All Blacks Sign Away Birthright of N.Z. Rugby

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 405, 13 July 1928, Page 11

All Blacks Sign Away Birthright of N.Z. Rugby

“Cost New Zealand First Test Match ”

When the All Blacks reached South Africa, an extraordinary agreement as to the rules under which matches should be played on tour was drawn up, and signed on behalf of the All Blacks by Air. YV. F. Hornig, AI. J. Brownlie and M. F. Nicholls. Although not one word was mentioned about it in the cables, recent South African exchanges, which publish this unusual document in full, give an indication of its far-reaching effects. Commenting on the agreement, a prominent New Zealand referee says: “When they concluded the newlyreported agreement with the South Africans governing the application of rules of the game, the All Blacks had much the worse of the bargain. It is not too much to say that one of the arrangements made cost New Zealand the first Test. “By binding themselves to pack man for man in the scrum and not to pack two heads together our players sacrificed their most powerful weapon against the 3-2-3 pack. This means that they cannot give the South Africans the loose head, by packing on to the side man, and that they cannot attempt to split the home formation by sending two hookers down between any two of the African forwards. In short, the All Blacks agreed to balance their opponents’ scrum for them —a very foolish thing to do. The arrangement to make the penalty for failing to observe this procedure another scrum is illegal. There is nothing providing for this in the rules of the game, the only law concerning scrumformation being that which prohibits the playing of more than three men in the front row. “A second mistake was to agree to the wing-forward being treated as a scrum-half. This means that he must retire behind the scrummage each time that the ball is put in, and is playing into the hands of the opposing backs. With Scrimshaw forced to get back behind his men each time it is easy to see that Osier would have a clear run in the first Test and be given chances to make his pots at goal. It is to be hoped that these two clauses in the-agreement will be modified or altered before the other Test matches arrive.”