Ex Supersport
It’s way too early in the season to talk about moments of truth and to bring up all those clichés about this being the time of reckoning, for the Vodacom Super Rugby season really is way too long to be making any pronouncements when the tournament has just reached the third round.(Please note )
However, with the top New Zealand teams so far looking as if they inhabit a different planet to the ones from South Africa, this weekend does provide our first opportunity to gauge whether the above perception has merit or not.
The Kiwi teams have looked good when they play against each other, but he big question is: how will they adjust to the different challenge posed by South African teams? (Indeed they come against defenders that defend)
It often appears that when New Zealand players come up against South Africans, they get drawn into a testosterone battle, and the whole issue of physicality can become more of a focus than it otherwise is.
There can’t be too much doubt that the Kiwis possess the size and the skill at the back to outdo the local teams, but how will the forward battles go? (Yet some oaks want us to pick the smaller backs!! Hhahahahahahha)
In short, everyone has their own view but we will only really get a proper idea once the Chiefs have played against the Stormers, a fixture which is appetizing because it is between the two sides who finished in the top two on last year’s overall log and yet they never got to play each other.
In a sense, this is the final that didn’t happen last year, a match-up that was ruined by the Sharks’ ability to defy common sense in the Cape Town semifinal.
But talking of last year’s play-offs invites a comparison between last year and this, and why some of us, although acknowledging that the New Zealanders are showing outstanding early form, are reluctant to take that as an indication that the balance of power for the 2013 season has been set.
Last year at this time the Kiwis also seemed to be on a different planet, and we wrote as much, and yet when it came semifinal time, there were two South African teams there and two New Zealand teams.(3 ofthe top six were SA sides)
The Sharks, who won’t see any action against a New Zealand team for a couple of weeks yet, aren’t firing their full arsenal at the moment, and neither are the Stormers.
But this weekend’s round of matches, with the Bulls playing against the Blues in Auckland on Sunday morning, will at least tell us whether the summer months have seen the players from “The Land of the Long White Cloud” step up to a different level. (bulle cant normally be taken too seriously when they tour)
Last week wasn’t a good start, for while there were people who lauded the Cheetahs for playing well and stretching the Chiefs in the first half in Hamilton, they ended up losing the game by 40 points.(Yes and we know the reason for that)
So lets clip some kiwi wings begining with the chiefies.
