Transvaal Deserved Win Over All Blacks

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 408, 17 July 1928, Page 14

Transvaal Deserved Win Over All Blacks

Second Defeat PRAISE FOR AFRICANS (THE SUN’S Special Representative) JOHANNESBURG, June 11. Another defeat! This one a convincing one, too, even though it was by six points to nil. For the All Black tradition is such that if a side manages to beat them, the score is not usually taken much into account. It would seem to most that the tour is going to be disappointing from a New Zealand point of view, and yet, in this time of doubt and trouble, we need to keep our heads and concentrate on getting fit for the test matches. There aren't going to be any excuses for Saturday’s defeat, but it is interesting to explore some reasons for it. We are now at 5,740 feet above sea level, with the barometer recording 24.51 inches of mercury. It is a difficult thing to ascertain the effect of this altitude upon different players. As a general rule, athletes are not seriously worried by it for the first few days, but the heart must in the end feel the extra load put upon it, in pumping faster to keep up the required supply of oxygen. Some will therefore, undoubtedly, feel the strain more than others, as their heart action differs. No doubt we shall find out more about this important subject as the tour goes on. Let there be no misgivings about the quality of the Transvaal team. It certainly deserved to win on its display and, as usual, it had been training for some time in view of the forth-

coming match, and if the truth were known, not altogether expecting to win. It is a better team than the Western Province, both back and forward, and last year it was unlucky to be beaten at the Cape by 10 —9 in the Currie Cup matches. Yet such a peculiar thing is form that it was beaten by Orange Free State a week or two ago by 9—6, the Free Staters landingthree penalty goals. We saw Natal and Free State play at Durban, and were not impressed. AFRICAN STALWARTS T. L. Kruger, who was in New Zealand with the Springbok team of 1921, was the leader of the fine Transvaal pack, and captained the side. He has represented South Africa in every international contest since 1917 except in the last test in New Zealand, when injuries kept him out. He plays in the middle of the front row. Another fine player in the Transvaal side was D. Devine, who is also an international player, his place being scrum half. Speaking of the Springboks who toured New Zealand, there are three who are still in first-class football — Kruger, mentioned above, Phil Mostert and J. C. Tindall, both of Western Province. Mostert is as good as ever, though his age is 31, but Tindall, who is playing at fullback instead of at half, is not expected to get into the South African side. Another forward of international class in the Transvaal side is Dr. J. van Druten, who represented South Africa against the British side of 1924. The Transvaal pack is generally recognised as being the best in South Africa, but its backs are by no means behind them. The Johannesburg people were disappointed at the showing of the All Blacks, and have not hesitated to show their disappointment. As usual, there is the eagerness to form hasty and unsound judgments, one South African, in my hearing, being quite explicit: “They’re not a first-class side!” He had no doubt absorbed the tremendous amount of newspaper “write-ups” that have been littering the South African Press since the tour was contemplated. There were no fireworks on Saturday —so we are to blame. Candidly, I would not attempt to state definitely what will happen in the next few matches, since we have not found our best side yet, and injuries will come. Even now \v but two hookers and one lock available for Wednesday’s match against the Free State, Hadley, Burrows and Harvey being temporarily disabled The back division of the team is still a problem, the four inside men, from halfback to centre, especially so. Any side, to be dangerous, needs a combination of inside backs who are on the way to a perfect understanding of each other’s play, and that we have not as yet achieved. MORE ABOUT THE SCRUM You will be wearied of my talk about scrums, but I haven’t got really into my stride yet, and Saturday’s match has given us a whole lot to discuss. Someone has described the Rugby scrummage as an exhibition of bovine bone-headedness, and a good deal can be said for this view; but we’ve got the scrum as an institution and we can’t abolish it easily. At any rate, we’ve got an important tour, and the hardest matches are yet to be played, and we must find a way out of it. Referees over here, too, although strictly impartial, are suspicious of forward movements like dribbling, and will discover a knock-on where to our New Zealand eyes there has been none. Then a forward pass, instead of counting as offside, as in New Zealand, is penalised by a scrum. The number of scrums in a match over here is generally half as many again as in New Zealand. Twice out of three times the ball gets kicked out of the scrum at the side, and there is another attempt. The cause of a lot of that trouble is the irregular way in which the ball is put in, and so the stupid business goes on.

Now, to a South African all this shoving and pushing and straining is all very much a part of the game. A forward is a means whereby the ball is obtained for the backs. Nothing more. The standard of development of Rugby in Africa cannot be described as good or individualistic. Get the ball out to the wing-threequarter and he must endeavour to score. Their football is thus hard and fast, but not spectacular. What a difference in a New Zealand side, and especially this one of 1925, the forwards of which were selected as much for loose play and combined work as for scrummaging. Give them an abnormal amount of scrum work to perform, and no chances to open

up the game, bottle them as the Transvaal pack did, and you will come to realise the necessity of increased efficiency in the tight. That’s all. And the medium for that, by which we must stand or fall, has got to be the maligned and little understood 2-3-2 scrum. It is too late to change a vital thing like a scrum formation. A iot of the success of a pack of forwards will be due to its cohesion and machine-like -way in which they form their scrum. You can’t make forwards who have played in a 2-3-2 formation all their lives into good scrummagers in any other formation without a great deal of practice. The task amounts to learning anew what should have become by now automatic functions of weight application and general coordination.

On Saturday, then, halfwa3 r through the match, we returned to the 2-3-2 style, and although one of the hookers was injured, and there was no lock in the pack, the scrums went better after the change. Then Finlayson was lost to us, through what no doubt will be described as a “sensational” or “an unfortunate incident.” No good can be served by making a great deal of noise about the matter. Everyone who knows this great forward, or who has seen him play, must realise that foul play of any sort is foreign to his nature, although he is hard, and we of the team prefer our position (which will be one of blame as a team, through one of its number) to the position of doubt which must rest on the sportsmanship of one of the Transvaalers.