KEY MAN IN WORLD RUGBY TEAM

New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 14, 29 September 1939, Page 42

KEY MAN IN WORLD RUGBY TEAM

o, Nicholls Selects A Half-back F it is possible to place one position in a | Rugby team ahead of all the others in responsibility, then the half-back has the hardest job on the field. No other position demands such a specialist, and no other position demands that the player must excel in so many things. So although the possibles and probables for the place in Mark Nicholls’s World Rugby fifteen were not unduly numerous, the competition was very keen. England’s Kershaw had first mention. Many have claimed he was the best of all. Nicholls noted that Kershaw had also been a fine fencer and had won the sabre championship of Great Britain. A. T. Young (1924) was not rated by him as quite in Kershaw’s class. Danie Craven, of South Africa, was a great tactician, and equally able on dry ground or wet ground. De Villiers was also up to South African standard, and Michau came into the list with " Tappy" Townsend. New Zealand has a long list of great half-backs. Some of the names Nicholls mentioned were: Roberts, Brown, H. E. Nicholls, Mills, Dalley, Kilby, Corner, Sadler, Simon, Tindill, Saxton. "T have never seen anyone with more wonderful hands," said Nicholls of Roberts. " His fielding, anticipation, and catching were uncanny." He was never content simply to feed his backs from behind the scrum, but would follow the ball out and join in all attacking movements. He could jink, dummy, and swerve through a whole team. He was faster than he appeared to be and could kick expertly. He was a real Rugby genius. Mills was mentioned for his phenomenal speed from the scrum, and Kilby for the speed of his passes. Sadler, in Nicholls’s opinion, was the only player other than Pollock it had been worth going to see in Wellington in recent years. Without hesitation, Nicholls picked:

E. J.

("Teddy") Roberts.

His team so far is: Nepia Steele MacPherson Jauréguy Cooke Osler Roberts