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Perhaps this is just me, but it really feels like the Super Rugby season has just arrived from nowhere. Having immersed myself in studying cover drives and yorkers for the past few months, suddenly it feels foreign to be looking at running angles and breakdown trends.
But it is that time of year again, and whether I’m ready for it or not, Super Rugby will start this weekend coming in South Africa.
The Cheetahs will kick off the 2014 season, welcoming the Lions back into the Super Rugby fold in Bloemfontein, and following that, the Sharks and Bulls will face off in Durban.
While all that is happening in the Republic, the Australian and New Zealand conferences are still very much in trial mode, and this includes the Waratahs, who take on the Highlanders on Friday night at Hunter Stadium in Newcastle, as part of the Frenzy of Sport (It’s ON! Newcastle and the Hunter) taking place in the region.
We’re in that wonderful time of year again for the Waratahs, where they haven’t lost any games they shouldn’t have, and trial form is fuelling perceptions and expectations.
Our own Spiro Zavos has already kicked things off, using the ‘C’ word on Monday and declaring on the back of their impressive 33-12 win over the Blues that the ‘Tahs “look like the real deal”.
And though they lost the first trial of 2014, to the Melbourne Rebels in Albury, the Waratahs looked very sharp in putting away the Blues last weekend at Allianz Stadium.
While a lot of the pre- and post-match talk was about the latest code-hopper in former Wests Tigers star, Benji Marshall, there was much good will and many high hopes expressed about the continuation of the Waratahs’ attacking mantra under Michael Cheika.
Cheika is certainly a smart guy, as well as being a very good rugby coach. He knows that the only way to win over the hearts and minds of Waratahs fans and the broader Sydney and New South Wales public is to be playing a brand of rugby that will make people want to come and watch.
Whereas Jake White drove the importance of defence into the Brumbies when he first took over, a key focus that remains with the 2013 finalists now even with White now heading the Sharks in Durban, Cheika has espoused an attacking mindset for the Tahs from day one. Even to the point of it losing games in the early part of last year that might’ve been won with a slightly more pragmatic approach.
With this in mind, most of the talk coming out of the win over the Blues is the nice little selection dilemma Cheika and attack coach, Daryl Gibson, have created for themselves.
Though Bernard Foley looked the more impressive at flyhalf from reports, the returning Kurtley Beale is in line for one last shot in the no.10 jersey in Newcastle.
Many a word was spoken in praise of the Tahs’ second half 10-12-15 combination of Foley, Beale, and Israel Folau, but it appears Cheika wants one last look at Beale in the prime playmaking position before he picks his first side of the Super Rugby season to take on the Western Force on Sunday 23 February.
And though Folau, Beale, Adam Ashley-Cooper and Reds recruit Jono Lance have been spoken of in ‘likely’ terms for the inside centre slot, the somewhat forgotten man, Rob Horne, will get plenty of time in the no.12 jersey in Newcastle.
Competition of spots looks as though it will be a major motivating factor for the Waratahs in 2014, with every spot in the backline having a couple of genuine options to choose from.
Cheika wouldn’t want it any other way; the best selection meetings are those with plenty of debate, and I’ve already lost count of the number of different 9-15 line-ups I’ve seen under “this is how I’d go” headings in this last week.
Up front, though the Tahs were dealt a blow in losing flanker/lock Mitch Chapman for the season, former Wallaby and former Brumbies Captain Stephen Hoiles has impressed in his quest for a return to Super Rugby after a long injury-forced layoff.
Giant young lock, Will Skelton, already looks better with another pre-season under his belt, and in Benn Robinson, Tatafu Polota-Nau, and Paddy Ryan, the ‘Tahs are heading into Round 1 with a near Test-strength front row. Good signs.
This match also represents the first look at new marquee man, ex-Bulls enforcer Jacques Potgieter.
Their opponents in Newcastle, the Highlanders, are also coming into this match with a one-and-one pre-season record, having kicked their way to victory over the Brumbies in Queenstown, and then suffering a 28-15 loss to the already-ominous looking Crusaders in Motueka last weekend.
This week, they welcome back a pair of All Blacks in scrumhalf Aaron Smith, and prolific try-scoring outside back, Ben Smith. Ben Smith will Captain the Highlanders, with promising flyhalf Lima Sopoaga named at 10, and former Melbourne Rebels hooker Ged Robinson also named, as he pushes his claims for national selection this season.
It’s wonderful this match has been taken to Newcastle. The Hunter and surrounding region has a long and proud rugby history that includes countless New South Wales and Australian representatives, with some of them true greats of the game.
Being “too focussed on Sydney” is a common complaint of the Waratahs, and taking a match like this into a proper NSW rugby heartland is a good move. Let’s hope it produces a good crowd to match it.
Waratahs fans should know that entry to this match is free to members, while for non-members tickets are priced from $10 for adults.
Fans unable to get to the game can follow all the action as it happens on the NSW Waratahs’ live Twitter feed and The Roar‘s live blog. Highlights of the game will also be available afterwards on TahV.