TO CAPTAIN ALL BLACKS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3762, 3 March 1928, Page 4

TO CAPTAIN ALL BLACKS.

MAURICE BROWNLIE INDICATED. Information received in Christchurch from a reliable source states that the New Zealand Rugby Union has appointed Maurice Brownlie as captain of the All Blacks to visit South Africa this season. F. W. Lucas will be vicecaptain. Brownlie belongs to Hawke’s Bay, and Lucas to Auckland. Both were members of the 1924 New Zealand team that visited England, and are players of considerable experience. Last season, each acted as ettfptain for his respective provincial fifteen. FAMOUS PLAYERS. Maurice Brownlie (Hawke’s Bay) is generally acknowledged to be one of the very best forwards New Zealand has ever produced. On the All Blacks’ tour of 1924, English critics gave him the palm as being one of the greatest forwards in the game. Scaling 14st. Gib. the Hawke’s Bay captain infuses great dash into his play, and is a most difficult man to hold, often sending opponents flying with a shake of his powerful shoulders. He is a tower of strength on the line-out, and in the open can move and handle like a back. F. W. Lucas, of Auckland, at first announced that he was not availablo for the trip, but later he changed his mind, and informed tho selectors that he was a candidate. Lucas was a member of the team which went to the Old Country in 1924. He first came to the front in 1923, when he played for New Zealand against the New South Wales team which visited the Dominion that year. Last year he captained the Auckland side. Lucas is a good type of wing three-quarter, with plenty of speed and sound defence.