The Sun AUCKLAND, MONDAY, JULY 2, 1928. THE ROUT OF THE ALL BLACKS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 395, 2 July 1928, Page 8

The Sun AUCKLAND, MONDAY, JULY 2, 1928. THE ROUT OF THE ALL BLACKS

THERE are two kinds of Duteli courage, and it was the other kind that all the All Blacks encountered in their first Test match with South Africa at Durban and went down before it. “And what a fall was there, my countrymen!” It is not a time for ungenerous talk about Cock Robin’s decease or for self-deceptive activity in the great industry of manufacturing excuses. The Springboks won handsomely, deserved to win decisively, and made the All Blacks great only in magnificent defence. All that is left for New Zealanders here and yonder to do is to proffer the hand in honest congratulation, realising in open admiration and with disciplinary humility that South Africa at the moment is supreme at Rugby football and is the home of sturdy lads with all Old England’s, with all the Empire’s love of a hard game and clean victory. Each country fielded a team of perfectly-trained giants, who were ready and competent for a sporting battle. They came to grips in circumstances which held no loophole foxhumbugging excuses. It was a perfect day for a real test of ability and endurance, and some 20,000 enthusiasts—a famous assembly for Durban —were there in that exuberant, exciting mood which spreads its infectious fever through continents and influences and inspires contestants to play as though playing for a kingdom. Many people in South Africa and New Zealand adike to-day must at least be arterially a year older than they were last Saturday morning. And for New Zealanders, after all that tension and wistful expectation, the result was a terrific slap in the face. Indeed and indeed, it was indisputably the rout of the All Blacks and the collapse of a mighty tradition. Technicians may sort out the causes of the All Blacks’ defeat to a kind of plausible satisfaction, but to the layman with nothing to guide him except a loyal desire to see his own side play a first-class game and, if possible, to win it splendidly, the obvious weakness of the New Zealand team was its sheer inability to get control of the ball either from the scrum or out of a loose maul. The Springboks commanded almost a complete mastery over the scrum and got the ball with elocklike, devastating- regularity almost six times out of seven or thereabout, and thus had the dominating measure of opportunity for scoring. Experts and one-eyed partisans need not counter with a defiant explanation that, in spite of the fact that the Springboks secured the right-of-way to a score with amazing frequency, they crossed the All Blacks’ line only once. It is the score-board that tells the story in the end, and its final tale or tally was a triumph for South Africa, a tragedy and a humiliation for New Zealand. It is a splendid thing in this country to argue in the highesl sporting sense that a try well achieved is a score well-earned, and infinitely superior to a potted goal, which may be nothingmore quite often than a lucky drop-kick. This old argument need not again he threshed, winnowed and sifted. As said already, it is in every way a splendid thing when it works out triumphantly, but when a better side refuses to let the exponents of the idealistic theory ci-oss its line at all in pi-actice, then it is time to think seriously. It is also clear that the All Blacks’ distinctive tactics in expecting seven forwards to push the opposing eight forwards far enough aside or back in order to give the rover and backs a chance to make openings to a score, are not going to give them the distinction of superiority in South Africa. The wingforward was made to look like the fifth wheel of the coach at Durban.

All things considered, every excuse allowed, the Springboks won easily and completely by playing old-fashioned Rugby, and by playing it too well for the All Blacks, who have been taught to scorn the art of kicking goals. The defeat hardly calls for tlie appointment of a Royal Commission, but New Zealand will have to “tak’ a thocht and mend.” Meanwhile, all honour to South Africa.