EASY WIN FDR ALL BLACKS.

Shannon News, 7 October 1924, Page 3

EASY WIN FDR ALL BLACKS.

SUPERB PASSING. v ATITI blacks best display. LEICESTER PLAY SEVEN IN SCRUM. (Received Sunday,\s.s p.m.) . LONDON, October 4. The conditions were perfect for the All Blacks match against Leicester, which the visitors won by 27 points to nil. The weather was faultless, the ground in excellent order and the attendance thirty thousand. . • The New Zealand team was at its best and gave its finest all-round display yet provided on the tour. The passing was superb and the backing up unfailing. With their height, speeed and stamina the All Blacks were overwhelmingly superior. Leicester in Trouble With Scrum. Leicester adopted the New Zealand scrum, but in this they failed, mainly on account of insufficient weight in the side and back rows to give the hookers the opportunity to beat the New Zealand pair for the ball. After, the interval they occasionally' had three men in the front-row. _ Leicester’s passing movements were weak, the exchanges being of the slow, single-handed, lobbed style, vastly different from the fast, low passing and characterising play of their opponents. , Cupples Opens Account. Prom the actual kick off Dailey secured the ball and set the New Zealand attackingmachine in motion. Leicester strove hard to keep their line intact, ‘but the Black forwards supported the attack with fast dribbling rushes, wh,ich enabled Cupples to score, the first try of the day from the ruck. Nicholls failed to convert: New Zealand '*'* n Richardson Dives Over. The try was scored twelve minutes after the start. The All Blacks forwards and backs continued to combine well in attack, first a dribbling rush, then a speedy passing movement threatening to add to their score at any minute. Nor was there long to wait for three minutes after the first score Richardson dived over near the posts to score his first try in 1 England, Nicholls converted: New Zealand 8 Leicester i.# • 0 Leicester Try for Potted Goal. Leicester for a while looked like evening matters to some extent, pressing the visitors back into their own territory from where a home player was almost successful in an attempt to drop a goal. Lucas and Steel Shine. , They could not., however, long suppress the sparkling play of the New Zealanders, who retaliated with a beautiful passing movement which was commenced by Lucas on the left ; wing The dashing Aucklander raced into an attacking position in the centre of the field from where he

initiated a passing movement in which all the backs participated, the ball eventually being , transferred to Steel’s wing. At once the powerful West Coaster was away on one of his most formidable efforts;; his pace and weight seeing him < through, and bumping past the opposing wing and full back he scored in a convenient position, from which Nicholls easily converted: New Zealand 13 Leicester ' .....> 0 t Lucas Makes it Sixteen.

The All Blacks were not to be satisfied with the success already gained, but continued to hammer relentlessly at the home team’s door. , They swung into attack magnificently and passed flawlessly. Leicester fought back for a while but soon the All Blacks were over again after the ball had traversed from Dailey, through the hands of all the backs, to Lucas who sped down the line, outpacing the opposition and scoring in the corner, a difficult task confronted Nicholls who just failed to put the 'ball over: New Zealand 16 Leicester 0 Leicester Die Gamely. In the face of a sixteen-point lead for New Zealand, Leicester fought a dogged battle in the closing stages of the first spell. Twice they menaced the New Zealand line, but Nepia was sound and repulsed opposing forwards with well judged line kicking, and half time was called with the margin still sixteen points in New Zealand’s favour. . Second Spell—Leicester Improve. ' New Zealand Strong at all Points. However, the All Blacks on the day showed weakness in no department of the game, and their variety of method in getting out of tight corners pleased the spectators. Now the forwards sped away with the ball, then when Leicester had returned, persevering! y ,to proximity of the New Zealand line the backs broke away like a flash, parsing and reverse passing delightfully, Lucas and Dailey especially rousing the crowd- to enthusiasm. White Opens Scoring Again. A troublesome period for the visitors terminated when Porter got out into the open with the ball, and after a fine run transferred to Richardson. The Black forwards charged oh irresistibly with the two Southlanders, Richardson and,White at the fore, the latter getting across. Nicholls ‘ con- | verted, increasing the score to New Zealand '2l Leicester. \ 0 The Centre Gets a Try. With the game drawing to a close the All Blacks did not let up in the slightest, but the opposition was still effective. The finest passing bout of day was now seen; but Steel frustrated it through knocking on, and almost | immediately after Nicholls made a similar error. Continuing to get plenty of the ball, the Black backs were sent away time and time again, | and at last Svenson raced across the : line, but his success was not shared j by Nicholls who failed ' with the' kick. • .

New Zealand .. 24 ; Leicester .. 0 Nicholls Kicks Fourth Goal., ' Injury to a leg compelled Munro to retire The game continued brightly*to the last, but only one other score came, when an infringement by the home team resulted in Nicholls kicking a penalty goal, making the final score: New- Zealand ... ■'.”...... 27 Leicester .......... .Y 0 NO TEAM CABLED. Enthusiasts up and down New Zealand will be disappointed to see that the personnel of the team has not been cabled out. From the report, Rie following seem to have beep playing: Full back: G. Nepia. Three-quarters: F. W. Lucas,, K. S. Svenson (centre), J. Steel. Five-eighths: M. F. Nicholls. Half: W. C. Dailey. Winger: C. G. Porter (capt.). Back row: L. F. Cupples, A. White. Suports: J. Richardson. Hookers: H. G. Munro. There is no indication as to who the other four players were, but N., P. McGregor may have filled tjie second five-eighth position. R. L. Stewart probably went down with Richardson, and McCleary' may have had his first game in front of scrum. The lock is not indicated .

