FOOTBALL.

Putaruru Press, Volume II, Issue 58, 4 December 1924, Page 3

FOOTBALL.

SECOND INTERNATIONAL j MATCH. AH Blacks Defeat Wales. All Black 2s 19 Wales . . . . . . . . o The defeat of 1905, the only one the All Blacks sustained on that tour, has been avenged. The 1905 team were beaten by 3 to 0. ANOTHER WIN. All Blacks 8 Llanelly g The 1905 team did. not have a match with this team. NOTES. t The match with Wales is now history, and the All Blacks have aveng- , cd the deteat of their predecessors of 1005. The margin of 19 points to nil was a substantial one, for an international game. From the cabled accounts the game does not appear to have been a brilliant one to watch, though it is said the All Blacks’ rear- ' guard was superior to that of Wales, f There are complaints of “ man handling ” and indications that the game was very far from gentle. But to interpret these comments as rough play is not justified. The All Blacks have been accused before of “ rough play,” and the statements have been contradicted by players opposing them and by good judges of the game. That the match with Wales was a hard game is a certainty. But hard play is neither rough play nor dirty play. It is quite probable that when two teams of forwards meet, when the ground and ball gets and slippery through rain, when it becomes a struggle for i the control of the game, that there j may be incidents occur that would | not happen in a fast back game. : .Spoiling tactics are bewailed, but (so much has been said of the All Blacks’ offside play that it is quite refreshing to read that the Welshmen were penalised oftener than the visit- | ors for being offside. It simply goes , to show that the All Blacks are no worse—or no better—in this respect than the teams they meet. It should not be forgotten that the Welsh are an excitable race, and with both sides at high tension—Wales to retain its reputation, the All Blacks to avenge the 1905 defeat—players were not too particular in moments of excitement. The All Black forwards play a hard

game—not a parlour ping pong kind of performance. Saturday's pack averaged a fraction over 13st 91b, was just on 6 feet in height (so close that there was only an inch lacking in the the total from making them six feet) and about 26 years of age. In the pink of condition, thoroughly trained, and with the combination of previous games, the pack would be a formidable human battering ram. Playing with men of this physical standard hard knocks must be given and received, and it is guessed that many of the critics of the New Zealanders have failed to realise this. With physical fitness and their pace the All Black vanguard plays a different game to what the Old Country is accustomed to. It is not difficult to picture that when the pack break through with their loose rushes that bumps are plentiful.