CountiesManukau Sport Monthly Turns NPC Historical
by Wayne Watson - courtesy of Counties Manukau Sport Monthly
Counties Manukau rugby supporters have had a rocky run this season, riding every NPC bump the Steelers' have travelled. But 20 years ago it was different. Fifty-odd thousand spectators went to Eden Park on September 29, 1979, to watch Counties' famous challenge for the Ranfurly Shield. It came seven days after Andy Dalton's men had won the union's first and only national championship.
Halfback
Mark Codlin darts down the short side after Auckland turn
the ball over inside Counties' 22m.
He dummys, fends off
first five Lindsay Harris then kicks high into Auckland
territory.
Outside backs Farrell and Cunningham misjudge
it allowing Counties flyer Paul Reilly to snap up the ball
on the second hop.
He looks right then jinks left before
basketballing it to number six Henk Habraken who uses the
referee as a shield to score.
"Try!," commentator Peter
Montgomery screams - and he has to, to break the noise of a
record 50,000 fans.
Habraken's try, almost 20 years ago
to the day, ranks as Counties rugby's most memorable.
It was the pinnacle of a dream era.
Hiwi Tauroa's side had
claimed the union's first and only national provincial title
a week earlier and would have snatched the prized Ranfurly
Shield had they won at Eden Park that day.
Sadly, a
Richard Dunn penalty near fulltime gave Auckland an 11-9
win, continuing a Ranfurly Shield jinx Counties have been
unable to shake in 19 appearances.
That game, as much as
it hurt, was the highlight of Counties' 1979 campaign.
For some, it rates as one of New Zealand rugby's most enthralling provincial clashes.
Two decades on, players
look back on that successful reign. They remember the guitar
playing, camaraderie and gut-busting trainings but memories
of that loss just won't go away.
It was only Counties'
second defeat all year but the hype and importance of the
Ranfurly Shield make it too hard to ignore.
Counties
first five Brian Morris, a Mangere primary school teacher at
the time, pauses before talking about it.
He was the man
penalised for handling the ball at the bottom of the ruck,
allowing Dunn to kick the winning goal.
Morris failed to
gather in Alan Dawson's pass, after Dawson had shaped to
kick, then decided to run.
"I never handled that ball,"
Morris (43) says today.
"I was on the side of it and never handled it."
The noise of the crowd made communication between players virtually impossible.
Morris admits he could not hear Dawson in that tricky moment.
"Henk could not hear me either when he got the
ball before he scored. I was only 10 metres away and was
shouting as much as I could.
"I remember charging up the
middle as soon as I saw Moffy (Codlin) disappear around the
scrum (sic). I knew he was going to kick. He had a great
dummy...he should have been an All Black.
"He was a lazy
trainer though. Malcolm Hood (physio-trainer) used to say he
had two hates and the second was Mark Codlin at
training."
Codlin: "It (run) was an instinct thing. I
remember seeing (All Black great) Bryan Williams and I
didn't want to run into him.
"I told him about it later
though. There was no one outside me, I dummied to the
sideline."
Habraken: "I remember chasing Paul Reilly and
thinking 'Christ, I wish I was as quick as him'. But it was
a blessing.
"When I got the ball I was going to sprint to
the corner but then I thought about getting close to the
sticks. I saw (Auckland centre Tim) Twigden was unsighted
and partially impeded by the referee."
That game was only
one from an impressive string of 17 - and as far as
competition points went, it counted for nothing.
Counties
were unbeaten in their opening nine national championship
matches before meeting Auckland.
They cleaned out
Wellington (20-15), North Auckland (12-6), Bay of Plenty
(22-13), South Canterbury (26-3), Manawatu (16-9), Taranaki
(13-10), Otago (17-10), Canterbury (7-0) and Southland
(16-7) and were the only provincial side to beat
Argentina.
Few remember the specifics of Counties'
struggle with the previously unbeaten Canterbury at Pukekohe
Stadium or the 18-11 win over Argentina three days
later.
Mark Codlin peppering his brother Brett with bombs
in the 7-0 win over the southerners or the forwards'
strength in the slush just don't register for
some.
