In a Super season, how are the Aussie teams faring?

 
Brett McKay Columnist

By , 27 Apr 2010 Brett McKay is a Roar Expert

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A month into this year’s Super 14 season, I handed down my report card on the Australian teams. The Reds were a surprise early ratings leader at that time, followed by the Brumbies and Waratahs, who were both promising heaps and delivering moderately less. Then trailed the Force, who were in the middle of what I described as “a casualty list that would give some hospitals a good run”.

So with three weeks of the regular season and only a touch over a month of the last ever Super 14 to run, how do those ratings look now?

ACT Brumbies – 6th: 6 Wins, 4 Losses, 3 Bonus Points (last report: 6th, 3W 1L 0BPs, B+)
Oh, the horror.

Last report card I christened the Brumbies the Super Rugby equivalent of the St.George/Illawarra Dragons for their shared frustrations of supporters, but with a month to go the current form of the Dragons would be a very welcome addition to the Brumbies’ recent outings.

After the Hurricanes debacle, Andy Friend spoke of the players trying to play too individually; a fairly public spray from a coach. Sadly though, the lesson still hasn’t been learnt.

Against the Waratahs on Saturday night, and despite having the lion’s share of possession and territory stats, the Brumbies took opportunity-squandering to new levels.

Spiro Zavos’ pet hate, meaningless box-kicks from scrumhalves, was as abundant as it was infuriating. Any opportunities to attack – even three-on-two overlaps – were forfeited away in favour of useless, poorly executed nothing kicks to no-one in particular.

Mathematically, the Brumbies may still be in with a chance to make the finals, but it would be a brave pundit to say that would be fair reward for their last month’s rugby. The Brumbies get bumped down to a C, an average rank indicative of recent displays.

NSW Waratahs – 5th: 7W 3L 5BPs (LR: 10th, 2W 2L 1BP, C+/B-)
The Waratahs, as they have done all season, continue to linger up there or thereabouts. They rode the waves of media raptures after big wins over the Lions and Cheetahs, but then were quickly pegged back after a near-loss to the Force and defeat by the Crusaders.

While they still might be confusing fans with the various types of game plans they employ, the Waratahs are proving to be annoyingly effective. If their goal for 2010 was to play adaptive rugby, then you have to give them nothing but full credit, because they continue to feature well up the Super 14 table by continually changing their game based on who they’re opposing.

It mightn’t be pretty at times – Saturday night comes back to mind – but they’re taking the “play what’s in front of you” mantra to the extreme.

It was pleasing to see Berrick Barnes lead the ‘Tahs around with his effective kicking game against the Brumbies; no doubt it will be important for the Wallabies during the Tri-Nations. It’s difficult, too, to ignore the impressive form of loose forwards Dave Dennis and Ben Mowen, or lock Kane Douglas. All of them are young players with massive futures.

As much as this pains me, I have to upgrade the Waratahs to an A. It’s easy, fun even, to bag them at times, but it’s impossible to ignore a team that wins by making the most of their opportunities.

Queensland Reds – 4th: 7W 3L 6BPs (LR: 7th, 2W 2L 2BPs, A-)
The form of the Reds has been irresistible since the first report card, and calls for Queensland domination of the Wallabies are only going to get louder as they get closer to the finals.

The Sydney Morning Herald’s Australian team of the week after week 10 was just the Reds starting XV of that week, though it should be added the Waratahs had the bye. (Mind you, that hasn’t stopped the SMH picking Waratahs in the past.)

A week after triumphing over the Bulls in what has been described as one of the best games of Super rugby in years – to the point that a bullish ARU boss John O’Neill is intending to send a copy of the game to delegates ahead of the next big IRB summit in May – the Reds have now shown the competition they can win in the tight stuff too.

Their defensive effort in the last 25 minutes to hold onto their narrow lead over the Stormers was super impressive, and had Ewan McKenzie all over it.

Everything the Stormers threw at the Reds in the last quarter was repelled with intent and determination.

Moreover, they can still conjure a spectacular try, with Quade Cooper’s kick to the corner for a flying Will Chambers taking the young centre back to his days when the Melbourne Storm had the best backline money could buy.

The Reds are everyone’s favourite team. Even New South Welshmen are doing the unthinkable, and jumping on board a rapidly expanding bandwagon.

Better yet, Queenslanders themselves are back behind the Reds too, with a second successive bumper crowd cheering them home last Friday night.

There was a bit of disagreement with the mark I handed out in the last report card, but I bet there’s no argument about a richly deserved A+ now.

Western Force – 12th: 3W 7L 2BPs (LR: 14th, 0W 3L 0BPs, D)
Since starting the season in the worst possible form, with a string of losses and the aforementioned injury list, the Force have started creeping up the table in the back-half of the season.

Fuelled by key players returning from injury, the Force has relished their self-appointed “spoiler” role by accounting for the Stormers, giving both the Bulls and Waratahs a decent scare, and last Friday night’s hard-fought win over the Crusaders.

They’ll finish their season with three games in South Africa, and with their opponents all in the bottom half of the ladder, they could well sneak further up the table with a series of wins.

Whilst their season was essentially over before it ever got the chance to build, all is not lost for the Force in 2010.

The calibre of their young players coming through has been a highlight, and it’s fair to say we’ll see a lot more of Ben Whittaker, local product Justin Turner, Brumby-on-loan and line-break specialist Nathan Charles, and Luke Jones (albeit for the Melbourne Rebels next year).

The Force get a well-earned upgrade to C+ for this alone.

Follow Brett McKay on Twitter: @BMcSport
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