History
The history of Counties has been very much about adventurous football and taking risks, and this was certainly the case initially as the team strove to establish an identity and tradition. First known as South Auckland Counties, the next year they became Counties, and much later Counties-Manukau.
Counties' first game was against Thames Valley in Waiuku in 1955 which they won 15 - 14, led by Barry Baxter. In that inaugural year the team also defeated an Auckland XV twice, the first 19 - 6 on Bledisloe Park, Pukekohe, where the union's first All Black, Pat Walsh scored twice. Counties playing style was enterprising but organised, often frowned upon at the time as lacking in structure, but in reality it was successful.
Barry Bracewell, coach from 1961–63 and 1967–75, adopted a style in conflict with the ethos of the day of forward dominance and percentage safety from the backs. Bracewell and Tauroa after him, selected mobile forwards and loose forwards with exciting backs with attacking gameplans. This era produced some fine All Blacks, including Bruce McLeod, Bob Lendrum, Andy Dalton, John Spiers, Rod Ketels, Bruce Robertson, and Robert Kururangi.
The Counties team of this era had many highlights. The first was Winning the NPC championship in 1979 with wins over Waikato, Wellington, North Auckland, Thames Valley, Bay of Plenty, Poverty Bay, South Canterbury, Manawatu, Taranaki, Otago, Canterbury, and Southland, also beating Victoria and Argentina that year.
Winning the Inter-Dominion Championship (forerunner to the Super 10) against Queensland in Brisbane was another achievement, while the 1982 team beat Australia 15 - 9, which included greats such as David Campese.
The Ranfurly shield has so far eluded Counties, although it has been in some memorable challenges. In 1982, playing Canterbury not only for the Ranfurly Shield but also the NPC championship, with Counties ahead 15 - 12 with only minutes remaining, Robert Kururangi intercepted a Canterbury pass and was about to score when the referee dubiously judged him offside, awarding Canterbury the penalty which Robbie Deans successfully kicked to win the championship and retain the shield.
The previous season the shield challenge against Waikato also ended in a draw (21 all) after Counties conceded two late and controversial penalties.
The third log of wood agony came 3 years later in 1985 against Auckland when Counties, down 3 - 12, were denied what appeared to be a perfectly legitimate try to Dave Trombik after the ref received some subtle persuasion by Auckland skipper Andy Haden. Later in the game Warren McClean scored a try for Counties making the final score 9-12. The unfancied Counties side losing in what should have been a well-deserved victory.
After a period of time containing more lows than highs, including a stint in the second division, Counties finally came good during the mid-1990s. A forward packing containing Errol Brain, Jim Coe, Glen Marsh, and Junior Paramore, with backs including Tony Marsh, Blair Feeney, Jonah Lomu, Joeli Vidiri and Dean Sheppard proved one of the best Counties side ever, making the NPC finals twice, in 1996 and 1997, losing to Auckland and Canterbury respectively.
A highlight of that period came in 1997 during the semi-final in Hamilton. Behind at one stage 9 - 33, and stung by a ground announcement advertising tickets for a home Waikato final next week, Counties fought back with a thrilling 43 - 40 win.
After a steady decline since then, Counties lost a promotion-relegation match in 2001, and dropped to the second division. Here, Counties could not retain their best players and lost the likes of Stephen Donald, Sitiveni Sivivatu, Casey Laulala, and Keiran Reid to other unions.
In 2006 Counties was selected to rejoin the top sides in the new Air New Zealand Cup Premier Division, and they still retain their exciting attacking style of rugby. While success has so far been limited, one highlight beating Auckland in 2008, more time in the top division and retaining their tops players, Counties will only get stronger.
Ref: Cochrane, P. (2005). Enterprise and Agony. 50 years of Counties Rugby. NZ.
Read more about this topic: Counties Manukau Rugby Union
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