RUGBY FOOTBALL

Hokitika Guardian, 15 November 1930, Page 6

RUGBY FOOTBALL

RIVAL TEAMS AFRICA AND BRITAIN. e A NEW ZEALANDER'S VIEWS. a f 3 (Mark Nicholls, the famous All Black l ' in “The Outspan”, South Africa.) j i In view of the fact that a rugby team r representing South Africa will tour i* Great Britain towards the end of next i year, it is interesting to compare the , Springbox players whom the All Blacks * met in 1928 with the British side who ; toured New Zealand. In fact the Edi- , tor of “The Outspan” has asked me to I write one or two articles giving my im- ; pressions of the British team, but to > do so I find it necessary to refer to the i manner in which the side played duri ing the first test. i This was one of the most exciting and ; closely contested,rugby games ever seen i on Carisbrook, Dunedin, the scene of many an epic encounter, in which tile British touring side defeated the All Blacks by six points to three- Although practically all of the first half saw the British side on the attack, and nearly all of the second half was in New Zealand’s favour, a drawn game seemed to be inevitable and it was only at the eleventh hour that Britain snatched a wonderful victory; The British team had made a fetish of back-play in all their games and it was expected that they would do so again in this match, although the conditions were all against this type of play as rain and snow had fallen right up to the commencement of the game. Tn spite of the sodden condition of the ground however, they threw the hall about with abandon, rarely making a • / * mistake in their handling. The British forwards dominated the game in the first half, being especially dangerous in the loose scrums; but in the line-outs they only just managed to hold their own. Murray, the British scrum-half, played his best game to date, hut lie is not the polished player that Pierre de Villiers was < when the All Blacks were in South Africa. His work in the game .was very sound although his attempts to stop the rushes were lacking in ruggedness ] and his service from tlie scrum was not quite snappy enough for an international scrum-lialf. His greatest fault, 1 however, is that lie never gains any ] ground from the serum hut is content j - to pass to his fly-half on every occasion, i Britain’s first try came at the end 1 of ten minutes play and was the re- < suit of a spectacular stunt that they c had practised for a week. From a fixed scrum between the half line and the > New Zealand twenty-five, the British 1 heeled cleanly and Murray sent the hall , out to Spong, who short punted across f to the wing. Beeve took the hall while i

running at full speed, left Hart and Nepia standing, and scored in the corner. It was indeed a brilliant try. Spong, the British stand-off half, played a really magnificent game although his style of play is diametrically opposed to that of the great Bennie Osier. I have never before seen two such wonderful players in the same position whose tactics are so different. Tt is only very rarely that Spong kicks ,_-in fact I have seen him play on ’three occasions and 1 have not seen him kick more than four or five times. ( He. like Bennie Osier, possesses wonderful hands, he gets away like an arrow and breaks beautifully. Tf he makes a mistake, and ho often does, he recovers so quickly that you forget the mistake in the speed of tlie movement. He lias also a wonderful balance while { running and is able to change his di- | rectinn without making it apparent to his immediate opponent, and when he is tackled he bounces up and joins the play almost immediately. Of course in this game the conditions were all against Spong. for the ground was sticky and the hall was difficult to handle, hut still he played brilliantly. If you give Bennie Osier the forwards who can get possession, he will win the game by himself through the medium of his kicking, hut Spong not only needs good forwards, he also requires fast hacks to take advantage of the brilliant openings that lie makes. To sum up the differences between these two players, I would prefer Osier in a team with poor hacks, hut Spong with fast, well handling hacks to support him. The forwards, of course, must he equal in both cases.

Up to half-time the score remained three—nil in favour of Britain. They had done most of the attacking and their tactics were superior to those of Now Zealand. They had also secured. possession more often than the All Blacks did and their hacks had kept the forwards on the attack by means of well judged touch-finding.

Lilburne and Cooke, on the other hand, consistently kicked down the field to Bassett, the British full-back, who always managed to return the hall to touch with a gain of ground. Judicious touch-finding by Lilburne would have have saved the New Zealand forwards a good deal of running about and would have placed them on the attack quite often. Nevertheless, when defending, Lilburne , and Cooke both shone and saved many a desperate situation. At the commencement of the second half the All Blacks immediately rushed play to the British line, from where the play again returned to the centre of the field. Three minutes after the interval, the New Zealand hacks got possession of the hall from a fixed scrum, the ball eventually going to Hart, who evaded Reeve and scored in the corner. Nepia attempted a wonderful kick, hut tlie ball struck the, upright and bounded into the

field of play. Although the All Blackt forwards continued to dominate the game the backs repeatedly failed to penetrate the magnificent defence of the British. With only thirty seconds to go and with the New Zealanders hot on the attack a few yards from the line. Mill passed from a scrum to Lilburne. Ivor Jones, however, was watching the manoeuvre. He intercepted and set off up the field lor the far distant goal line. A dummy pass to infield deceived the opposing backs and allowed him to get as far as Nepia where lie passed to Morley on the blind side, Morley’s anticipation of this pass really won the match for the British team. This try reminded, me a great deal of the one scored by Steele during the first test with the 1921 Springboks, but it was even more meritorious as it took a great deal more effort and skill than the earlier one.

At full-hack the incomparable Nepia was superb. Finely as Bassett played—

and he was practically faultless— Nepia overshadowed him in all developments of the game. Tindall, of South Africa, would compare more than favourably with Bassett as he is quicker and is a much better kick. But there is only one Nepia. I like Bowcott’s play, having opposed him in the Wellington match, which we won 12 —8. There is nothing flash about him and he is very safe and kicks well with either foot. He reminds me of Jerry Brand, although Bowcott is an inside centre and Brand played on the wing during the Johannesburg test. Both of them, however, are very reliable and consistent without being brilliant.

Aarvold, Morley and Reeve have plenty of pace, Morley at the same time being the most brainy and having a very clever side-step. Beeve, on the other hand, is a typical straight running wing with nothing up his sleeve except his pace. Aarvold is fast and has a good hand-off which lie uses to good purpose. He makes a splendid link in the three-quarter chain and could hold his own in any class.

Among the forwards Ivor Jones is outstanding as a breakaway. He has pace to burn, is an excellent dribbler and an uncanny anticipator. He fills the role that Pretorius filled in the South African pack, but he is far more effective and, T think, a far better player. Beamish, who is supposed tobe the best forward in the British Isles, is a fine stamp of player, but T would prefer Mostert, Van Druten or Danee! before him.

As a whole the British pack do not compare favourably with the English pack led by W. W. Wakefield against I New Zealand during the 1924-1925 season, nor with any of the packs led hv Phil Mostert in 1928. The South African forwards would heat them in all departments of the game, and with Bennie Osier behind them 1 think the Springboks woluld beat the British team in any match. On the other hand the three-quar-ters of this British team, with the me/rculrial Spong at stand-off, would he more than a, match for any team of hacks that we met in South Africa and, given a fair share of the ball, they would make the Springboks sit up and take notice. But I am of the firm opinion that the South African forwards would so dominate the game that the English hacks would not he able to function as an attacking force to any great extent.