. The poteiitial goals wfele not embellishnlentS to a seore alrehdy Sedtirely found bkt probable dilfeienct bet'Weeh victory an^d defeati Tliat explanation can be taken a, duthoritative, as it came from Scotl himself ih the eburSe of a t&lk. Bad luck certainly entered iiito it. Sad fOttufle smil'ed soine of the htiinef ous shots which feither hit or narrowB liiissed thb postS been a few incheS to the Left or right, the strain - wcrulc probably have been lifted. With the s'traih offy Scott might liave settled down in his normal groove. Edgan td Worry. ''Almost every time I t5ok a kick,'' said Scott, "1 knew that a great deai depended upon it. Then, when I missed one or two* I commenced to worry, and that just made matters worse. "It wasn't the ball, because at practice I could kick goals as well as usual. But when it came to kicking them in a match things just woulcfn't go right. "Some people have said that other kickers should have been tried. Well, E appealed both to Pred Allen and to Ron Elvidge to let someone else have a shot, but they both said that tliere was no bne more iikely to kick themi than I was. "And that was how it iooked, too. All the time I was so elose to the mark that it seemed as though the next one must go over. But it wouldn't. " tt was a faet, also, that apart from •laek Goddard and Scott there was seai'cely a player in the team with qualifications as a goal-lticker. It will be recalled that at one stage Graham Delamore was tried, but with iittle suci'ess. Even in tlieir provincial and club teams none of the All Blacks outside the ttvo fullbaeks lihd esthblished themselves as dependable kickers of goalsOne consolation which Scott had was that, apart from his goal-kicking, eve'n he could iind little fault with his play. Though no player exceeds Scott in modesty, he remarked that he did not think he had ever been in better forru than he was in South Africa. Ilis other souree of comfort was" that his ffellow All Blacks stood by him to a man. They would never at any time agree that his kicking failures hacl spoilt their reeord, and when the team returned yesterday the spokesmen miss ed no opportunity to stress the inag- , uiiicent play of Scott. Warm Welcome. Not only Scott but also the other players must have been greatly cheered by the welcome home they received. It Was quite clear that tlie tourists had been somewhat uncertain as to the reaction in New Zealand to their Test and Other faiitites , and the ieeeption they were likely to reeeive. Acttially, of course, they had smali cause to worry. The calibre of the opposition, the difficulties encountered, and the fact that a shade of luck coule have turned several results the other way were well appreeiated in the Dominion. Apart from irresponsible eomment sometimes heard on a tram or in tlie street, the public as a whole appreeiated that the tourists had done their best — and more than that they had not been expected to go.