MAORIS ON TOUR

Taranaki Daily News, 1 December 1926, Page 4

MAORIS ON TOUR

SOMERSET EASILY BEATEN DELIGHTFUL EXHIBITION OF ’ RUGBY. (From Our Own Correspondent.) London, Oct. 19. Having completed their first portion of their tour of France, the Maoris have now ’moved on to England for the second portion of their tour. They will play 14 matches in the Old Country, and then return to France to complete their tour of that country. The players had long been looking forward to their visit to the Homeland (for it is the Homeland for many of them to the same extent as New Zealand is the Homeland). They spent one day in Paris after their match there, and arrived in England on Tuesday, October 12, going straight to London. I did not have, the pleasure of crossing the Channel with the team, but while speaking to several of the boys before tile match in Somerset I gathered that many of them landed at Dover with mixed feelings of sentiment and respect. One of the players said to. me: “As soon as I stepped off the boat at Dover everything seemed to be changed.” The team lost no time in putting away a good appetising English dinner, some of the waiters remarking that the team generally could hardly be classed as small eaters. The team remained in London for two days, practising at the Twickenham ground while there, and travelled to Weston-super-Mare on the Friday. Unfortunately, it was found necessary

to leave two of the players in hospital in London. J. Gemmel has not yet recovered from the fracture of the bone in his ankle, though he is now on the right road to recovery. The other player is W. Shortland, who has had a return of ah old trouble in his neck. I saw these players before leaving London, and it is of course unnecessary to say that they are both keenly anxious to join up with’-the team as soon as possible. Robinson is progressing favourably, and should soon be on the active list again. Barclay and S. Gemmel are now back tp form, but Bell was not available for the game against Somerset. He will, however, probably be available for the Newport' game. These injuries to players necessitated a rearrangement of Hie team for the first game in England. Phillips moved up to wing-three-quarter, his place at full-baek being filled by Pelham. Owing io Shortland’s absence Kingl played at half, while Barclay played next to Mete in the five-eighths line. S. Gemmel took on the duties of wing-forward. There will not, of course, be any replacements of injured players during the matches in England and Wales. The Maoris are at last showing form. They treated the spectators to a delightful exhibition of free and open Rugby, and the freedom with which they threw the ball about served to show Maori Rugby in its true light. The players, however, by no means played faultless football. The handling of the back®, both in passing and in fielding, was not at all sound, while the tackling continues to be a weakness. The players will go high, with the result that they are shaken off again and again. In thia match their opponents were also weak in tackling, and Falwasser's first t f -y could not have been scored had he been taken low. The Somerset forwards, in spite of the reputation that the County has for forward play, by no means excelled the Maori vanguard in the loose play, though they had a little more success in obtaining possession from the scrums. The Somerset backs, who playel with litle combination in the first spell, showed up much better in the second, and during the second half of the game there was little difference between the two teams.

Pelham filled the full-baek position for the New Zealanders, and gave a very fair exhibition. He uses his head well, especially in finding touch, and it is a pity that his punting lacks power. He is a plucky player and no doubt will improve as the tour progresses. Falwasser gave another brilliant exhibition on the wing. His first try was a great piece of work. He started at half way, and travelled right through the Somerset team, beating man after man, swerving, side-stepping, fending off, and going at a bewildering pace. He made several other thrilling runs, and with chances should score many tries. His handling during this game was not too good. He dropped several passes, and also failed to field cleanly on several occasions.

Phillips, on the other wing, played up to his best form. He is, of eouise, a fine all-round player, and his experience and anticipation are very valuable. Potaka played a very fine game at centre, his powerful punting being a great asset under the old kick into touch rule, which is still in force in the British Isles. His cross-kick to Phillips in the first spell was a very pretty piece of work. King), at half, opened up the game ■ well, and also backed up well on defence. Barclay was not very prominent, though his try was a great performance. He carried play from under his own goal the whole length of the field single-handed, waiting his chance to gather the ball. This came from a fortunate bounce ten yards from the Somerset line, enabling Barclay to wore a remarkable try. Rika must again be mentioned for his very fine play in the forwards, though they all played well. Of the Somerset men, the player who caught the eye particularly was R. Clayton, a young three-quarter of great promise. He made many openings for his comrades, and also was very sound on defence. Davies played very well at full-back, while Quick, Lucas, Culver--lonse and Collett also did good work. Th refereeing of Mr. W. H. Jackson, of Cambourne, was very good, and showed only too clearly the general inexperience of the French referees. The game resulted (as cabled) in favour of the Maoris by 21 to 8. A member of the Weston Club said to inc as we were talking things over after the match: “They speak very good English, don't they.” I took the trouble to inform him that they certainly all did speak English, and that it was the only language that several of the players were familiar with.