THE ALL-BLACKS
THOSE who saw the All-Blacks, New Zealand, Rugby Football XV. in any one of their victorious matches—for they were all victorious—saw the best Rugby side that has ever taken the field in this country. Players here have much to learn from them. It was not merely that the combination of the All-Blacks was perfect ; they have invented refinements of the game hitherto unknown here, which have been dovetailed into that combination. Before next season there will be some hard thinking among our Rugby players and when they have decided—if they do decide—to adopt this or that device as practised by the New Zealanders they Will have to work it into the ensemble, or combination, of their teams.
It may be objected that. some of the New Zealand methods are so delicate and elusive that they cannot be used except by a team that remains the same for months at a time. It cannot be denied that this is a real objection, for obviously the main advantage of. the All-Blacks over any of our home teams was that they were a family living together, training together, and playing together constantly. Each of our sides was by comparison a scratch lot in spite of individual brilliance. In the Test Match our forwards did not show to any disadvantage. They were splendid. The All-Blacks'• • During a "London Particular" there are about a million particles of soot per cubic inch Of air, and each Londoner would then breathe in 10 hours 300,000,000,000 soot particles.
t Leaden Fogs. -"import of the Meteorological Council, 1.904, superiority was chiefly in their backs. , And here it must be noted that with their five-eighths as well as their three- quarters they have strung out more men behind the pack than have ever been so placed in this country.. There are other differences. The New Zealanders are much less fond than our British players of kicking into touch. It is quite true that when you have kicked into touch you have definitely gained a piece of ground. Never- theless, you have purchased it at the price of not being able to expand any strategic movement that was possible at the moment when the kick was made. For a similar reason the All-Blacks run straighter down the field than our men do. They evidently do not like running near the touch line where they can be pushed over the line and the strategic movement of the moment can be brought to a standstill. It need hardly be said also that they are practically never seen to run back iii order to avoid being tackled as some of even our most noted three- quarters occasionally do. When an All-Black is tackled he hardly ever has the ball in his hands ; he has parted with it just before—when he was still free and unhampered so that he could bestow it on somebody else neatly and to the greatest advantage.
In the Test Match at Twickenham last Saturday an unpleasant incident occurred which we shall mention not because it is unpleasant, but because some rather important morals hang upon it. The referee had no doubt that he had seen Mr. Cyril Brownlie deliberately kick One of our forwards who was lying on the ground and had not got the ball. As the referee had already warned both sides three times against illegitimate violence he felt that -he had no option but to order Mr. Brown:lie off the fiele. Most of the spectators are agreed that what—in order to avoid any accusation of evil intention—we may call physical fury was not confined to one side. How can such things be helped ? A man who is, let us say, almost blind with excitement is not in possession of a brain which is working as normally as that of a spectator. The All-Blacks, being good sportsmen, do not dispute the referee's ruling, but they say that at least the English captain, , Mr. Wakefield, might have appealed to the referee for leniency and that such an appeal would have been not only sportsmanlike and courteous but in accord- ance with the customs of the game. A similar incident had occurred in the Newport match and was followed by an appeal for leniency. One can only say that the customs of the game in New Zealand are different from the customs here. Most players here would regard any appeal to a referee to modify his decision as a kind of unholy or insolent tampering with that indispensable symbol of impartial justice. That, no doubt, is why such a thing as asking the referee to cancel the penalty never occurred to Mr. Wakefield. Our British way of never appealing against the Court of Appeal is a very safe one. We need not, however, go so far as to say that it would, not be advisable in a match with friends from the Dominions to make an exception and fall in with the generons custom of their lands.
The principle involved in this incident may easily arise again, not only in matches with the Dominions, but in important home matches here. For we have no doubt that the popularity of Rugby football is growing _and - will grow still, more rapidly. To followers of , Rugby it has long been a puzzle that most of the popular excite- ment was absorbed by the Association game. For a mere spectator—that is to say, for those who do not understand the line points *of either game—there is no comparison between the two. A swerving run by a fast three- quarter down the 'field, through the whole opposing pack and all the backs is one of the most thrilruig iiglits that one can see in any _game. The reason why the comparatively dull Association game—duff, be it repeated; merely to the ignorant or half-informed—has been more popular is, no doubt, that the mere excitement of local partisanship was enough. The game that happened to be taken up first -served.' If Rugby becomes everybody's game and the tremendous partisanship of the Association game, as it is known in its full flower in the North of England, is transferred to the Rugby game we shall have more occasions for illegitimate violence. Rugby, of course, gives more opportunities.
The All-Blacks were a truly magnificent side. If they have not taught us a great deal it will be our fault. We congratulate them heartily on their success, which they thoroughly deserved.
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