THE ALL BLACK TOUR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 August 1938, Page 7

THE ALL BLACK TOUR

A PLAYER’S IMPRESSIONS HARD GROUNDS EXPERIENCED (By Telegraph—Press Association.) PALMERSTON N„ August 19. Manawatu’s only representative in the All Black team which has toured Australia, R. McKenzie, has returned to Palmerston North. In an interview he said it was the best trip he had ever had with a team. Though fit and well he still has a slightly sprained ankle and bruised hip. The injuries are not serious, and will probably vanish in a week. Mr McKenzie said the hospitality of the Australians was a feature of the tour, the people of Queensland in particular being most generous toward the All Blacks. The New Zealanders' Club at Brisbane also helped considerably to make the team enjoy its stay in that quarter of the Commonwealth. Eyery match except one, he said, was played on a hard ground, and the weather was more like New Zealand mid-summer than any other time of the year. Hard grounds had led to players having trouble with knees, el'bows, and hips. Bulli soil, with which grounds were top-dressed, produced inflammation. Canberra city had impressed the All Blacks most, and members of the team were exceedingly interested in the division of the city into communities, people living in certain areas all following the same callings. They knew Canberra as “the city of circles,” said Mr McKenzie.