ALL BLACKS

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 42, 19 February 1930, Page 15

ALL BLACKS

FAMOUS 1924 TEAM

EOWE HARDIXG'S VIEWS

The opinions formed by Eowo Harding, an international Eugby footballer, of the all-victorious 1924 Now Zealand Eugby team, aro given, in a book which has been written by that player. "Played against the; All Blacks at Swansea in November, 1921," j ho states: "It is saia that that was the one match the All Blacks desired to win, and so wipo out tho stigma of the - one defeat sustained by tho 1905 aide. They did not find- it difficult. "Tho Welsh experiment with an eight-back.formation was a failuro, and Wetter's injury in tho first, .minutes of tho game affected-niorely.^tho..scora and nqt-tho result," continues Eowo" ■ Harding.' "The All Blacks left this country with a magnificent record. .Their groahi ess was collective, rather than individual. Nepia was a spectacular full-back, but his task was comparatively easy becauso of tho allround efficiency of the men in'front of. him. The All Black pack was good, but its individuals were no better I than a dozen forwards of the homo I counties. Behind the scrum, with two exceptions, the players were of good, "sound club standard. Tho two excep- = toons were Nichdlls and Cooko. To' these two men and to scientific methods the All Blacks owed their ovorwhelm'ing superiority over the sides they played. Every side must contain at least; two great players. Ono great player single-handed can be effectively stopped, but two, playing together in a side where tho other players arc sound, honest footballers, can,, accomplish miracles. Nicholls and Cook© were an extraordinary combination. Each was the antithesis of tho other, and yet, each completed the othor. Nicholls was. an unassuming, unobtrusive player; Cooko was spectacular in , everything he did, but Nicholls was the man who openod up jtho narrow gap through which Cooko flashed at lightning speed. These, two men wcro the driving force in tho All Blacks' machine, but 'let us not forget the quiet efficiency of the other working parts.

"Ono could name off-haud a dozen tetter natural players in Britain than the other men who formed the other parts of the All Blacks' back division, but they would not have done as well. ' Most of our teams in ;this. country consist of fifteen players. The All Blacks' team was a machine comprising fifteen mechanical units, and had- all the efficiency, of smooth-iunning machinery."