RUGBY COMPARISONS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 65, 3 April 1937, Page 14

RUGBY COMPARISONS

S0UI1I AFRKA Af® BRITAIN spiungboks aee bettek DR. BOLIJE SXEFF'S OPINIONS Dr. Bollie Sieff, who will be recalled as one of the most brilliant fly-half backs the Transvaal has ever produced, is back in Johannesburg after a few years of study in England, and he has formed many interesting comparisons between British and South African Rugby football. "The chief difference," Dr. Sieff, who turned out for a few matches himself in London three years ago, told a Rand Daily Mail writer, "is that Rugby football technique is not so seriously studied by teams in Britain as is the case in this country." "In Britain one gets the impression that the players regard the game as a Jiealthy pastime. In South Africa it is a serious devotion by the players, Standards Oompared "This is refiected by the spirit in which most of the games are played and also in the standard of British Rugby football generally. ; "My impression is that the average Westerh Province or Transvaal teams would do very well against international teams in Britain, though whether our players would get the same amount of eniovment out of

these games is a different matter entirely." He did not think that British forwards generally were of the standard of the South African players. There was not sO much concerttrated scrummaging and too much qf a hankering after doing a lot in the open. Rugby football in Britain was on the whole more open but not as good as in this country. Nor was he unduly impressed by the play of the backs. Brilliant Half -back The one man who stood head and shoulders above the others as a Rugby footbalier was, in Dr, Sieff's oplnion, the Welsh fly-half back, Cliff Jones He considered this player as good a stand-off half back as he had ever had the pleasure of seeing in action. "This year, unfortunately for Wales," said Dr. Sieff, "Cliff Jones was oh the in jured list. But I Would go so f ar as to compare him favourably with Bennie Osler at his best. He has every asset essential to a first-class player in his position and he knows how to make the best use of his genius for the game." Dr. Sieff did not see any full-back as good as say, Gerry Brand. "Owen Smith, who captains Engianathis season, is a thoroughly sound and enterorisinsr full-back. but if I wpvp ir>

choose between the two I would say Gerry Eranc every time." Of Ooolensky, the Russian prince who played for England last season, Dr. Sieff said: "He is tremendously fast — as speedy a wing-three-quarter as there is in Britain. But he lacks in knowledge of the finer points of Rugby that would make him a really great player."