CHOOSING THE ALL BLACKS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 129, 17 June 1937, Page 15

CHOOSING THE ALL BLACKS

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Interesting Months Ahead For Leading s * Players * HAWKE'S BAY LACKS A CENTRE

(By '

The Rugby season marches on apace, the real students of the game, and they are to be fonnd in the cities, towns, townships and further back than that, can tell you now who will win the championship in Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, or Auckland. Such is the publicity given our national winter pastime. On top of club Rugby we read of the various Rugby unions' nominations of players for the scrutiny of the New Zealand selection committee, and on the same page the result of the first official match on the Springboks' tour.

I was interested in the matcli between South Africa and Victoiva particularly to judge just what prospects New South Wales and Australia have of holding »the visitors. New South Wales, for instance, could not defeat Victoria as heavily, so it can be expected that when they meet the tourists in Sydnoy, South Africa will win by a comfor table margin. Concerning tlie result of the first Test, which will Lc played on June 26, there is just a doubt in my mind at present and so I propose to reserve judgment until next Thursday. The Springboks have, however, already established one record, and that is in regard to publ'icity. Whether they like it or not, no team of footballers have had accorded them the advance publicity that has been handed out to the present touring fiide. On thq arrival of the team at Perth they were greeted by Pressmen in profusion, some of whom had made the long trip from Sydney for the express purposo. Included in these was Jack Fingleton, the' well-known Test cricket player. Of the first match against Western Australia, Fingleton wrote that in that game he saw more real scrummaging in 80 ininrjtes than he had witnessed in all the club and inter-State matches he had previously seen this year in Sydney. That opinion can be treatcd as a warning to us in New Zealand, and it is as well to take heed of it now. Our leading players, good as they are Ln open play, can devote from now on additional attention to scrummaging; they can brush up in this Tespect, for there is no doubt that it will be needed in the month.3 ahead. In pursuit of likely talent for New Zealand, Mr. E. McKenzie, chairman of the New Zealand selection committee, was in Gisborne last Saturday viewing the Poverty Bay-Wairarapa match and he was in Napier on Sunday night. One gathers from him that the New Zealand Selection Committee as yet have an open mind on the material "that has yet to be tapped, but it is apparent also that the trials to be held in Wellington next month will be to them all important. Past 1 reputations will be forgotten, and here again is a warning that players can take heed of. One gathered that there is a prospect of the full selection committee viewing the match between Hawke's Bay and Poverty Bay, to be played here in Hastings on Thursday, July 1, and that the North Island fifteen and all those who wiill be invited to the trials will be finali'sed in Hastings that evening. If such a happening does come to pass I talce it as an appreeiation of the fnbt that Hawke's Bay will bullc largely in the deliberations. Here again is a warning particularly to the Hawke's Bay fifteen.

Lookmg over the nominations by various unions that have appeared in the Press so far, one is struclc by the searcity of centre three-quarters and live-eighihs names, and 1 should say chat J. Gullivan (Taranaki) is a certainty for the centre positiou in the North Island fifteen. In the nine nominated by Wellington there are no fiveeighths at all. The omission of J. Griflitlis, last year captain of Now. Zealand in the Tests, borders on the sensational. Colin Le Quesne has not been eonsidered worth mentioning either, an'd to Hawke's Bay followers this ie surprising also. The ^Wellington eelector has in the present winter seen many players in other provdnces, and it must be aecepted that there are others for these positions he prefers in provinces outside Wellington. If there are others so euperlor to GiTfiiths and Le Quesne, then New Zealand has no need to fear the Springbok invasion. Of course, there is provision for supplementary nominations from provinces right up to June* 30, and perhaps the Wellington selector will avail himself of this proviso. I remember a year or two back that Mr. Nicholls nominated more than fifteen players for the New Zealand side that toured to Australia. The faet that some of the nominated ones could not gain a place in the Wellington representative fifteen did not stint his activity when setting down the names. In passing, it is on record that in 1925 Hawke's Bay had no iewer than eight representatives in the North Island fifteen. This is a record for any province in the- history of dnter-island matches. - The game was played in sleety rain in Invercargill and the North won by 16 to 5. What a pity the Springboks did not come out here in 1925 or 1926. The prospects of Hawke's Bay in the match with the Springboks next September are already engaging considerable attention. Provuding the leading players in the Bay.eseape injury in the mterim there are indications that we will be able to field a side well equipped in weight to match the visitors, and allded to the weight there will be considerable ability. There were many* blemishes apparent in the recent match with Wairarapa, but against weak opposition this is not altogether surprising. The present Bay pack is the best Bcrummaging eight that has worn the representative jerseys for many years, and this is a point in favour of high expectations for the meeting with the Springboks. Tlie great need at the moment appears to be at centre threequarter, but September is a, long way off yet and the wealcness may be recfofied by then. In any case the throe months immediately ahead are godng to bo crowded ones for leading players. no matter what part of the Dominion they reside in.