LIKELY ALL BLACKS AND REP. PLAYERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 971, 14 May 1930, Page 7

LIKELY ALL BLACKS AND REP. PLAYERS

| S€ LIN WILL PUBLISH l?c FIRST-HAND COMMENT ! g FROM OTHER DISTRICTS a. S' The Sun will publish every week, P, intil further notice, comment upon the “ orm of the leading Rugby players in * he principal Rugby districts of the Dominion. The object of this is to keep our ■eatiers in touch with form of potential ■epresentatives of the Dominion in rest matches with the British team, f d ind of the principal candidates for | t places in representative teams. ' The form of players in Wairarapa i t . Canterbury and South Canterbury is i c lealt with in today's article, as fol- | ows:— ; r SOUTH CANTERBURY j f Although South Canterbury has lost y nost of her last year’s representative £ forwards, either by migration or by r retirement, the selectors should not find their task as difficult as it might r appear on first thoughts. Harold Cox- i head, for instance, has now returned f from abroad, and to all appearances is h playing with just as much dash and s Initiative as he did in 1928 when he s was first reserve for the South Island, a Coxhead is the ideal build /or a representative forward —plenty of weight, and height with it—and he is happiest when in a tussle at close quarters. \V. A. Strang, the All Black fiveeighth, who was among the last men to be selected for the South African £ tour, and who, although developed into f a power in two out of the four Test i teams, is now in his second season with the Temuka Club. Archie is ob- J viously carrying a good deal of super- 1 fluous weight. However, with train- 1 ing, and as the season proceeds, he j should work this off, and it will then . not be surprising if his play will merit 1 the attention of the Test team selectors. < B. Trotter, the young Fairlie wing 1 threequarter, is now playing for < Timaru Old Boys. He is wise in mak- 1 ing this move as lie will now have a i better chance to push his claims for inclusion in the All Black teams for 1 the forthcoming Tests. Trotter was 1 said by more than one Rugby expert to have been decidedly unlucky in not ( being included in the All Black team J that toured Australia last year. How- ' ever, he should stand an excellent | chance this year, if only he can retain j liis form, as New Zealand is now badly lacking in threequarters of class. When Doug. Fairbrother played for New Zealand in 1923 many people pre- ' dieted for him, in view of his excep- j tional youth, a brilliant and long ] career. As it was he failed to go , Home with the All Blacks in the very ( next year and from that time till the , end of last season, the standard of his play fell off steadily. This season, , however, the change of club, or perhaps the visit of the British team or . some equally strong influence has been at work and we find Doug showing flashes of the play that earned him distinction seven years ago. However, the revival of form will have to be both complete and permanent before he can. hope to displace B. Connolly from the fullback position in the representative team. A _ young five-eighth who should go “tar in Rugby, if he continues to improve at the rate lie has been doing, is A. Brown, who figured in the South Canterbury team on several occasions last season. Anyone who saw him play in the match against Old Boys last Saturday could not help admiring the way he handled the ball. This, and his ready anticipation would have carried him through alone on several occasions had the defence been less sound. As it was he was responsible for a number of good openings. CANTERBURY Canterbury had eight representatives in the New Zealand team which went to South Africa in 1928, and five in the All Blacks who visited Australia last season. Two of last year’s representatives were not members of the team in South Africa. Of the 10 men “capped” for either or both of these tours nine are still playing. Injuries suffered in South Africa and renewed in club football last season have compelled A. C. C. Robilliard to retire, although he is only just over 26 years of age. But as Ron. T. Stewart, of the 1924-25 All Blacks in the British Isles and the 1928 team in South Africa, is playing for the Christchurch Club, he having been transferred from Timaru at the end of last season, Canterbury still has 10 members of the teams which the Dominion sent overseas in 1928 and 1929. Stewart is an assistant stock-buyer for the New Zealand Refrigerating Company, Limited, and the area assigned to him by the company is a little distance out of Christchurch, but he lives in the city. His work in the summer did not give him very much opportunity to keep fit, and when the football season started he was very bulky, weighing well over 17st. He was carrying a great deal too much fat on the first day of the competition matches, and he did not play on the second Saturday, as he. was nursing a slightly-injured shoulder. But the special physical training, including hill work, which the players likely to be selected for Canterbury’s match with the British team are being given, is fast getting the big fellow down to physical fitness. W. Dailey, who had a ligament In his left shoulder torn in the All Blacks’ match at Newcastle, N.S.W., last year, and was unable to play for Canterbury in the representative matches that followed the team’s return, played cricket during the past summer, and this, combined with the fact that he always keeps himself pretty fit, enabled him to start the present football season m good physical condition. So far - his shoulder has “stood up” to his football. Dailey’s play is as good as ever it was; he undoubtedly is a great halfback. One peculiarity of % the present position in Canterbury is the fact that there are three All Black five-eighths, and one All Black of the future, available, besides a fiveeighth who has represented the South Island. Actually, though, the choice for Canterbury’s match with the British team is certain to be made from two of the All Blacks of past seasons and the All Black of the future, for C. Oliver will be either the fourth or the fifth in the running. Oliver played brilliantly for the New Zealand team in Australia last season, but when playing for Canterbury afterward he made a great deal too much use of the short punt, starving the threequarters. He is a little over weight just now. and as he works about 36 miles out of Christchurch, coming into the city on Saturdays to play for his old club. Merivale, he cannot come in for the special training of potential representative players. So he may be counted out of the running. In any case, he is an individualist who does not combine easily with his fellows, and if he were fit he probably would be better as a wing-threequarter than as a five-eighth in a representative team. The choice of first five-eighth for Canterbury probably will be between H. Lilburne (1928 and 1929 All Black * and X. P. McGregor (1924-25-28 All ; Black). Lilburne, who is only 22 years j of age, is showing very good form in ! club matches, and it is very likely j that lie will be preferred to McGregor. McGregor had a rest last season, ; playing in only one or two matches when his team, Christchurch, was much affected by injuries. He is making quite a fair come-back, though,

