RUGBY SIDELIGHTS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 846, 18 June 1910, Page 12

RUGBY SIDELIGHTS.

THE ALL BLACKS AND THE NATIVE TEAM. , SOME INTERESTING COMPARISONS.

(By -Off-side Mac.)

"Arawa's" article tho other day in the Sydney "Daily Telegraph" on _ some of New Zealand's foremost _ Maori players was a reminder of the giants who liavo gono before —the Warbricks, iho Wynyards, Ellison, Gage, Elliott, "Barlow" jladigan, "Tho Sinilcr" (Ihimaira), Keogli, George "Williams, and others. They wero a great team. Comparisons, if odious, aro usually interesting, and tho question is often asked: How would tiio Nntivo'team fare, say. at tho hands and feet of tho All Black team which toured Great Britain? Tho'Native backs would possibly read something like this W. Warbnck. lladigan. W. Wynyard. M'Causland. Gage. Elliott. licogh. Tho All Black backs might read as follow:— Gillelt. Smith. " Wallaco M'Gregor, Jlynott. Hunter, Koborts,' —

Compare theso ylaycrs and docido iu your own miuds which is the champion set. Tho All Black backs would probably bo tho better all-round defensive men, while tho others would be superior on tho attack. Now wo will tako the forwards en masse. For tho greater part, tlio Native team scrummers were a thick-set lot, with any amount of pushing power, but generally much slower than such champions as Seeling. Seeling is admitted to bo tho finest of tho All Black forwards. A fast, dashing man with tremendous courage, and staying power—one of tho greatest foHowers-un and forward tacklers over seen on the football field. Compare him with Ellison, and ho is badly beaten in every branch except in the follon-ing-up and tackling. The Native team would possibly be a superior scrumming body to tho All Blacks, but in all-round forward play they would bo beaten by their moro übiquitous and faster All Black vanguard. Say that we had sent tho All Black team to Great Britain in 1680 in placo of tho Native team. There was no Northern Union lt-ugby in England in those days, and the champions of the game were in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Wales. Could tho All Blacks havo gone through, the same heavy programnio as that instituted by tho Natives (once thirteen or fourteen matches in about thirty days), and come oiit as well? They might have dono better, but' they would have met fewer chopping blocks than they did in 1905-1006. In any case there is no gainsaying tho fact that they would have come back, as clever, and possibly more courageous, than they did in 190 G. Now let us reverse the Say wo wore able to send tho 188!) Native team to England in 1905-'OG. How would they have fared? Would, they have equalled or havo beaten tho All Black .record? There is npt much of a margin to go upon, but they must have had a good chance of winning every match. There is hardly any doubt that the bumping powers of Madigan, Elliott, Ellison, and the wiliness of Keogh and Gago wmild havo. driven the Hamish Stuart sort of football scribe to the verge of despair. Tamati Erihana. It is somewhat curious that in his article on the Native players, "Arawa" never referred to Ellison's great skill as a line-out player. It is customary nowadays to decry line-out play as vague, bullocky, and uninteresting. This may Iμ so in a way, but the game is made by the players. Ellison used to make his play on tie line, a feature of a tigerish attack on the goal, and time and again lie succeeded. His practice was to take tho ball with one hand. He would be on his way by the timo the leather reached him, ami gather it in his fingers as if he were a conjurer. On occasions, he would utilise one hand in taking the ball, -while with the ether, he would

