Cozens: Kicking is a lost art – it’s a seven-pointer

CLIFTON player coach Luke Cozens describes kicking to the corner as a ‘seven-point kick’ because of the huge increase in tries scored in the modern game off driving mauls.

Recent times have seen a dramatic increase in forwards competing with backs in the try scoring charts at all levels in the English game.

In the Premiership, George McGuigan (14) and Agustin Creevy (12) are amongst the top four scorers, while joint Championship top try scorers Mark Bright and Eoghan Clarke have scored most of their 17 tries also off driving mauls.

In National 1, both of the two top try scorers Nathan Taylor and Benjamin Brownlie combined for a whopping 55 tries and scored virtually all of them at the back of rolling mauls.

Fly-half Cozens has been coaching Bristol Bears loanee Jac Lloyd about the importance of kicking as far to the corner as possible and believes the importance of goal kicking in the game has decreased.

He said: “Goal kicking used to be a lot more important because teams tended to take points more. Whereas in the modern game, a lot of teams kick to the corner.

Kicking a ball onto the five-metre line, I now call a seven-point kick because nine times out of ten you’ll score off a maul. If anything, going for the corner has taken over from three points.”

Cozens joined Clifton at the start of the season after a spell in France at Rouen in Federale 1 but the 35-year-old is enjoying being back playing in the National Leagues.

He said: “I was very surprised I played so many games. I’ve just really enjoyed it, I’ve come from France where it’s a bit different, but I’ve enjoyed stripping it back to training two nights a week.

“National 2 South is a good competitive standard and it surprises people sometimes that you can get some great rugby played in the league. You get players who could play higher, players that will play higher, and vice versa.”

Cozens oversees the club’s formidable attack that saw them score a league high – 1,181 points this season.

He added: “I’m in charge of the three quarters and our attack strategy. I always say to the lads, structure is there to create the opportunity and once it's there go for it no matter how many phases have been played.”