IMPRESSIONS OF TOUR

Evening Star, Issue 22465, 9 October 1936, Page 15

IMPRESSIONS OF TOUR

AUSTRALIAN PLAYERS WHAT STRUCK THEM IN NEW ZEALAND On their return to Sydney, members of the Australian Rugby team outlined their impressions of the tour: — Best all-round forward in New Zealand: Tori Reid (Hawke’s Bay). Best back met on tour: “ Brushy Mitchell (Southland). Best ground played on: Lancaster Park (Christchurch). Most memorable offrthe-field event of tour: A Sunday as the guests of Sir R. Heaton Rhodes at Gtahuna, near Christchurch, with his acres of daffodils in full bloom. Things that strike an Australian in New Zealand: Road courtesy, remonstrated by frequent use of the _ car horn, which is blown about five times as much as in Australia. Pride in home life, shown by well-tended gardens and lawns, notably in Hastings and Christchurch. : ,

Things that surpirse: That no one seems to worry about earthquakes and that two out of three persons met imagine shark tragedies to he almost daily events on the beaches of Sydney. Features of football that cannot: be escaped in New Zealand; The wild enthusiasm of the young shown by the autograph queues at hotels and dress-ing-sheds, with a high proportion; of high school girls. The use of balls slightly heavier than those in Australia, hut not so heavy as the “ eight-seam-ers ” of South Africa. Eye-opening sidelights to a visitor, apparently taken as a matter of course in New Zealand: A charge of 5s 6d for a reserved seat _at an international match, when 4s is considered dear in Australia.