THIS YEAR'S INVASION BY SPRNGBOK TEAM

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 99, 13 May 1937, Page 15

THIS YEAR'S INVASION BY SPRNGBOK TEAM

j. L.

GRIFPITHS

What New Zealand Can Count Upon Reinforcement of New Blood

By

Meinber 1935 All Biack team in Bri tain, 1936 team against the Wallabies, who has play in six Internationals. (Copyright Reserved)

TTARIED CONOLUSIONS seem td have been drawn from iSTew zealand 's defeat of the Wallabies in the DominiOn last year, and without commenting oh the performance of the teams of which I was a member in twice defeating the visitors, I can gh|a myj impressions of the plky of the Australians from what I saw of them on my visit thefe in 1934 and their tour of this country last year, In my opinion their football lacks the solidity which is necessary if a side is to reveal genuine international form. They hdve had spectacular stars, but there is a lEtek of direCtion, of purposo in the general run of their play. They seem to go through their matches without an ordered plan. That is hot to say that they are without dbility. Sdme of their tricks are very clever} ih niy opinion one of the best of them is the long line-out in which the wing threequjarter throws the ball to the centre threequarter, a manoeuvre they employ with success when defending. Eor when the opposing team is attacking it means that their backs are standing deep and the Australian centre thus has ample room to manoeuvre. When they toured South Afriea they appear to have estdblished a reputation qs a' dangerous side, but on what I saw of. their football when we visited the Commonwealth in 1934 I should have expected the All Blacks to beat thom. Their weakness has been, first, that their forwards are inelined* to crumple before a good attacking pack and, second, that they have relied too much on chanee incidents for their openings. They have played 6n hard gronnds ahd have developed a game calculated to appeal to the crdwd, but while their play has beeu spectacular it has t on often been direeted towards taking wild chances. It has been said that the All Blacks did not establish an ascendancy over them in the second Test last year until the close of the game, but it mtisfc be remembered that in the first spell New Zealand faced wind and sun and divided the honours under this disadvantage arid that the All Blacks definitely had the botter of the second half. It does not seem to me, looking back on that mateh, that all the talk of the Australians playing havoc with the New Zealand defence in their scoring moves was justified, nor does it appear

that the points gained by the All Blacks were the result of luck or of the Wallabies ceasing to try. The winning team made m6re good moves ,1 think — was, in short, a better scoring machine. On the basis of this experience against the Australians what may be expected to happen against »the Springboksf In the first place I think it may be aeid that the note of uncertainty which has appeared in some discussions of the tour is' really to be traced to one thing — the fact that in New Zealand we are evolving a new style of game. We have dropped our old scrum formation, to which all have been used for generations, and are training our players in a new one. It stands to reason that no one can adapt himself to a new style of play at once; it also appears reasonable to expeot tbAt we shall improVe as (jur experience grows greater. Eull ailowanCe miist be made for this and it woiild be apparent, I think ,to anyone who had seen'our forwards in action through the British tour in 19.35 tbat they de in'tolv are able to adapt themselvcs to altered conditions and th.ua may be expected to do so this year. Admittedly it may have taken them eight or nine matehes in Britain to realise just how the formation ohanged the demands made upon them, but they did get down to this new type of game and outplayed men who had been used to it tbroughout their football careers. The first difficulty of the three-fronted scrum to men who have been used to playing in a 2 — 3 — 2 paek is the changed demand

upon the front-row men. These difficulties are not insurmountable and the experience of our teams -in Great Britain and against the last Australian team in Now Zealand has helped tnaterially in solving our problems. There will also be a marked improve- . ment in play this year as the majority of players of tHe 1935 side were definitely stale last season and lacked the enthusiasm which would have enabled them fully to reveal how they had benelited from their exoerienc1 ab"ond. On tho basis of the 1035 evidence T think it may be expected that they will bo able to hold the South African scrummage. It must not be forgotten that they will have had a full season's football sinee the English tour and portion of another ' season'S play this year before the Tests are played. It is only eommonsense to expect that they will be that much more experienced and that much more formidable. Also it has to be remembered that in All Black teams forwards are generally young. The average age of the 1924 forwards was 25, that of the 1935 team in Britain was only 23. The young forw'ards who will bo cap'ped for the first time this year will have had a greater opportunity of learning the new standard of play and will be further removed from the old 2 — 3 — 2 habits than the men who played for New Zealand two seasons ago. Behind the scrum I think that New Zealand should be well sefved. We shall have no trouble at all in finding

■ ■ , , , . li a good half -back, we . have plenty oi speed iavailabie — Kelliher, the flying Australian, was not able to distance out players last season, and he js considerecl very fast — Ottr tafikling Seems ;to be of good standard, our kicking is nt>t wOak. There seems to be 'some outstanding threequarters available for the international matches and we should be welbequipped at full-back. Most of the' All Blacks of-tKe past season wiil be available again, I Understand, with the e^eption of C. Olliver and J. R. Page, who are .retiring. And it occurs to me that in the back line also Cxamination , of the team which toured Britain would reveal a significant thing — would disclose that a number of young players were sent away and that, becauSe they were young they might naturally be expected to be more developed by this season. Sadler, for instance, is still only 22 years old. Killeen, who played against the Wallabies, is 25. NotablC backs of the past have been iii the late twenties. WW* — T Naturally it is difficult to estimate the strength qf .the Spripgboks till we see them in action. But is is expected here that they will be a good side, worthy of those who came before them, fast in the backs and with he'&ty and good scrummagers who will test the mqttle of our own men. Of one . thing I can be sure and' that is that this will be a most interesting tour, that the matches ;will be played in the very best of spirit and that whatever the result of the Tests New Zealand will be plesaed to see' the better team wih. But also our British experience has con* vinced me that the kindness of the hosts is one of the problems of the tonring team and the Springboks will find this out in due course. Of tho quality of the- players in New Zealand I have no doubt and I hold every hope that the coming series of matches will demonstrate it to everyone. Rngby football is our national game,* we have developed good men and we will undoubteffiy digcover more good men in the next series of trials. The optimism_ of some towards the proucts of these trials might appear curious td anyone who did not know that the matches invariably de reveal fresh talent. 'Btit with this reinforcement of new blood and with the widening experien&e of players who have worn the All Black jersey in the past we in this coontry have every hope that we shall show the Springboks that we are worthy of them.