ALL BLACKS OPEN CONVINCINGLY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 368, 31 May 1928, Page 1

ALL BLACKS OPEN CONVINCINGLY

WESTERN PROVINCE CLUBS BEATEN

FIRST TRY TO ROBILLIARD FORWARDS IMPRESS, BUT BACKS FAULTY M. BROWNLIE OUT WITH ANKLE HURT rE ALL BLACKS won the first game of their South African tour, vanquishing the Western Province Clubs by 11 to 3, in the presence of a great crowd. The Africans put up an unexpectedly good resistance; but the Black forwards played a slashing game. To Robilliard goes the honour of scoring the first try of the tour. Cyril Brownlie replaced his brother Maurice, who had injured his ankle while training. (United P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright)

(Special to Pn Reed. 9.5 a.m. CAPETOWN, Wed. The New Zealanders began the tour with a match on the Newlands Ground against the Western Province clubs, and won by 11 points to 3. Their opponents were not supposed

to be one of the strong sides of South Africa; but they put up a good resistance to very nearly the strongest team the All Blacks can field. M. Brownlie was unable to play, having damaged his, ankle while training, but he will turn out on Saturday. His brother, Cyril, took his place. The team was: Lilburne Grenside, Lucas, Robilliard Nicholls, McGregor DaMey Scrimshaw Stewart, Haziett C. Brownlie, Harvey, Finlayson Swain, Hadley The enormous interest taken in the visit of the New Zealanders was shown by the fact that there was an attendance of 20,000. The ground was in excellent condition, and the weather perfect, and the conditions could not have been better for the All Blacks’ debut. The form shown by the visitors on the whole was good, especially by the forwards, who played a great game. The backs, however, were a little uncertain in handling the ball, and consequently their movements had not that finish which is expected from crack players.

iss Association.) There were a few minutes of ragged play after the start, and then from a line-out Nicholls made a clever opening. The ball passed to Finlayson and Lucas, and then finally to Robilliard, who swerved his way down the sideline and finished up by scoring behind the posts. Nicholls had no difliculty in converting. New Zealand 5 Western Province o Upon resuming, the New Zealand backs carved their way severe! times through the defence, but bad handling at the critical moment spoiled no fewer than three likely chances of scoring. A series erf scrums was the next feature of the game, and it was surprising to see the New Zealand forwards beaten for the ball in most of them. This gave opportunity to the African backs to set up attacking movements, but they were easily broken up. Several penalties were given againsthe Province, but all the kicks, except a fine one by Nicholls, who put in five kicks, were unsuccessful, and the first spell ended. New Zealand 8 Western Province 0 The Province started the second half with lightning attacks, from brilliant passing, which gave the visitors

not a little trouble. Ip one of these bouts seven men handled the ball and Van Der Merwe flew across at the corner. The kick at goal failed. New Zealand 8 Western Province 3 The New Zealand forwards then took a hand, and gave a specimen of their real quality. Led by Finlayson and C. Brownlie, they started a succession of telling

thrusts, in -which their weight an* speed smashed the defence, which almost melted under the terrific pressure. Brownlie forced his way over, only to have a try disallowed, hut the New Zealanders stormed the line again. Rnbilliard got the ball from a rush, and raced across the field, a move which appeared to upset the . Provinae’s defence. Fin layson took the ball and passed to Swain, who_ scored near the corner. owain Nicholl’s kick missed, and the game thus ended: New Zealand 11 Western Province 3 SATISFYING SCORE IN LINE WITH PRECEDENT Though the opening result does not disclose any formidable score piled up by the All Blacks, it is none the less satisfying, and in line with precedent. On a basis of comparisons, it is three points better than that achieved by the Springboks in their first match, in which the visitors defeated Wanganui by 11 points to 6. The only 11-3 victory registered by the Springboks was in their ninth match, against Otago, but at several points along the line they had narrow escapes. Taranaki ran them to a scoreless draw in the second match; Wellington kept them down to 8-3 in the fourth; and Canterbury beat them in the sixth (6-4); and in the eleventh game they only just managed to beat Manawhenua. 3-0.

The 1924 All Blacks opened by beating Devon, 11-0, following this with a 29-0 triumph over Somerset, after which they- slumped badly, only beating Gloucester and Somerset by 6-0 in each case, and Newport by 13-10.

On the other hand, the 1905 team opened with amazing scores —55-4 against Devonport, 41-0 against Cornwall, 41-0 against Bristol, and 32-0 against Northampton. In the first six matches, they put on 231 points against four, but it was the 1924 team that wound up with the better test match record.

The South African newspaper which predicted a week ago that the All Blacks would lose their first two matches has already been confounded, and New Zealand should be well pleased with the result. The next match, also to be played at Capetown, will be against a team drawn from Hamilton, “Sacs” (South African College School), Gardens, Villagers, and other strong clubs of the city itself. ENGLISH LEAGUE TEAM FIRST MATCH A DRAW (United P.A. —By Telegraph — Copyright) SYDNEY, Wednesday. The first match in Australia of the English Rugby League team was played to-day against a South-west District team at Cootamundra. The result was a draw, each side scoring 14 points.