RUGBY FOOTBALL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4907, 25 November 1925, Page 4

RUGBY FOOTBALL.

ENGLISH PRAISE.

THE SCRUM FORMATION

The 1925 John Wisden’s. Rugby Football Annual pays a high tribute to 'the New Zealand footballers who toured Great Britain last season, playing 30 matches without a defeat, and scoring 721 points against 112. After pointing out that an unquestionably harder task was faced than by Dave Gallagher’s famous band of 1905, the writer says : “So finely did the New 1 Zealanders acquit themselvejs upon nearly every occasion that it was a matter for much regret they had no match with Scotland —the winners of the international championship—and that England in making scarcely any preparation for the contest at Twickenham, should have courted disaster. Still, the absence of a fixture with Scotland, .and the strange course adopted by the English authorities, did not detract from the glorious achievements of the tourists in winning . 28—of, if the games in France are included, 30' matches off the reel.

ADMIRABLY EQUIPPED. “At all points they were admirably equipped. They had great strength, which they put to telling use, and a capital, turn of speed in nearly every instance, and they were always in splendid condition, wlhile the team work excited, general admiration. Particularly noticeable was this last quality in the. backing-up in attack, any man who got away being! always certain of finding two or three colleagues close at hand to whom to pass directly he found himself in difficulty, while in times of pressure the covering of the back in trouble by the other outsiders was so prompt and sure as, to ensure an almost impregnable Avail.

“Outstanding, too, ip the driving force of the side w'as the way in which a player nearly always, gained ground before panting with the ball, the straight running of the centres that avoided and boring of the wings on to. the touch-line, the constant endeavour to keep the ball in play, and the quick, close, and accurate handling. Nothing, also could have been more effective than, the smothering tackles, while most of the men kicked with power; and ac-

curacy.” The New Zealand scrum formation of. 2-3-2 has been a theme for discussion everywhere they have played, and in New South Wales the authorities, have serious contemplation ofreplacing the 3-2-3 style in'vogue-in Australia for 'so many years. Wisden’s ■ remarks upon the Subject are? therefore, interesting. BUILT INTO PACK.

\ “The New Zealand scrum formation was obviously thought out very care- . fully. Each man had his recognised position in the pack, being selected for it largely, by reason of his physical. attributes-. The two front row men were hookers, pure and simple, and were not expected to do any jshoving. They had to be strong, thick•necked fellows, and as. near as possible the same height and weight. The real push in the scrummage came from the second row, mainly from the two men on eitlier side of the - “lock,” and so closely were the technical details of their duties worked out that their outside feet had to be in s-uch a position—roughly at an angle of ( 45‘ deg.—that, directly the scrum was broken up, they could get away without first having to shift their feet. Equally, the back row men worked upon a -premeditated plan, linking up before they went down, and building themselveis into the pack on the ‘lock,’ who, slightly taller. .than the rest, kept his feet well apart to facilitate the egress of the ball when it was heeled.”