Edkins felt Aust. crunch

Press, 12 June 1978, Page 28

Edkins felt Aust. crunch

By

JOHN COFFEY

I New Zealand’s rugby I league tourists have felt the I often painful impact of un- ; compromising Australian i defensive methods during i the early part of their tour lof that country, uone more Iso than the Canterbury loose forward, Barry Edkins. Edkins returned to Christchurch on Saturday evening, nursing the broken jaw — the legacy of a blatantly illegal tackle — that forced his early exit from the tour land which will keep him on (the side-lines for most of | the remainder of the season. I The luckless Edkins I needed onlv 75 minutes as a |New Zealand representative jto experience the contrasts |of footballing fortunes. He had made an illustrious contribution towards New Zealand’s eventual 25-18 victory over Riverina at Waega Wagga before being felled ibv a shoulder charge from I the opposing stand-off half land captain, Pat Smith. I A former New Zealand

captain, Graham Kennedy, who now lives in Wagga Wagga, had chosen Edkins as his "player of the match” only a few minutes from full-time and the young Canterbury forward had given more than a mere hint that he would be a strong contender for test selection. But only moments later Edkins’s debut for the Kiwis was to end in tragic circumstances.

“I never even saw Smith coming,” Edkins said yesterday. “I had passed the ball when he rushed in and hit me with his elbow.” Edkins spent the next four days in hospital at Wagga Wagga while recuperating from surgery to have his jaw wired. Kennedy was a constant visitor and he travelled to Sydney with Edkins before Edkins flew back to Christchurch on Saturday. Now restricted to liquid foods. Edkins will not nave the wire removed for six weeks, but he is keen to re- | sume playing for his Eastern I Suburbs club as soon as [possible.

“The Kiwis learned quickly that it is the survival of the fittest in Australia," Edkins said. “The Australians play it bloody hard — if they give you one, you have to give them two back to stop them -from getting on top. “There was some talk that Smith had copped one while

leading Riverina against Auckland in the Amco Cup last month. Maybe he was out for revenge, and he just picked on me. “It is all smother tackling over there, very little defence around the ankles. We were inclined to run up in New Zealand style and then stop to see what the opposition did with the ball; now the Kiwis have '.earned to emulate the Australians by picking out their men and whacking them hard. “The tackling probably improved 75 per cent after the loss to Newcastle. Team spirit is very good, and the Kiwis are capable of doing much better than most people think,” Edkins said. Aged 21, Edkins is not yet looking ahead to the next major overseas tour — to Britain and France in 1980. Instead, his immediate priority is regaining his fitness to help Eastern in its bid to reach the Canterbury club championship semi-finals.