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What a weekend to be an Australian rugby fan! Despite the Force going down in Wellington to the Hurricanes, there were good signs aplenty from all four teams in action.
Here’s what we learnt. Or what I learnt, at least:
There’s something building over in the west
They may not be quite getting the results, but there’s a bit to like about the way the Western Force are going about their rugby at the moment, and it’s a credit to the reworked coaching team put into place for the 2013 season.
In Alby Mathewson and Sam Norton-Knight the Force finally have some halves capable of taking advantage of the platform laid by the forwards.
What’s more, the home support in Perth is already appreciative of what the team is starting to do on the field.
Mathewson might just be the Australian Conference ‘buy of the year’.
To see him playing well and clearly enjoying himself again completely validates his decision to leave New Zealand, and it’s almost a shame he won’t get to face his former side, the Blues, this season.
His individual try on the hour, from the back of the lineout, was one of those great moments where vision, speed, and brilliance collide.
Norton-Knight, too, has proved to be a worthy repatriation from Japan, and even though he still has those occasional ‘moments’ in his game (Brumbies and particularly Waratahs fans will know what I mean), he’s providing that long-needed attribute of game management at flyhalf.
Kyle Godwin is already showing his quality at inside, so perhaps a quality outside centre is the missing puzzle piece.
I hope there’s plenty of truth in the reported rumours that they are talking to a high-profile midfielder for 2014.
There’s something building in the east
They’re starting to get the results, and there’s a lot to like about the way the Waratahs are going about their rugby at the moment, too.
It’s a credit to the reworked coaching team put into place for the 2013 season.
Michael Cheika said from day one that he wanted to implement a new playing style, and new attitudes to match, and even when things looked like a confused, stylised mess in the opening rounds he stayed resolute to the plans he was working on.
It’s fair to say he’s starting to see the promised fruit, and he is rightly entitled to speak with the growing confidence he’s employed in recent weeks.
I was critical of Bernard Foley’s game as recently as only a few weeks ago, and it’s good to see him running at the line more, and posing so many more questions of defensive lines.
His game management improves with every outing, too, and there might not be a better personal highlight for him than the pinpoint kick he put up for Israel Folau’s spectacular aerial try on Friday night.
Adam Ashley-Cooper is arguably in career-best form (Super Rugby-best form, at the very least), and Michael Hooper has been on a similar trajectory of improvement to that of Foley.
In fact, Hooper was very, very good on Friday night against the Chiefs, which was a timely refresher for Wallaby selectors.
Israel Folau is winning me over
It’s not like I thought he’d never play for the Wallabies, I just thought that the Lions series in June was perhaps a hurdle not just too close, but maybe too high as well.
His game has really kicked on in recent weeks though, maybe even coinciding with the Waratahs’ own uplift in fortunes and confidence.
Suddenly the whole team is looking more confident in the plans laid out for them. And that’s evident in Folau’s performances, too.
Suddenly, Folau is looking like a rugby player, rather than a code convert.
His positioning at fullback is becoming quite good, his kicking game is coming along, and I don’t know whether to be more impressed with his running angles or the offloads that he’s getting away in traffic.
The Lions might still be one series too soon, but I won’t be as concerned now if he’s picked.
He’s clearly having an impact in rugby, and you can’t ask much more than that after eight Super Rugby games.
Reds vs Brumbies absolutely lived up to the hype
Games billed as ‘match of the season’ often end up falling short, but this wasn’t one of them.
The reported Wallaby camp awkwardness between the two teams followed through into several flashpoints during the game, most notably when some in-goal handbags resulted in the two skippers, James Horwill and Ben Mowen, coming together for a frank exchange of views.
And even the coaches carried through, with the pre-game media barbs and selective use of stats bubbling over into Ewen McKenzie’s “we had a big crowd, they wanted to see some action” and Jake White’s “Ewen has obviously got a view, but…” in the post-match pressers.
Forget your manufactured media hullabaloo, this rivalry is genuine, and it’s fuelled by passionate coaches, players, and most definitely the supporters.
I can’t think of too many live blogs on The Roar where upwards of 200 comments and posts were added after the event.
And sure, draws don’t normally leave you satisfied, but this was a match played at finals-like intensity for the entire 80 minutes.
The Reds spent so much time in the opposition 22 that rent should’ve been charged, yet the Brumbies kept them out through equally superb defence and referee-management. Realistically, a draw wasn’t a completely unjust result.
It was little wonder Robbie Deans had a grin on his face in the post-match interviews, too.
Gill vs Smith – a split decision. Which means…?
The young bloke can probably take the moral victory. I made mention of this as one of those 200 post-match blog comments, that if Liam Gill can run that close with the greatest Wallaby No.7 of his lifetime, then he’s probably entitled to take the points.
As has been the case all season, the match stats of Gill and George Smith were again similar, and both played major roles in their respective team’s performance.
I stand by my piece a few weeks back that betrothed Gill for the Lions series, but the re-emergence of Hooper, and the post-match reference to Smith as ‘an Australian contracted player’ only complicates this particular selection.
And that’s a wonderful problem to have.