OUR SOUTH AFRICAN VISITORS,

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 204, 14 September 1937, Page 4

OUR SOUTH AFRICAN VISITORS,

To-day Hawke's Bay wll extend its welcome to the gallant team of young mefl which has coine all the way from SoUth Affictt to cRal" leuge us lu tho lists of Rugby football. There should be no ppssiblo doubt as to the warxnth and sincerity of that welcome amorlg. a community so deeply devoted to what is the great national winter game of Britishers throUghout the world. Apart from the prowess they have so definitely displayed, tho Springboks coine to us with full recommendation as being very thoroughly imbued with the spirit of sportsinanship that is of the essence of tbe game. This they have shown nofc only in the niany victories they have scored but also in the 6olitary defeat they liave so far sustained in this country. lfc is pleasing to loarn on the authority of their manager that, with bufc one exceptioiij the team ace all "lit and well." This in itself is 41 great tribute both to the toughiiess of their fibre and to the discipline and self-denial to which tbey liave submibted themselves. For tiearly two months now tliey have. been continually on the move, playing two gjames a week, excepting when takiiig a few days extra otf iu preparation for each of the two "tesfc" matches they have played. ' it was only 011 Saturday that they iilflicted a signal defeat on the dtago team at Dunedin, and to-morrow they are to tachle the beat we can put in the field against them in Hawke's Bay, who we foudly hope may make a better showing. Having in mind the tmbroken series of successes the Springboks have achieved in all their previous eleven games against provincial teams, it is almost too much to expect that Hawke's Bay wili have tbe bonour to mar this rcoord. However, we may all expect a good ding^dong game played in the best spirit of sportsmanship( and that is always worth while going a long woy to see. It is, of course, unfortunate that the exacting conditions imposed on the tourists, especially with the final test match in prospect 10 days hence, precludes the possibility of their accepting to the full the hospitality we should all like to extend to our so welcome visitors. But in this respect the will must here, as elsewhere, be taken for the deed.