With fans and tipsters scrambling to process two weeks of Super Rugby into who sits where and why, one common denominator cannot be denied – efficient set-piece rugby is winning rugby.
Tana Umaga’s Blues were dealt a reality check on Friday night, via a solid Crusaders forward pack dominating them at the scrum and choking off their attack with an efficient defensive press.
Halves Ihia West and Bryn Hall, surprisingly left out of the starting side, were ironically fortunate, their replacements Matt McGahan and Billy Guyton being afforded no front-foot ball. It is by no means panic stations for Umaga; previous Blues sides would have folded far more easily, but more steel to their forward effort is needed.
This 2016 Crusaders version is playing more directly than in recent seasons, and look better for it. Notably, Keiran Read is running in closer channels, and appears fit and keen.
Perfect conditions in Canberra did not deliver rugby to match; this was a typical high-pressure Australian derby, complete with skill errors, peculiar decision-making and plenty of niggle.
One wonders what was in the Waratahs’ water bottles, such was their rampant, early ill-discipline. Things didn’t improve in the second half, Sam Lousi blowing a comeback try to Kurtley Beale via a stupid jersey grab, and Tolu Latu deciding that a mass push and shove needed livening up with a right uppercut.
More predictable, sadly, was Tatafu Polota-Nau breaking a wrist. His dive-bombing tackling style has been an accident waiting to happen for some time, and how a player can reach this level without employing the tackling basics of leg-drive, head position, shoulder and arms, is astounding.
Beale negated last week’s strong defensive effort with a weak attempt on Joe Tomane, and while Israel Folau looked suited at centre, there was little fluidity to their attack. Coach Daryl Gibson has plenty to work on over his bye week, not the least with a scrum likely to be missing his two top hookers.
For the most part, the Brumbies’ execution didn’t match their ambition, although they were keen to use the ball positively, from all field positions. Their pushover penalty try was eye-catching, but what was more impressive was their choice to take that scrum, instead of a certain three points.
Would Jake White’s Brumbies have shown this intent? Or Steven Larkham’s 2015 side, for that matter? Almost certainly not.
Touring teams notoriously deride Hamilton as a boring destination. The Lions’ solution was to provide their own entertainment, in the process pulling off a famous 36-32 victory on the road. They have an industrious forward pack, off which halves Faf De Clerk and Elton Jantjies feed; quick, decisive and purposeful.
The Chiefs may feel aggrieved that referee Andrew Lees caned them with 12 penalties, and Lees did seem very fast on the trigger to call a number of upright tackles a maul. He also had halfback Tawera Kerr-Barlow in his sights, penalising him twice for just what every halfback does in every game! This despite no evidence over the round that SANZAR requested a crackdown on scrum feeds.
The Chiefs ultimately authored their own misfortune. Their set piece is fragile, although to be fair, losing Brodie Retallick to a nasty rib injury wasn’t in the script.
Dunedin hosted last year’s grand final replay, fans once again being treated to a pulsating contest. The Hurricanes, vastly more interested and committed this week, with Beauden Barrett more involved, will rue a winnable match that got away from them.
But they were another loser with an inferior scrum and, in truth, it would have been a travesty if the Highlanders had lost after TMO Chris Wratt denied Malakai Fekitoa what seemed to everyone else, including referee Glen Jackson, to be a fair try.
The game ended on a bizarre note with Ardie Savea securing a ‘last roll of the dice’ turnover, which replacement winger Jason Woodward inexplicably kicked into touch. The student ‘zoo’, which ironically Jason’s dad Bryce was a card-carrying member of a generation ago, hollered in delight, although his teammates seemed less impressed.
Woodward became known at the Rebels for instinctive, high-risk, low-percentage plays, which eventually saw him moved on. The Hurricanes, in all probability, would not have scored a miracle try, or even won a kickable penalty, but the point is, they will never know.
Some wags nominated the Reds versus Force match as the ‘clash of the super-coaches’. Unfortunately, all that was on offer was two ordinary sides playing (very) ordinary rugby.
Referee Angus Gardiner must have been as bored as everyone else, totally forgetting that he had a yellow card in his pocket. How he spared Matt Hodgson and Andrew Ready for cynical offside play is a mystery.
Almost as mysterious as Adam Thompson forgetting how to force the ball over the goal-line, as the Rebels bumbled their way to a first-half shellacking at the hands of the Bulls, in Pretoria. Perhaps the thousands of absent fans knew what was in store; the Rebels late scoreboard respectability counting for nothing.
Play of the match was Bulls fullback Warrick Gelant’s clearing kick which, if the intended target was teammate Jan Serfontein’s clacker, was a beauty. Both players saw the funny side of it, coach Nollis Marais less so. Frankly, it was a wonder that the ball didn’t disappear completely.
The Stormers did it tough in Bloemfontein, but this Cheetahs side is tenacious and asks plenty of questions with the ball. They have won on the road in Australia and New Zealand before, and will do so again.
But they too suffered from a dodgy set piece; in their case the line-out, handing over oodles of free possession. Losing Lood de Jager to the bin also ceded scrum dominance, which they never got back.
For the second week running, the Jaguares played long minutes with only 13 players, as they continue to struggle with higher pace rugby and unforgiving refereeing.
Incredibly, they scored a great try while two men short but, unlike last week, the karma bus caught up with them, and they went down by four. From here, they can choose to play the victim, and rely on home ground advantage to win them enough matches, or else they can adapt their game – and their attitude. Let’s hope it is the latter.
The jury remains out on the Sharks, fancied by many to slide down the ladder this season. But Jean-Luc du Preez is a busy flanker, and two wins from two is not to be sneezed at.
This week also saw the introduction of the NRL video review ‘bunker’, and with it, an opportunity for an early comparison to Super Rugby’s TMO.
What is immediately obvious is that the ability for the referee(s) in the box to control what vision they look at, rather than rely on a TV producer, is a compelling advantage. In one NRL example, by the time the on-field referee had made the referral, the offside aspect had already been reviewed and ruled upon.
Contrast the TMO review of the second half melee in Canberra. Viewers and officials were subjected to multiple views of the same thing, all of which added nothing useful. Only once we saw vision from behind the dead ball line, from which it appeared that Tolu Latu may have thrown a punch.
Fox Sports comments man Rod Kafer noticed this, but wasn’t able to add anything because it wasn’t seen again. The officials missed it completely and the person pushing the buttons either didn’t see it or didn’t think it important.
Likewise, with the Beale no-try, only once did we see a clear slo-mo view of Lousi’s jersey grab – and this only after the decision had been made. The TMO got the call right, but perhaps by good luck rather than good management. Referee Marius Van der Westhuizen seemed to disagree but, then again, he hadn’t seen the telling replay either. A messy lucky dip.
Any process which delivers more speed and accuracy, and better clarity as to who has the final decision, is a winner. In this regard the NRL seems light years ahead of SANZAR.
