SPRINGBOK TOUR

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 158, 22 July 1937, Page 15

SPRINGBOK TOUR

i~ I'rfse Assiifia riiin. 1

Looking Forward To Seeing New Zealand

CALM TASMAN CROSSING

(By Telegrapf

AUCKLAND, Last Night. i The majority of the Springboks are looking forward to seeing something of New Zealand life other than that to be glimpsed on footbaH fields, and at the official receptions. Several of them whose interests are in farming and the marketing of agricultural products are |keen to see the country districts, and lalthough a.rigid "colour line" is drawn iin South Africa practically all thei iplayers are eager to meet Maoris both j !on and oft the football field.

In meeting the Springboks the first| thing one notices is not their physiquej |but their speech. Many of them are ob- ' .viously more at home in their guttural Airikaans than they are in English, and several of the players of Dutch extraction speak with a marked accent. This accent is even slightly noticeabie in the pleasing and cultured speech of the captain, Philip Nel. On board the Wanganella the Springboks were uniiversally popular, and they mixed and ■chatted freely with the passengers. They were fortunate in haviag a perjfectly cairn trip across the Tasman, but they did not indulge in any training on board, preferring to have three days oi' xest after their arduous travelling in Australia. However, the voyage to New Zealand was without its incidents. When the team left South Africa two of its members, G. L. van Reenen and

W. E. Bastard, sported moustaches. Other players protested against this facial adornment and van Reenen, apparently realisdng that discretion was the better part of valour, removed his moustache when the team was on its way to Australia. His companion, how--ever, Tefused to be intimidated, but oni the Tuesday night before the Wanga-i nella reached Auckland a group of! laughing Springboks gathered round tho iNatal forward in his cabin and with; -the aid of a specially prepared razor re- j moved half of his moustache. There] -.was nothing left for the victim but toi lcomplete the job and now the Spring-; fboks are all clean shaven, I Another point of interest eoncerned, the gastronomic prowess of A. D.l Lawton, champion eater in a team of' hearty trenchermen. To .the surprise of his team mates, Lawton did not appear for dinner on board the Wanganella on Tuesday evening. He did not complain of sea sickness and tho opinion was hazarded that he was training to surprise the hotel stafl! on the occasion of his first New Zealand meal. Among those who welcomed the Springboks to-day were Mr. F. W. Lucas, a f ormer All BJack, and his elder brother, Mr. A. A. Lucas, a member of the New Zealand Army team which toured South Africa. They were talking football with "Gerry" Brand, the famous Springbok full-back, and «'Snowy" Lucas recalled an incident in the game which the Army team played at Newlands in 1919. Brand's eyes lit up. "I was playing in the schoolboy's curtain-raiser to your game," he said. Brand is one of the stars of the team and a player who enjoys his football. He was taken to task in Brisbane for continued line-kicking, but he states definitely that he does not play to close the game up. He kicks for the line to save his heavy forwards from aimless ichasiug up and down the field.