"jab" his opponent. If that opponent was at all sleepy-eyed, he very soon "saw stars." There has never been a line-out player like Ellison, nor, in fact, a man his equal in general forward play. This fact was admitted in England, in Stoddarfs time. His attack was of the fiercest, and old Wellington players must remember tho familiar silk red and black tight-fitting laced-up coat which Ellison was forced to wear, simply because the ordinary sort of jersey would not bear the strain which ensued when he came to be tackled by the enemy, irho would swarm on to him like clogs. In his golden days he fought all the time. - As soon as he had the ball, he carried it in two. hands (not one), and he was as agile at dodging,as he was jit■ bumping'. The bump, however, became his most favourite method of ' attack, especially when he went in for , back play.a The other day the''writer was in Blenheim viewing a' match. Presently a sticky figure seized the leather, and with a cne-two-threo sort of a run, levelled a would-be tackier as if he had'been electrocuted. "Old Poneke," I murmured. Then on again, tho ball in both hands. Later, the player informed me that ho had been taught to bump by Ellison, who used to practise upon him and "Billy" Wallace in the Poneke gymnasium. Of course, that was years after Ellison hat! knocked,off tho game, but bumping was always a passion with him. Wanted: A Rugby Boswell. Some day,- probably,- somebody will write the history of New Zealand Rugby, and if (he scribe does justice to the work, he will remember the improvements made in the game by "Tom" Ellison. It was Ellison who practically systematised tho two-three-two scrum formation from its former nondescript stylo of hrst down, the rest pack in anywhere." In fact, England kept up this antediluvian practice until quito recently. Thoso who will plead guilty to over thirty years, will remember how in the old days many a forward was selected for the manner in which ho could wado through tho opposing scrum. Have we not seen tho cherubic smiling visage of "Sammy" Cdcjtroft coming through the writhing mass of humanity in this way, and greeted with storms of applause "by tho crowds. It was in those days that heel-ing-out was as unknown , to tho New Zealand footballer as was roast pig 'to tho Ohmeso over, sixty thousand centuries ago. Ellison's system of hooking, packing and 'screwing revolutionised tho almost prehistoric scrum tactics It is said that '.Hit 'All Blacks changed'the method of hooking and packing, but there eeemg to be no reason to Mievo that they improved on Ellison's practice In tho days when Ellison was schooling tho Wellington representative team, "screwnig a scrum was an art, to be performed with tho mnchine-liko precision of, a. «<?rmaii Army company on parade. The Wellington team once won a match solely on screwing tho. scrum. Ellison wa the teacher, and I'rank , Young, Swinclley, and Poland were the 'heroes. Ellison evolved the two wing-forward system but thero is no doubt that he. got the idea from Otago in 1891. when ho saw Bak-r and Jolinstuno play there. The Wing-forward. In the early days, say the very early days, the winging forward was merely a fast dribbler. Mvershed, the great English loose player in tho eighties, illustrated this system of play to a marked degree. S. M. J. Woods was' a later example. In New Zealand J. M. (Jack) King, of Wellington, was an example of the fast, dashing winger, who played the game- right out. "Too rough," said an Englishman during a hot time in the memorable fight in 1888 on the Basin Reserve,, between Stoddart's team and a Wellington representative fifteen. "Xou'vo got to tako what you get when you come out here," said Jack as he, wiped the blood and hair and sweat from his eyes. Baker and Johustono were two clever Alhambra'players, who first introduced tho method of shielding the half-back. In addition, they were particularly good at smashing iip. tho opposing halves. WhenEllison went down with tho "Brewery", team in ISSII, he played thrco halves and no wingers. Ho was one of the halves, and was badly dealt with by both Johnstone and Baker. The next year ho ovolved an improved wing-forward theory, which introduced a direct attack from tho half, through tho "gap" made b) tho winging forward bustling the attacking half out into the open, or, on tho other hand, hemming that itidiridunl against tho scrum. Oliplmnt and Lee wero tho masters, and: that year, 1892, Wellington were practically champions of New Zealand. ' In my own adolescent days as a winging forward I conceived the idea, .posfiibly through youthful enthusiasm, that tho first thing a wing-forward had to do was to knock the olhcr man oiit. This was a great mistake, rectified later, and it became to bo recognised that tho position could be made ono of the finest and most hardworking on the field. The ideal winger had to bo as much of a back as he was of a forward, with a quick brain for finesse.. In swooping on to the halves, or five-eighths, and following right r.r's to the three-quarter lino, a wingfi , i; -".'rent chances of tearing down tho'.l-,!.. : "-u attacks; in followim; up a lofty' :.:.;>• ::r fifty yard*' punt at full speed he hiis also an equal clianco of fame, and then ho cim take part in many of his own backs' passing rushes. Make him a dribbler, a good line-out player, n man who can stand hjck and help his backs, then mix it in tho ruck nnd rallies, and you get an ideal wing-for-ward. Gillett was found to fill the bill well in tho All Black combination, whilo ho was an example, a good one too, of a wing-forward who beciinio a five-eighths. Tlie system altogether improved since the days of linker and Johnstone, and Oliphnnl: and Lee, until it is new demanded that no player has •a chance Df .making R aamo for himself

as a winging forward unless ho is an allround footballer in ovary sense of the word. At tho same tinio it must Vie admitted that very few of them . have come along.