BLACK SATURDAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 377, 11 June 1928, Page 11

BLACK SATURDAY

FINLAYSON’S TICKET ALL BLACKS’ TURN NEXT It was Transvaal’s turn on Saturday, but what of next Saturday, when the All Blacks meet the Transvaalers for the second time? The fact that the All Blacks sustained their second loss of the tour is neither so disappointing nor so disheartening as the fact that a man recognised to be one of the finest sportsmen among New Zealand footballers has been ordered off the field. But the most disquieting feature of all is the behaviour of the Johannesburg crowd. When police protection is needed for a player walking off the field, even under such painful circumstances, there is something radically wrong with the local ideas of sportsmanship. It may be safely predicted that from now on the All Blacks will wage an earnest and relentless campaign t,o wipe out the memory of the Johannesburg Incident. Of the rights and wrongs of the Finlayson case the cable is sufficiently Informative. It takes two to make a quarrel, and it looks as though the New Zealander, observing the ancient and very human maxim of “an eye for an eye,” has been made the sole victim where he should at least have had a partner. “SOMETHING PRETTY BAD” Discussing the matter this morning, Mr. T. Buchanan, of the Auckland Rugby Union, a man with wide experience of sport and a former presi-

dent of the Taranaki Rugby' Union, said: “Bunny Finlayson is one of the most even-tempered players I have seen. I have seen him given, any amount of cause to be vicious in New Zealand, but he kept his head. It must have been something pretty bad that made him retaliate at Johannesburg.” And this will be endorsed by all footballers who have played with or against the North Aucklander. Except because it will undoubtedly cause bad feeling in the two other matches at Johannesburg, Saturday’s incident need cause no heartburning. The extent of the New Zealander’s moral responsibility may he assessed pretty accurately by all who saw the Springboks in New Zealand. In at least three matches, at Wanganui, Palmerston North and Invercargill, Springbok forwards would have been awarded “walking tickets” but for the wise forbearance exercised by the New Zealand referees, who kept in mind the bitter feelings that an orderingoff would leave behind it. A far more serious issue in Saturday’s match was the failure of the Ail Blacks, at the fourth time of asking, to secure the ball in the scrums. The team’s record so far is distinctly unimpressive, even allowing for unusual conditions and a large amount of travelling, and optimism will be strained if there is not a big improvement reported between now and June 30, when the first test will be played at Durban. The cables state that an All Black team has never played worse, but again we are given no definite information, beyond the reiterated announcement, to which we are now becoming grimly accustomed, that the hookers failed to secure the ball. But there is more to Rugby than scrum-work, and though a great deal hinges on the scrums, the New Zealanders in other tours have managed to counter scrum-failures by brilliance in the open. At present it looks as though the inside backs are failing badly, both in support of forward rushes and in some of the elements of defence, for Transvaal’s second try could only have been scored by the failure of one or more of the insides to get his man. A TURNING-POINT? On form shown in other tours New Zealand can look to a strong improvement from this point on. In the 1924 tour a definite Improvement seemed to follow the fourth match. So far the honours are all to Africa, and it must be conceded that the forward play there has proved much stronger than New Zealand had been led to expect. Even with two matches lost, however, most New Zealanders still retain confidence in the ability of the All Blacks to turn the tables in the tests, particularly since there seems to be a move to go hack to the 2-3-2 scrum. In scrum-work, as in other things, the devil you know Is better than the devil you don’t.