ALL BLACKS’ TOUR.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXI, Issue 9853, 4 November 1924, Page 7

ALL BLACKS’ TOUR.

TEAM’S PROSPECTS

MANAGER AND CAPTAIN INTERVIEWED.

Some of the English newspapers have succeeded in getting Mr S. S. Dean (manager) and C. G. Porter (captain) to give expression to views which they ho.d of the All Blacks and in the. course of interviews both spoke optimistically. '

MANAGER DEAN’S REMARKS. To a- representative of The Sporting Life, Mr Dean said that a comparison between the present All Blacks and tho original team was a difficult subject to speak on with certainty. Tin's could bo said: tho forwards were faster, and handled beautifully in close passing, while they had developed forward play considerably by keeping the ball in play. Mr'Dean said that several of the original All Black team think tho present combination quite on a par with that of 1905. it remained to bo seen if that opinion would bo borne out by the play, but Mr Dean was certain that tho forwards wero a pound heavier on an aver ago thanthe former term, and would turn” cut to be very good. Ho did not think the difference of the rules under which the game was played in New Zealand would affect the team very much. With regard to the individual players, he thought that Nepia, who, with Pan wai and Mill, other Maoris, Teamed his football at the Maori Agricultural -College, would prove a capable full-back, especially if he reproduced his New Zealand form. He was tr.c only full-back, but if he suffered m--ury Nicholis would take his pi me. Tii-! best place kicks on the side were Nepia, Nicholis and Brown. Mr Dean sud it wa • just chance that the.captv n ol the team was again wing- 1 reward, Porter being almost a last-min-ute choice, when it was felt that the captain should not be in the serum. THE WING FORWARD.

On the question of wing forward play, as demonstrated by Gallagher in tho previous tour, and the possibility of arousing protest, tho manager said that Bolder would not play Gallagher's wing forward game, but would, after putting the ball in. be in a similar position to the English scrum half. Bolder was a great player with wonderful anticipation. The forwards would pack 2-3-2, and the packs would be tho same as before. Of the fiveeighths, Mr Beau said that in Cooke the team had a player as good as, if r.ot better than, Hunter. He was n player with a. wonderful pair of hands, a beautiful swerve, and great skill in directing the way the attack should go. CIA BT AIN PORTER’S VIEWS. '

'The captain was very sanguine as to the team under his command. He said they had a splendid lot of forwards, all heavy and fast, and good backs with safe hands, speed and cleverness. But lie realised that the team would probably not have so many easy tasks as their predecessors m 1805. To another Press representative, Porter commented: “We have a groat tradition to live up to, and 1 shall bo satisfied if we do what the ‘All Blacks’ of 1905 failed to do, viz., defeat Wales. We are hoping to end England’s wonderful Twickenham record. We have as solid and clover pack, and some promising young backs, and wc hope to leave behind the reputation of being good sports.”

WAS THE ICOS TEAM THE BETTER TEAM?’ EXPERTS’ OPINION’. ‘lt was; and it is my opinion that the 1805 All Blacks’ team was i.lm strongest Rugby fifteen that was ever got together” (writes the ex-English international, D. R. Gent, in the London Evening Standard). 1 only wish it were possible to see again such glorious players as G. W. Smith, V. . .T. Wallace, ‘Jimmy’ Hunt-eig the late R. G. Deans and Charles Seeling—there, never was a finer forward than Seeling.” “If the New Zealanders arc as good as I think they are they ought v.o win every match (writes Mr C. J. Wray. New Zealand’s representative, on the English Union). The crux of the whole tour will he the second London County match on 27ldi December at Blackheath.”

English sides have improved so much since 1905 that one feels confident the tourist will not sail through so easily as their predecessors (writes an English' critic). Nineteen seasons age. teams were satis lied \vi ill the sj o w-rn ov i ng, maeh i n c-1 1 ke i in• wa rd who would keep his head down in the serums and shove hard to get possession for Ills speedier colleagues rear of the scrum. Tin's is ail charged to-day. The colonial forwards 1 saw in practice are quite as big _as last season’s English pack, and if not of the public school type their football is a happy combination of weight, speed and intelligence. Writing of the 1905 team, D. R. Gent in the London Evening Standard. says—“lt is ancient history now that they lost but- one match, viz., that against Wales, at Cardiff, by a try, which E. T. Morgan scored. That very fine centre, the late R. Deans, was considered by all his side (and many others) to have scored an equalising try, and there is little doubt now that had the referee, J. 1). Dallas been close to Deans when lie grounded the hall, and not after lie had been dragged back a couple of yards, he would have given a score to the New Zealanders. And this was against the very finest team that Wales lias ever put into tho field! The, side that could go to Cardiff and movaly draw with the grand team that represented Wales that day,, in the presence of thousands of emotional and enthusiastic Celts, must have been a great one.” BUYING EXPERIENCE.

LESSONS FROM DEVONPORT AND CAMBORNE.

Commenting on the Somerset match, Sir Philip Trevor writes:—' “It was good for tho winners that early in them tour they should thus get’a chance of meeting such opponents in such conditions H is essential that their forwards get the ball in the tight and that tho subsequent heeling he e’en illy and quickly done. Failure in Ill's respect may mean the losing of tho match, in which there is such failure, no matter how clever, and inoenioiis their hacks. ° “Neither at Devonport nor at Camborne was their scrummaging, satisfactory; it was even less so at Weston. *On the other hand, the work of their forwards in the loose after half-time was sp'enduL . . Jhe fact that they changed their policy at" hall-time, and changed it judiciously, showed their adnptnb lity, and,' despite the narrowness of their most recent victory, there is r.o roasen to lose faith in them. They have imt to buy their experience, and tho lesson which I fool sure that Saturday’s game has taught them, ought not to ho lost on them, nor do I think it will be*. Them tight scrummaping must ho more, methodically done. ° That is the long and short of it. If it is not. their plever-backs may he induced to gamble in order to get those chances of attack which should come to them from tho baso of their own scrummage.