1928 ALL BLACKS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 485, 15 October 1928, Page 9

1928 ALL BLACKS

“EVERY BIT AS GOOD AS 1924 TEAM” MR. J. MOYE’S OPINION (Special to THE SUN) WANGANUI, To-day. That the All Black team which has just returned from South Africa could have gone right through the United Kingdom and never lost a match was the opinion expressed by Mr. J. Moye at a Rugby gathering on Saturday night. Mr. Moye, who toured Africa with the team, said it was every bit as good as the 1924 All Blacks. No team that ever toured found a country so well prepared for it as South Africa was, continued Mr. Moya. Every man there trained hard for the honour of playing against the AU Blacks. When the side landed. It was met by five of the best “footbail brains” in the South African selectors. These men closely studied the All Blacks' style, and toured round the country with them. “Rugby in South Africa is totally different from ours,” said Mr. Moye. “The public over there have not seen our style, and what they have not seen they have not missed.” HOSTILITY TO WING-FORWARD “As for the wing-forward. South Africa won’t stand him at any price. It was funny to see Scrimshaw complying with the South African rules. He would put the ball in the scrum, and then make a wild run toward his own goal.” The adoption of the “loose head” ip the scrum was briefly touched upon by Mr. Moye, who said it was adopted to combat the South African style. To overcome the wing-forward difficulty, Stewart was specially coached to put ! his arm lightly over the back of the front-rank man. In the last match of the tour, Dailey put the ball in the scrum himself. He had plenty of time to do it and get round to receive it. He thought that style waa going to be adopted by New Zealand in tho future.