Players do remember Canterbury All Black Alex Wylie
being disgruntled with Codlin however, who continually
whispered in his ear that he was too old.
Or what about
lock Paul Tuoro's battle with Argentinian giant Alejandro
Iachetti? Tuoro, in his first year of premier rugby, was
dwarfed by Iachetti despite standing six feet six inches and
weighing 120kg.
Ironically, Tuoro switched to rugby
when he considered himself too short to play the position he
wanted in basketball - a sport in which he was a New Zealand
trialist.
He went on to gain a first-half points decision
over All Black Andy Haden in the Shield challenge, after
players gave him a "kick up the backside" to motivate him
before the game.
Habraken remembers that Argentinian game
for a different reason. "GK (Graeme Taylor) put an attacking
kick into the southern corner. (Argentinian great) Hugo
Porta came back in cover but we were right on top of him, so
he butted it out with his head."And this Maori supporter
leaning against the fence yells out: "That's right Porta
kick it with your head"."
Memories like those lob up
after speaking to players for just a few minutes. They show
a tight family-like unit and what playing for each other
meant.
That team in 1979 was no fluke.
The core -
built around Bruce Robertson, Bob Lendrum, Taylor, Robert
Kururangi, Pat Yates, John Hughes, Andy Dalton (captain),
Dawson, Peter Clotworthy, Habraken, Warren McLean and Joe
Rawiri - had been together for up to six years.
Counties
had proved their ability when finishing second in the two
previous national comps and were worked hard by Malcolm Hood
and coach Tauroa.
And they had flair.
Robertson's
brilliance at centre, combined with the strength of second
five and Ardmore partner Taylor, was complimented by the
finishing of Kururangi, Reilly, Lendrum and Yates.
Morris
and utility McLean shared first five-eight, while cheeky
Codlin played every national competition game. He finished
the season Counties' top point-scorer with 91. John Allen
was Codlin's deputy.
Of all the backline plays of that
year, one incident - Bruce Robertson's injury in the
Ranfurly Shield challenge - over-rules any other.
Robertson was replaced in the 12th minute when badly
injuring his right knee.
He later had to withdraw from the All Blacks tour of the UK.
Most say that incident was
a turning point. "Of all the things you didn't think would
happen, that was it," Morris says.
"He was a key in
everything we did. Bruce was the most popular centre in the
country, if not the world. He was able to influence
results."
Codlin agrees.
"He was like a racehorse. His
defence was brilliant and he was so fast. Bob Lendrum was
the only one able to keep up with him. I used to call Bob
tubby and stuff but he was super quick."
Tauroa's
decision to harness but not smother Counties' flowing style
actually foxed some teams.
The Wesley College headmaster
rated his pack despite a lack of size and asked for a more
controlled style from that adopted by former coach Barry
Bracewell.
Former All Black John Spiers: "We surprised a
lot of unions in the forwards.
Hiwi wanted to keep it
tight because everyone thought we'd spin it."
Counties
had strong forwards, with the exciting loose trio of
Habraken, Dawson and Clotworthy rated the best in the
country at the time.
Their class is further emphasised
with 1978 New Zealand Maori captain Mac McCallion unable to
find a run-on spot after leading Counties in a pre-season
match against Victoria.
They had Rod Ketels, Dalton
(later to become All Black captain) and Hughes in the front
row with Spiers - alternating between prop and lock - Tuoro
and Rawiri completing the tight five. Colt Kevin Ashby was
back-up hooker to Dalton.
Ketels: "We spent so much time
on our scrum. One Wednesday night, we scrummed with three
different teams."
Habraken: "Hiwi would have us doing 70
or 80 scrums up the hill at Pukekohe Stadium."
But it was needed, especially when asked to plough through Pukekohe's sticky mud.
"Opposition players would say their legs went in the last 15 minutes (when playing at Pukekohe)," Ketels adds.
"You could feel it in the scrums. That is probably why they (Counties officials) left it (ground) like that."
Malcolm Hood remembers Tauroa talking to him early
in the season: "He said we needed a running game because we
were smaller. He wanted to increase the skills and
fitness."
