The Critic in The Crowd

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 395, 2 July 1928, Page 6

The Critic in The Crowd

A Rugby Newsletter Bear “Pack”: I went out to Eden Park to-day to take my first look at the Auckland rep. team. They were playing Waikato, which is not to be confused with South Auckland, an affiliated sub-union centred chiefly round the Pukekohe district (noted for potatoes and the late W. F. Massey), whereas Waikato is a separate union. Most of its rep. players are drawn from round Hamilton, Morrinsville and Te Awamutu. It wasn't much of a game to watch. There was only one ball, instead of an extra one on each touch-line, and play was often held up on the terrace side while someone fished the ball out of roped-off patches of freshly sown grass with a long pole. Auckland ran away with a 14-0 lead at and loafed through the remainder of the game, the Bed, Yellow and Blacks (some colour scheme, eh?) putting on 12 points to Auckland’s 11 in the last two quarters by bright and breezy football. I fancy I can see Vin Meredith reading the Biot Act to some of his crowd. To use the hackneyed phrase ihey tacked on to Gordon Coates at the last election, Meredith is “the man who gets things done” in Auckland football. You can’t miss him at a match. He is generally standing on his own in front of the members’ stand when a match is in, smoking vast quantities of cigars. Arthur Billington, an - other legal light, and a good, solid forward a few years back, is his “offsider.” Billington selects the B teams, which generally do the rounds of the country districts. A Lazy Day The Auckland forwards had one of their lazy days. The ball was coming away too slowly from the scrums and rucks to give the backs much of a chance. Jeffries, the Taranaki man, is a good solid half, but not in the McManus class, and the ball loitered about in the middle and back row of the scrum too much to give him any chance of getting his backs away “with the run on,” which is the hardest thing to teach any team. Ces Badeley certainly did try to run straight at first five, but Paewai at second generally stood too “deep,” throwing the other backs out of gear and causing a lot of cross-field running which jammed Falwasser and Minns on to thq. touch-line time and again. Hook, too, although very clever and versatile, is also inclined to run across, and the Waikato backs were shrewd enough to crowd right up on to Auckland, until late in the game, when Badeley sent them back to “where they belonged” with one or two nice stab-kicks. Waikato, however, had a very 6afe fullback in Thomas, the red-headed chap who played in the All Black trials last year. He was a bit uncertain in his kicking, but he was very safe, and in a good city team, would probably develop into a cracker-jack. Still Boxing On It seems hard to realise that it is seven years ago since we first saw Ces Badely play that wonderful game of hie against the Springboks at Bundin. “Ces” has got a fairly generous waist-line these days, but he still has all the artistry, and on a wet weather ground, I doubt if there is a better first five-eighth left in New Zealand. Like the rest, he was not at his best yesterday, but Alf Baulf, who was up from Hamilton for the match, told me he played a real 100 per cent, game in the Waikato in the first match. A lot of the 'bankers” wanted Ces kicked out this year, but Meredith kept him in, and the results fully justified him. Weak In Dribbling Walter Batty captained the Auckland side. He was not so much in the limelight as usual, and that being so, real dribbling was a dead-letter in this match. This (and low tackling) has always been a weakness in Auckland football, and it was really heartbreaking to see how little the Auckland forwards knew about using their feet in the loose. I think some of your Southern teams will give them something to think about on tour, if the South Island forwards can use ther feet as “Son” White and “Jock” Richardson used to do. A Real Hooker You will be pleased to hear that Angus Finlayson is playing again, and seems to be going pretty well. A. (“Fatty”) Miller, the old Varsity forward, and a rare good fellow with a cheery smile for everybody, once told me he was the hardiest man he had

ever hooked against. Although it seems a big thing to say, I would sooner have seen Angus Finlayson in the present All Black side in Africa than his big brother, brilliant and all as the latter is in the loose. I noticed Keene, the Varsity rover, down at the match. He is still limping, but “Bill” Maben told me he would be O.K. for the Southern tour, so you will see him later on. He is a forwards’ wing-forward, if you know what I mean, which isn’t the type I regard as the ideal, like Parker was, but lie is a great battler, and he will lead some of your fellows a merry dance, if he is in form down South.