British Rugby Side Will Be Here in July

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 559, 11 January 1929, Page 6

British Rugby Side Will Be Here in July

First For Twenty Years

KERSHAW REVIEWS PROSPECTS OF TOUR

Need for Versatile Players

HOW many Auckland Rugby men realise that a British international side is sailing for New Zealand in a few months time —the first visit to Maoriland for 20 years?

Led by Air. James Baxter, genial, outspoken president of the English Rugby Union, the team will be the fourth to visit Maoriland from Britain. The first British team toured in 1888, under the captaincy of A. E. Stoddart, the second lead by BedellSievright, came here in 1904, and the last, the Anglo-Welsh, in 1908. The 3929 visit follows as a direct result of the visit of the All Blacks to Britain in 1924. Its potentialities for fostering closer relationships with the Old Country are enormous, and with the head of the E.R.U. in charge of the tour, the New Zealand Rugby Union has a golden opportunity to improve its position in international affairs. In an article in tine “Athletic News.” C. A. Kershaw discusses the prospects of the tour. He says: One of the most interesting pieces of Rugby information yet published this season appeared recently. It concerned our tour in New Zealand next season. As far as one can gather, the British XV. is to play 19 mutches in New Zealand and then travel to Australia for eight more games—a fairly stiff proposition even if one omits the fact that the selected players will leave the country in May, 1929 —almost immediately after the end of our own season. One hopes most sincerely that the selection committee, whoever they may be, will find that those they select will be able to spare the time to undertake the tour, since the importance of a really representative XV. leaving the country and upholding our Rugby prestige can hardly be over-estimated. It is no secret that many of those

originally selected for our 1924 tour in South Africa, under the captaincy of R. Cove-Smith. were unable to accept the invitation. and though numerical results are not everything, it is foolish not to face the fact that nine defeats and drawn games out of a total of 21 matches played, can hardly have impressed the South African Rugby critics with the strength of British Rugby. WAKEFIELD MAY BE CAPTAIN Writing of touring teams —whose fortunes very often depend on the freedom from “crockings” of the players themselves —makes me wonder whether the tremendous value of a versatile player is properly appreciated, and by a versatile player is meant one who can play with skill in two or three positions. I think that, in all probability, a forward who can play really well in the three-quarter line is of most value to a team. One or two modern examples immediately come to mind, and of these I put W. W. Wakefield, the English international, in the forefront. As either a second or third-row forward (and in these days of forward specialisation there- is a difference) he is most valuable, yet he can certainly play a more than useful game on the wing. In 1921, at Twickenham, during the English-Irish match, W. J. A. Davies was badly laid out and had to be taken off. Our three-quarter line was rearranged, and Wakefield was pulled out of the scrum to play on the leftwing, where he was really good—not as a forward playing out of his place but as an international wing.