Counties fails to hit convincing form

Press, 20 April 1981, Page 13

Counties fails to hit convincing form

PA Auckland Counties, in spite of a comfortable 27-16 win over Australian Capital Territory at Pukekohe on Saturday showed that it is streets away from its best 1980 rugby form. The Counties coach, Pat. Walsh, gambled in this match, deciding not to train his players too early in the season. And, as might be expected, his team performed with little of the speed, drive, and supporting play that made it such a contender last year for the provincial championship. A.C.T., one of the weaker state sides from across the Tasman, would have been hard pressed to beat a top club side on Saturday’s effort, so Counties’ margin of

victory and five tries should be kept carefully in perspective.

Counties opened the scoring in the seventh minute when John Spiers touched down after a short-side break by the first five-eighths, Warren McLean.

From that point on Counties never looked troubled, taking a 13-0 half-time lead' and extending it to 23-6 after 60 minutes. Were it not for some inferior handling and backs running too far and dying with the ball, Counties could easily have had three more tries.

The All Black full-back, Brett Codlin, was one of the stumbling blocks in Counties’ backline attack. Time and again after entering the attack he ran on, only to be tackled. His play was not as

sharp as last season, though he put one nifty chip-kick into the in-goal area from a 5m scrum, from which the wing, Paul Penney, scored in the sixtieth minute.

Codlin kicked only one of five conversions and one of two penalties, missing a rather ambitious dropped goal.

His last line of defence failed badly on one particular occasion. In one of A.C.T.’s few attacking moves, Russell Clinch darted away on a sideline dash 14 minutes from full-time. McLean was across covering well, but he missed the tackle, leaving Codlin alone to stop a score. But Clinch threw a swerve at Codlin that left the full-back on his back, and crosse easily for the second A.C.T.’s three tries.