WHAT'S WRONG WITH N.Z. RUGBY?

New Zealand Listener, Volume 25, Issue 630, 27 July 1951, Page 7

WHAT'S WRONG WITH N.Z. RUGBY?

O New Zealanders play Rugby as well as they used to? And if not, where does the fault lie? Sitting by the radio in the dead of night (the dead of winter, too) a couple of years ago, while Winston McCarthy told us how the worst was happening in South Africa, many New Zealanders must have felt that the game was all to pot-unless, their national pride unable to withstand the shock, they put it all down to the way in which the rules were interpreted. The victories against the British Isles team last year gave a lot of uplift, without altogether removing the impression that the standard of play had declined. And though success has smiled on our team in Australia, can we be sure, even now, that we have a clear field ahead? To bring it down to cases: Is Ron Jarden as good as George Hart and Jack Steel were in their day? Not long ago the NZBS asked a number of men who have been prominent in the game at one time or another this century-nearly all of them former All Blacks-to answer the question, What’s wrong with New Zealand Rugby? What they had to say listeners will hear in a series of 13 talks which will start from all Commercial stations at 9.0 p.m. on Saturday, August 4. Speakers who will be heard in this series include J. W. Stead, vice-captain of the 1905-06 All Blacks, who represented New Zealand also in 1903, 1904 and 1908; George Aitken, All Black captain in the first two tests against the Springboks in 1921; Teddy Roberts, All Black captain in the third test the same year, who played for New Zealand also in 1913, 1914 and 1920; Bill Dalley, 1924-26-28-29 All Black; Frank Kilby, 1928-32-34 All Black; Dave Lindsay, 1928 All Black; "Beau" Cottrell, 1929-30-31-32 All Black; Hughie McLean, 1930-32-34-35 All Black; Ron Bush, who played for New Zealand in 1931; and Norman McKenzie, who built a series of match-winning Hawke’s Bay teams in the late 1920’s. Winston McCarthy, fresh from his tour with the 1951 All Blacks in Australia, will wind up the series. All the important questions that have been exercising the minds of the critics over the’last few years will be discussed by one or another of these speakers. Have we, for instance, so surrounded the game with rules that the player can’t move freely without fear of infringement? Is the game, therefore, not as enjoyable as it used to be? Has the way the game is played become more important-to rulemakers, professional critics, spectators, and (reluctantly?) players-than playing a game that can be enjoyed and winning if you can? Scrummaging methods have been a subject of lively controversy in recent years. The famous, unbeaten, never-to-be-forgotten 1924 All Blacks had a fine forward pack, but were said to be relatively poor in the scrum, and Mark Nicholls wrote after the 1928 South African tour-things had gone badly in the scrum again-that something must be done immediately to put our scrums in order if we wanted to retain our place among the Rugby playing countries of the world. Have changes in the scrum |

been satisfactory? How have they affected the standard of back play? It is sometimes said that the fundamentals of the game like running, tackling, dribbling, passing and handling are not learned as thoroughly as they were in the past. Should something more be done with schoolboys or players in the lower grades of club Rugby? Or is it possible, on the other hand, that the s¢hoolboy plays too much nowadays and that his interest in the game is not what it was by t the time he reaches senior ‘standard?

These are a few of the controversial topics that will be considered in What’s Wrong With New Zealand Rugby? Opening speakers in this series will be Teddy Roberts, followed by George Aitken, from 1ZB; Norman McKenzie, followed by J. W. Stead, from 2ZB; Bill Dalley, followed by Hughie McLean, from 3ZB; Dave Lindsay, followed by Frank Kilby, from 4ZB; and Ron Bush, followed by "Beau" Cottrell, from 2ZA, The talks will be heard each Saturday at 9.0 p.m.