THE HONOURS BOARD. The New Zealanders Jiave scored 131 points to 13 in their seven British games. The analysis is:— Player ■ Points Tries Goals ‘Nicholls, M. F., . . 28 *l2 Brown, H. W., . . 13 3 2 Cooke, A. E., ~. . 12 4 Steel, J., .. .. 12 4 Mill, J., 9 .3 ' Parker, J. H. .... 9 3 Svenson, K S 9 3 Brownlie, M. J.,, ... 6 2 Donald, Q 2 Irvine, W. R., .... 6 2 Lucas, F. W 6 . 2 Nepia, G., 6 3 Cupples, L. F. .... 3 1 Richardson, J., .. 3 1 White, A., 3 .1 Total 13 L 31 *l7 * Includes one "''tied and two penalty goals. THIS WEEK’S FLUTTERS. The eighth match of the 1924 New Zealand team will be at Birmingham on Wednesdav against the North Midland counties. The ninth game is against Cheshire, the first of the six counties constituting the Northern division of the English county championship scheme. This game eventuates at Birkenhead on Saturday. Provided New Zealand beats North Midlands pointless, the 1924 record will be on a par with the 1905 team, where five of the first seven games were bloodless victories; one opposing side kicked a goal ahd the other crossed the All Blacks’ line for the first time. HARD ROW TO HOE. RUGBY IN NORTH OF ENGLAND. Starting on Saturday, the All Blacks enter on their North of England campaign. Sandwiched in are the Irelahd (first test), and Ulster matches. Northumberland will be met on November 8, and then another break of six “hot” games is on the cards: — November 12—v. Cambridge ’Varsity., November 15 —v. London Counties, November 20 —v. Oxford ’Varsity. November 22—-v. Cardiff. November 29—v. Wales (at Swansea). December 2-—V. Llanelly (champion Club of Great Britain, 1923-1924);’ Northumberland and Cumberland ar© the strongest county sides in England. The latter won the County

championship mainly owing to their forwards, and their champion back and skipper, T. E. Halliday (who was with the Britishers in Africa). They have the reputation of oeing very hard to beat on their home ground of Carlisle, where une All \Blacks oppose them on October 25. Northumberland will probably prove the stronger of the two, and are well served back and forward. They have at their disposal W. Wallace 'wing three-quarter), J. H. Bordaks (centre), H. Whitley (scrum half) and R. G. Henderson (forward)—all members of the British touring team/ Sp the AH Blacks are in for a strenuous time from October 25 to November 8, meeting during this period Cumberland, Ireland, Ulster, and Northumberland. PASSING OF THE GREAT * CAPTAIN. “LONG MAY THE SILVER FERN FLOURISH.” This generous wish was the concluding sentence of the “Athletic News’” critique of the All Blacks 1905 game against Leicester where Dave Gallaher and his men were personae gratae. Gallaher himself played in the two games at Leicester, including the Midland Counties match. It is rather a coincidence that the Leicester game'of the 1924 tour should have been played on October 4, the seventh anniversary of Dave Gallaher’s going west—died of wounds in France, October 4, 1917:

For each man captains his own Soul, And chooses his own Crew, But- the Pilot knows the Unknown Seas, And He will bring him through.

SOMETHING ABOUT LEICESTER N.Z.’S LATEST OPPONENTS. There is nothing definite in Mr G. H. Dixon’s memoirs of the 1905 tour to show whether Leicester was the club or county fifteen. The following extract would make it appear to be the club side:—“lt was predicted that our match against Leicester, the “Tigers,” as they were called, wou-u. prove to be the toughest we had fought so far, and this prediction was fylly verified. O’n the previous Saturday the Leicester committee had taken all their team to Northampton to see the match there, so that they were fully prepared for the struggle in so tar as a knowledge oi our play was concerned.”

But in the review of the tour by vice-captain W. J. Stead (whose need as a coach on the 1924 tour will be more-apparent tha'a ever presently), wrote:—"Of the counties, Leicester impressed me most, not only on the field, but in the whole management of their club affairs.” The same doubt exists about Saturday’s game, but there is not much iii it anyway, as Leicester Club is to all intents and purposes Leicester county. The only difference is that a county side can draw on clubs elsewhere in the United Kingdom or. any players with birth qualifications for Leicestershire. The 1905 Tour.,

The All Blacks played two games at Leicester. The fifth game was played there on September 30 against Leicester (New Zealand won 28—0) and the fourteenth on October 28 against Midland Counties (New Zealand won 16—5).

A. O. Jones, who brought an English cricket eleven to Australia about 20 years ago, was full-back for Leicester and played a fine game. He refereed the. South Africa v. Wales game the next year when the Springboks beat the Welshmen by doublefigures. This great Englishman "went west” in the war.

. Leicester got three men into the All England fifteen defeated by New Zealand, five tries to nil:—A. E. Hind, threequarter; J. Braithewaite, half; R. F. Russell, forward. The football ground at Leicester is one of the best in England both as regards playing area and accommodation for spectators.

The 1905 team beat Leicester by 5 converted tries and one unconverted try (28 points) to nil.