TEAMS COMPARED

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 61, 3 November 1931, Page 5

TEAMS COMPARED

SPRINGBOK TOUR SOUTH AFRICAN WRITER'S IMPRESSIONS OF N.Z: RUGBY. PROSPECTS m ENGLAND. On their present tour of the Home conntries the South African Rugby footballers have played and won seven games. Their next two engagements will be in Scotland, after whieh they will have games with the Universities and the Services. It will not be until the 5th December that they play their first Test — with Wales, at Swansea. Of the present touring side, and of other Dominion teams, a South African Correspondent has written as follows to an English paper: — It is significant of the remarkable hold that Rugby has in South Africa that the whole of the twenty-nine players originally selected for the British tour have accepted their places, and the touring party will be fully representative of the strength of the game in the Union. Except for the many capable players who have appeared for Oxford University since the war, nothing has been seen of South African Rughy in England since their highly successful tour of 1912, but it is safe to anticipate that this side will bear comparison with other powerful teams from the Dominions which have practically swept all before them on their British tours. Past Records. The New Zealanders may have slightly the better record than the Springboks in their two 'British tours, but the two clashes between these great Rugby playing Dominions which have both taken place since the war, were rather in favour of the South Afrieans, and provide an interesting line on the present strength of South African Rugby. Shortly after the war, in 1921, the Springboks visited New Zealand and Australia and sustained only two defeats in the Dominion, succumbing to Canterbury and to New Zealand in the first Test match. The second Test match was won by South Africa, and the final game resulted in a pointless draw, and thus the international honours were divided. The strength of the game in South Africa was emphasised three years later when a strong British team under the captaincy of R. Cove Smith toured the Union and managed to win only nine matches in a programme of twenty-one, of which three were drawn. South Africa won three out of the four Test matches, the other being drawn. The touring side certainly suffered from many casua^ties, and if they lost as many games as they won it is generally recognised in South Africa that they taught more than they learned. The success of the South Afrieans in New Zealand emphasised the importance of hard scrummaging, and in their concentration on tight play there was -a tendency to neglect the loose. Strong Forwards. Following their highly successful tour in Great Britain, the All Blacks, under the captaincy of , Maurice Brownlie, anticipated an equally triumphant tour in the Union "to settle .the Rugby supremacy of the world," as some New Zealand writers termed it. That the New Zealanders were an unusually fine team cannot be doubted, and before the side left New Zealand, Mr. E. McKenzie, chairman of the New Zealand selection committee, made the public statement: "The material in the team chosen is better than the 1924 team. In forward play we have never been so strong. This is the strongest side that has ever represented New Zealand, and I speak with a knowledge of teams back to 1893." Por physique and handling qualities this New Zealand pack of forwards has probably never been equalled, yet it was through the inability of their forwards to hold their own with strong scrummaging packs that the New Zealanders lost several matches. Scrummage Formations. Mr. Theo. Pienaar, who will manage the South African team in Great Britain, was captain of the Springboks in New Zealand in 1921, and he eame away with the conviction that the All Blacks' traditional diamond-shape scrum formation of seven men could never hold eight good men who pushed their weight in the scrums. His views and influence on the South African side played an important part in the results. The matches between the represen- : tatives of the t.wo leading Rugby playing Dominions deserve to be historic in the Rugby game as the Test between the orthodox eight-men pack and the New Zealand scrum formation, and for the complete vindication of the 3-3-2 formation. English experts who have contended that the 3-3-2 formation has no equal as a scrummaging machine, were proved correct. In two of their first four matches, the New Zealanders were out-scrummaged by the provincial teams, and lost to the Western Province town side and the Transvaal because their two hookers were unable to secure the hall against the opposing three. Actually in the Western Province match the New Zealanders won only twelve decisive scrums to thirty of their opponent's, and against the Transvaal they were beaten for the ball forty times to sixteen. Test Results. In the first Test matches, Osler, behind a winning pack, scored fourteen points himself, out of a total of seventeen for South Africa, the New Zealanders failing to score. The New Zealanders' superiority in the line-out . and loose could never cope with this disadvantage, and after a futile trial of the 3-4 formation, they sprang a surprise in the second Test match, when they played one of their best forwards in the loose. As soon as the packs got down, he went down himself against his two hookers on the side the ball came into the scrum to give his pack the loose head. The element of surprise played its part in the South Afrieans' defeat by seven points to six, and after South Africa won the third Test, eleven points to six, the New Zealanders rose to the occasion in the last Test match, in which Mark Nicholls played a memorahle game, to win. thirteen points to five, and! cause a division of the honours. The All Blacks suffered five defeats all told, and twice suc-

cumhed to the Western province, which supplies no f ewer than eighteen members of the team of twenty-nine which visits Britain. The match-win-ning combination of the South African halves, Osler and de Villiers, is indicated by the fact they played together on five occasions against the tourists, and were on the winning side four times. Strength of Present Team. Since there may be danger of overrating the South Afrieans on their form against the New Zealanders, taking a line through the All Blacks of 1924-1925, it may be stated that the New Zealand team which visited the Union was probably over-estimated by their own people. Though they had a great pack in the loose and many fine backs, they never developed a partnership equal to that of Marlc Nicholls and A. E. Coolce, which was so successful in Great Britain. Comparing the South African team for England with the sides that played against the All Blacks, there is a tendency to believe the touring side is rather stronger. There are a number of experienced forwards in the side who won their spurs against the New Zealanders, and, apart from plenty of weight and strong serummages, several fast flankmen have been selected, of whom M. J. Beirman and J. A. J. M'Donald may prove outstanding. B. L. Osler, the South African captain, who is a half-back of the Adrian Stoop type, will be supported by another clever fly-half in M. G. Francis. In 1928, however, South Africa was only moderately served at centre threequarter. A. Cornell, the best centre in the country, was injured in the trials, and did not play against the tourists, while Stanley Osler, the brother of the South African captain, and a really capable orthodox centre, at present at Oxford, was injured in the first Test match, and did not play again. During the inter-provineial matches last season, and at the South African trials a f ew weeks ago, the best inside threequarter play for many years was displayed, and on their South African form there are four really first-class centres in the touring side which promises to improve the strength of the team. The wing-three-quarters will he heavy and hard to stop. On their South African form it may be said the forwards are sound, the halves brilliant, and the three-quarters of a distinctly good international standard. The tourists can therefore be expected to proVide sonie attractive' hackplay.