BRITISH RUGBY TEAM

Hokitika Guardian, 22 October 1929, Page 3

BRITISH RUGBY TEAM

TOUR TO NEW ZEALAND. CHANCF; FOR KEEN PLAYERS. < LONDON, Sept. 6. Tn the “Sunday Times”'Mr D. R. Gent discusses Rugger .prospects gen T . erallv, and he makes the following, reference to the 1930. tour to the Do-, minion- ■

Jn the second week pf (Briiafish {eaip,'willfeayeYor a,.toii^'in/i*{ejy ; ; Zealand ' and Australia, returning;, ; the' middle of no doubt have'a great’ influences on i!ie, selectors in their choice'olf players ;for, the Home "trials and internationriis, T should think they would he very, thankful for it. Selection committees. are terribly conservative, and, as ,a ride, feel that they must play 'for safety. Translated into hard facts, this means that they will prefer the experienced player to the one who is inexperienced, and there is a decided temptation to hold on to the former tpo. long at the expense of the latter. Now, with a very strenuous tour to follow, it is. obvious that it is the younger men who must Tie encouraged, not the' older ories, and so I fully expect to see the younger men have their chance this year, even though matches are lost in the process. ... >: •;

True, the quality of the younger men available has not been such as to give selectors much encouragement, but we cannot afford to send to such a hotbed of Rugby football as New Zealand a side that' doesn’t consist largely of youngish jnon, who are phvgically fit to “stay the course” and who will 11)0$! certajiily improve as time gops on.

The names of some of the players Who have already been invited were announced at the end of last season. For all' sorts of reasons many of these will he unable to accept the invitation, probably, and when the party is completed it wil be found to contain, for certain, many players whose names im till this season have been practioallv ur-bnown. So here’s a splendid oban "e for the been young player—a change to retirement his country here apd ‘ ‘.down under.”