Saddened Critics

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 158, 24 September 1927, Page 10

Saddened Critics

All Black Trial Matches The Offering for South Africa (By H. MAKARINI) PRESS critics who witnessed the three trial matches which preceded to-day’s match at Auckland do not seem elated with the quality revealed. The comment was rather the same in 1924. Possibly the trouble at present is that during a strenuous season footballers have lost the keen edge of aggressive skill.

o N results to date —excluding to-day’s I trial—only one man is hailed as a certainty. That individual is Maurice Brownlie. His brother, Cyril, too, seems to be as good as ever, and there is reason ] to assume that this massive pair, with i I. Harvey, R. F. Stewart, and I. Finlayson will form the basis of another magnificent All Black pack. Adding Swain and Hadley as hookers, and Keene as rover, and a pack quite good enough to make South Africa quail is at once available. HALF-BACK PROBLEM Behind a winning pack an ex-Well-ir.gton College boy named Bramwell, who played for the East Coast in the lirst trial, seems to have pleased observers. A sprig of a Feilding football family, this may be the same Bramwell who, back in 1918, gave a memorable display as half for Wellington College in the triangular tournament at Wanganui. The secondary schools are looming large in contemporary Rugby. Kilby (Southland), Dailey (Christchurch Boys’ High), Bramwell (Wellington) and J. Duncan (Wanganui Collegiate School) are a quartette of first-flight performers from the schools. But this is apparently a lean year for halfbacks. It has yet to be shown that any one of them is up to approved All Black class, and McManus (Auckland) seems for sheer consistency to be the pick of the offering. Duncan, of Wanganui, is extremely tiny, but game and elusive. The isolated report that he was better than Kilby cam be discounted on the score of local enthusiasm. Duncan is so tiny that he would hardly be able to see over the top of an All Black scrum. Wanganui, the school that produced Jimmy Hunter, is due to give New Zealand Rugby another performer of his stamp, but the man to don Hunter’s mantle is not in sight yet, though A. C. Williams, now at Cambridge University. is a forward who may develop into a champion. Of All Black forwards there are many in sight, and golden opinions were won on Wednesday by Ward, Leahy and Johnson, a WunganuiTaranaki trio. WATCH FOR LEAHY On the strength of fine displays earlier in the season Leahy, quite a youngster, is confidently tipped as a passenger for South Africa. Full of dash, he is a fine specimen physically, though not tall. Ward, the Taranaki man, is a magnificent type of forward, almost ruthlessly aggressive. A barman by occupation he will be exceedingly unlucky if he fails to win an All Black jersey in the near future. Johnson, the third man, has brawn—but perhaps lacks football brains. He bears a name that has been consistently prominent in New Zealand Rugby. “Massa”’ Johnson, of Otago, went home with the original All Blacks, after getting his walking ticket, the year before, in a sensational match at Wellington. Johnson, the forward, who hails ffom Wanganui, must not be confused with “Davie’ Johnston, the Taranaki fiveeighths, who has now represented his province for five years. He went to Australia with the 1925 All Blacks —a team of young and promising players, few of whom have fulfilled the hope that they would develop into champions for the South African tour —and Johnston appears to have been one of the lucky ones. FROM SACRED HEART Terry Vangioni, now playing on the wing for Wanganui, got a place in the trial. Deo Bourke, the Taranaki man, would probably have held the post had he not smashed a leg against Wanganui last Saturday. Though unlucky to break his leg, Bourke would have had precious little chance of going to South Africa, judging by his game against Auckland, when he revealed no conception of attack. Vangioni would have a better chance as a centre than as a winger, particularly as centres may be scarce. Now in a bank at Wanganui, he is not unknown in Auckland, as he formerly played for Sacred Heart College. Nothing has happened in the trials so far played to allay the fear that New Zealand is gravely weak among her inside backs, and at halfback and fullback particularly. To deal with the later contingency there is always the chance that a sound centre can be converted into a good fullback. The safe hands and deep kicking that a centre requires are the qualifications for the fullback as well. But while such a process can be applied to fullbacks, to do it to a halfback is difficult. Things were different in 1924, when five good halfbacks in St. George, Dailey, D. Wright, Mill and H. E. Nlcholls were among the candidates. Wright had so many supporters that there was actually talk of sending him away by subscription—misdirected en-

thusiasm which fortunately went no further, though the Aucklander was admittedly unlucky. NO OFFICIAL PARTY H. E. Nicholls got his compensation in the shape of a trip as onlooker and critic. Admirers in Wellington furnished the chque, and “Ginger’' was able to wear the silver fern on his hat band—a privilege enjoyed by all the officia l party—even yiougli he could not exhibit it on the playing fields abroad. There will be no official party with next year’s team. The last one was frequently an irritant to the members of the team, and some of the accompanying sportsmen palpably infringed their rights. One cheerful youth, so the storj/ goes, was actually “carpeted” for passing himself off as one of the players. To return to the trials—it has been said in these columns before that there is no such thing as a real certainty. Nearest thereto, on form to date (not allowing for to-day’s game) are: M. Brownlie, C. Brownlie, R. F. Stewart, I. Harvey, I. Finlayson, S. Hadley, T. R. Sheen, A. C. Robilliard, B. Grenside. The foregoing estimate is necessarily limited. It has been assessed on a strictly conservative basis.