playing neat football, but not showing j i/ery much penetration yet. Some of the North Island selectors who have to help in choosing the New Zealand team were quite annoyed last season because young G. D. Innes, who played so well as second five-eighth li'or the Canterbury team on tour, was selected only as an emergency for the . South Island, for they looked upon him , as an All Black in the making, and they wanted to see him in the inter-island game. Innes is showing further im- \ j provement now*, and if the selector of j the Canterbury backs passes him over in favour of a “capped” New Zea- t land representative there will be a fuss. I G. T. Alley, now the only good lock j J in Canterbury, did not play last sea- > * son. He is playing for Canterbury Col- ; lege this year, but not taking his foot- | ball very seriously just now, and he j - does not want to play in representa- J tive games. He is in the country all \ the week, as a rural librarian and ] travelling tutor for the Workers’ Edu- j cational Association. All Blacks S. R. Carleton, J. T. Bur- | rows, A. I. Cottrell and G. Scrimshaw are playing good football, but Scrimshaw may find it hard to hold his place as Canterbury’s wing- forward against the challenge of Rex King, a husky young wing-forward who represented South Canterbury last season, and who now is at Canterbury College. J. H. Harris (All Black in 1925) has reconsidered his intention to retire, and is showing that he still is a very good fullback. Even the veteran Jack Steel has re-emerged, and though he has lost some of his consistency of dash he still scores tries in something like his old way. WAIRARAPA Quentin Donald, who as a hooker as- j sisted to wrest the Ranfurly Shield from Canterbury in 1928, but who now is sole selector for the Wairarapa Rugby Union, is one of the uncompromising sort, and already several members of Wairarapa’s former Ranfurly Shield team have been given a hint to get fitter or they will be stood down. Last year the forwards were far below the standard set by the backs, and it is hoped that Donald will shelve half of them in spite of or perhaps in view of their past performances. “Bull” Irvine, the “human battleship,” who with Quentin Donald formed the ram of the 2-3-2 formation which the 1924 All Blacks persisted in, nowadays captains the Carterton team. With Keith Reid, a Wairarapa front-ranker with the New Zealand team in Australia last year, Irvine has built up a forward team which for several years has won the club championship of the district. He is playing well this year. lan Harvey scored a great try for Mastetfton in his first game of the season. Securing from a line-out in his own twenty-five, he ran right- down midfield, going over with four opponents hanging to him. Harvey is one of the best-tempered giants who ever donned a jersey, as well as one of the fastest over lost, but lie is also one of the most unlucky. Hard knocks never trouble him, and he should be sure of his place in the New Zealand team, on paper, but there are still some weeks in which influenza, tonsilitis and kindred ailments may lay him low. J. Mill is nowadays managing a small station about 15 miles from Masterton. He is a regular attendant at practice, but has not yet struck form. In his club matches this season his forwards have given him little of the ball, and his style has suffered. Fred Fuller, the Wairarapa "find” of last year, has great speed, and a- side-step which W. Elvy might \ envy, and he can drop or place kick goals from any angle. When Auckland’s powerful team fought Wairarapa for the Ranfurly Shield last year, it was Fuller's boot that scored 14 out of the 17 points which defeated the Northerners. Ho probably will be tried out against Elvy, and if successful may make a real international. On the other hand, his elder brother, just as promising a year or two back, failed to fulfil Wairarapa’s expectations. Fred Fuller is only 19 years of age. A. E. Cooke is still the wizard of the Wairarapa. Playing at Wanganui recently he fed his wings unfailingly, but with little result to the scoreboard. Facing a deficit, he secured at half-way, cut through the forwards and sped for the goal. Hemmed in by two fast threequarters and the fullback, he swerved unexpectedly, to let two collide, and scored beside the posts. A few minutes later a similar movement allowed lTf?n to put his winger over, to snatch victory by one point. [Since this was written, advice has oeen received of Cooke’s departure for Wellington.]