Fullback Lendrum says players spent hours
running up and down the field at training just passing a
ball. "The skills in the forwards and backs were
excellent."
Tauroa, who went north (and still lives
there) after winning the national championship, is held in
high regard by his players. They talk of his honesty, mana,
respect and ability to relate to people.
Despite all
that, Hood says Tauroa was also feared even though he was
extremely quiet.
"If a player dropped the ball a couple of
times he wouldn't say anything but on the third occasion
he'd frown. You knew when you got that look."
Codlin:
"We'd be having a few beers after the game and he'd be out
in the stand thinking about what went on. He was unassuming
but knew his rugby, he was very thoughtful."
Bruce
Robertson: "He was a very honest person. He had great
respect by the way he acted. He didn't rant but when he had
something to say, people listened."
Robertson praised the
part Hood played too. He labelled Hood an innovator, saying
he was years ahead of his time.
Morris, who played for
Manawatu in 1977 when they held the Shield, says Counties
were more forward than other unions he played for.
"We
did things like piggy backing players. Everything we did
(before training) was made to hurt and it worked in with
what Hiwi would do later."
Others jokingly look at Hood's
40-minute sessions before trainings (often three times a
week) from a different view.
Dawson, Hood's close
neighbour in Waiuku, would bury his head under a pillow when
hearing a knock at the door on Sunday mornings.
"I'd have to go for a run with Malcolm while the rest of the boys were lying in after playing the previous day."
But Habraken
agreed with it: "Malcolm had to, Dawsy was always quick to
put it on."
Codlin, Spiers and Kururangi come up with
snappy quotes when asked about Hood's on-the-field
input.
"He loved his pound of flesh," Spiers says. Or as
Codlin delicately puts it - "he got on my nerves".
That
close family unit of 20 years ago is the same today. They
often bump into each other at a Counties Manukau game,
though there has been the odd one who has slipped out of the
scene.
So what are they up to now?
Spiers, who still
works as a wool buyer in Pukekohe, plays president's grade
football and continues to be a part of the Classic All
Blacks. He retired from representative rugby in 1982 after
149 games for Counties.
Ketels' involvement in rugby is
restricted to being a player manager. He represents
internationals Joeli Vidiri and Api Naevo.
Robertson is
club rugby manager at Auckland Rugby. Lendrum, who retired
in 1979 when 30, is still a maths and geography teacher at
Papakura's Rosehill College.
Property developer Reilly
(40) spends Saturdays cheering on his two daughters at
netball and soccer, while Morris has five children and is a
project director at Wellington's New Zealand Qualifications
Authority.
Robert Kururangi, an apprentice
mechanic in the army 20 years ago, is now in the building
industry. He has four children.
Codlin went to France a
day after the Ranfurly Shield clash. He was there for more
than three years, playing rugby and coaching tennis. Today
he works on the family farm at Karaka with All Black brother
Brett.
Dawson, who has three daughters (oldest 18),
works at New Zealand Steel. He was top side coach at Waiuku
for four years, while Habraken mixes being a councillor at
Franklin District Council with pig and dairy farming and a
hobby horse training.
Tuoro, 43 and a father of two,
plays president's rugby and helped coach the Manurewa
under-19 side this year. Next season he will take over the
Counties Manukau Maori colts.
Warren McLean finished
playing for Counties in 1986. He could have improved his 110
games had he not stayed in England for 18 months after the
1982 New Zealand Maori tour. The 42-year-old, a father of
two young girls, hopes to help Drury next year.
Dalton
became chief executive at Medical Waste after retiring as an
All Black in 1987. He is also the New Zealand Rugby Football
Union president and is still active with the Classic All
Blacks.
Peter Clotworthy lives on the North Shore,
though he still has a business interest in Pukekohe, while
Joe Rawiri works for a courier company.
John Hughes lives
in Alfriston on a farmlet; Mac McCallion is a professional
rugby coach; Graeme Taylor runs an outdoor pursuits company
in Hawke's Bay; Kevin Ashby is a fire fighter in Manukau;
Pat Yates works for a house removal company in Takanini and
Malcolm Hood runs a couple of physio practices.
Twenty years does not seem that long ago after all.