SPRINGBOK TACTICS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 111, 27 May 1937, Page 15

SPRINGBOK TACTICS

(By "Magpie."),

Lessons Learnt from 1921 Tour WHAT FUTURE HOLDS

Tho South African Rugby side will reach Premantle, Western Australia, on Monday morning next and in the afternoon meet the representatives of that State in the first match of the tour. From then on the side will get plenty of football each week, so that by the time they reach this Dominion they ' should be in perfect physical shape to undertake what is regarded as the most difficult portion of their vtour. It is hard at this stage to estimate their strength. No doubt they will be difficult to defeat, as any international side should be., but there has been a wide differenee of opinion by South African critics as to their real ability. By some it has been written that they are a collcction of real champions who will defeat any fifteen at Rugby in the world to-day. This is indeed great praise, but we are not unus'ed to such heralding of visitors; the same was said of the Australians last winter. On the other hand good judges in South Afri.ca assert thati (the team, while being good, is not unbeatable, and in this connection the opinion of Mr. T. B. Pienaar, captain of the 1921 Springboks out here, is worth while. At least he is not so enthusiastic, and reading between the lines i,t is apparent that he has a profound respect for tho opposition that is to be met out here. The point to my mind and one that ia beipig setjtlcd will have :a great bearing on- opinions worth while in regard to the result of the games ahead, is whether or not our standard is as high or higher than it was in 1921, or is it definitely lower. Matches In Frovlnces. As one who sa.w the Springboks play many times in 1921, I found it difficult to reconcile their form in the provinces with that in the Tests. Rarely, indeed, did they run up largo scores in tho provincial matches, and they always seemed to be flat out, too. Against. combined Hawke's Bay and East Coast the score was 14 — 8 in favour of tho Springboks, but they were never taking it easy, and I formed the opinion thon that if Tureia, the Combined captain, had been on the side line the Coast quite probably would have won, as Tureia persisted in hanging on to the ball with Blake and Grenside alongside him just "rarin' to go." There were other . matches that provided close finishes, as for instanco with Manawhenua. On that occasion the Springboks won by three to nil, and territorially had considerably the worst of matters. | In the match with the Maori team the final score was nine to eight in favour of the visitors, and nobody could say they had the best of tliat match. At one period I had the opinion that the South Africans were satisfied just to win in the> provinces, but when several of them inforincd me that they •met with better packs in the provinces than they did in the Tests I understood much better. 1921 was the first year of Maurice Brownlie 's representative

career, and I well remember the late •Father Mahoney, then stationed here in Hastings, Temarking that there were no forwards in the Now Zealand pack as good as Brownlie, yet he could not gain selection, and I suppose the same could have been said of other piayers. Headquarters Stampeded. The Sprinkboka of 1921 exercised an influence on New Zealand. football— they created a stampede in the 'New Zealand headquarters and in addition, influenced almost every . team. opposed to them to piay the style of game that the Springboks desired. The New Zealand team of 1921 was not a good' one, taken all round, and the best playing days of some were behind them, as for instance E. Hughes, 40. years of age, while W. Duncan, J. Moffitt and R. Fogarty were getting on, too. There is available here at present a much better- fifteen to wear the black jersey than actually wore it in 1921, but of course the selectore' fancies and whims have to be taken into consideration, and where a committee is composed of no less than six the task of eelecting the best is mta.de ever so much more difficult. The influences of 1921 remained for many years afterwards, although dt is true that many of thp Springboks' methods, according to our ideas, were illegal. They Were past masters in the art of obstruction, and it is a fact that the only two referees to check them at this practice were Mr. L. Simpson, t>f 'Wellington, .and H.1 • J. McKenzie, off Wairarapa. In, the match with Ganterbury, which Canterbury won by two points, Mr. Simpson was in control. Although one of the Dominion 's leading referees, he. was not asked to officiate for the Springboks again. Mr. H. J. McKenzie refereed the Manawhenua match and likewise was given no further opportunity. So effective were these obetruction methods, or at least some of them, that the Hawke's Bay team of 1923 odopted one or two of the tricks, and they worked splendddly until one day Mr. Simpson camo along to referee one _ of the Shield ffnatclies and ihe carne down heavily on the fine points, so much so that at half-time the Bay decided to scrap them altogether. Importance of Referee. The referee is going to play an important part in the Springbok fixtures this year, too. As I write I have before me a picture taken of an ineident in the final trial at Capetown in April last, and my mind was taken back to 1921, for depicted in the picture was the type of obstruction that the Springboks favoured in there first tour here. The influence of the 1937 Springboks are already being felt out. here. There ie a sort of panic apparent with some critics that the visitors aro going to be supermen. They write of the sizo of the forwards and their speed, but forwards who weigli between 15 and 16 stone are not fast in the true sense of the word. At this stage it is, of course, idle to prophecy the result of the Tests to come, but of this I am certain and it ie that the Springboks of 1937 will have to be a much superior combination to their predecessors of 1921 if they are to win.