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Having spoken to the voice of Australian rugby, Gordon Bray, a few months ago, it was another thrill to be part of a panel discussion yesterday morning with the voice of New Zealand rugby, Grant Nisbett, on ABC Grandstand Digital.
Grandstand Breakfast weekend host, Al Crombie, had ‘Nisbo’ and myself on for a ‘report card’ chat on Super Rugby in our respective conferences, with the season now at the halfway mark. There are many similarities between the two conferences currently. For starters, both feature just a nine-point spread between first and fifth.
Both conferences are also being led by expected teams dealing with depth-testing injuries. Behind them are rising but well-known powers, a couple of surprise packets doing well to overcome chronic inconsistency, and if we’re completely honest, an outfit we expected more of becoming more disappointing by the week.
“Well, I think it’s been the most interesting conference of all, to be completely honest, because everyone is in with a shot,” Nisbett said of the Australian conference in 2014.
“And it’s still very difficult to work out. The Brumbies remain the favourites to win it; they really have just carried from where they were last year under Jake White, a very similar style of rugby – it’s a winning sort of rugby, we saw it here [in Wellington] a few weeks ago when they came and played the Hurricanes, and they just did all they had to do and they won.
“The team that’s disappointed me a wee bit has been the Reds. I expected a bit more out of them, and they’re really relying too much on [Will] Genia and [Quade] Cooper to get them through, and their forward pack has been a bit disappointing.
“The Waratahs? Well, I’m not quite sure what to say about the Waratahs, because they promise so much and deliver so little and that’s been the story over the years. But they’re sort of hanging in there – I thought when they scored [so early] the other night that they were just going to walk all over the Bulls, but then they made hard work of it, really.
“I think the Rebels continue to be in a developing stage. They’ve shed their ‘bad boy’ image and got rid of the likes of [Kurtley] Beale and [James] O’Connor, and I think they can build from there.
“But the team that’s really caught the eye has been the Force, they really have been fantastic. Whether they can carry on remains to be seen; you’ve got to have depth in the squad, that’s the thing. It’s not just the 15 players on the park, it’s the blokes who come on and make a difference, and whether they’ve got the depth in the squad to sustain them through injuries and to the end of the season certainly remains to be seen.”
Nisbett’s assessment of the five teams is pretty hard to argue with. Though there are only nine points between the five Australian teams, there have been moments when things have felt further apart in terms of general performance. Yet when you consider that all five teams have lost at least two derby games already – the Reds and Force have lost three – you realise it’s probably never been tougher within the Australian conference.
This is not just a good thing for Australian rugby at the provincial franchise level, but for the Wallabies too. And let’s not even get into the further implications for the general finances. Most importantly, and this was the major point I took out of an enjoyable discussion, the dramatic improvement in the Australian conference has well and truly been recognised over the ditch, to the point where it’s earning respect.
“Yeah, I think so,” Nisbett said, to my question of changing perceptions of the state of our rugby in the eyes of our neighbours to the east.
“And I think Steve Hansen might even be a little bit nervous about the Bledisloe Cup this year, because what it’s shown is that there is now some developing depth in Australian rugby and there is genuine competition for places.
“In the past, I think in the last few years, it’s really been a question of one bloke in one position and there’s no pressure on him and he can play anyway. This year, with the Force and the Rebels starting to rise, there is some real depth across the board in Australian rugby, and that I guess is a bit of a tick for having five teams in Super Rugby.
“I mean, there were many people who thought five was too many and that four was enough, but I think five teams this year has shown that exposing these guys at this level is giving them an opportunity to show what they’re made of and it is developing the amount of depth in Australian rugby.”
Nisbett’s point about the number of Australian teams was enlightening, but his point about competition for places was bang on the money, too. You only need to look at all the Wallaby XV lists that have been popping up of late; there really aren’t many positions within the starting side that don’t have multiple options.
For every Roarer picking an all-Brumbies front row, there are two or three throwing up other combinations. While Michael Hooper at openside is one of very few universal selections, he’s had half a dozen backrow partners, including Scott Higginbotham, Scott Fardy, Wycliff Palu, Ben McCalman, and Ben Mowen. And that’s before we start trying to find room for Luke Jones or Angus Cottrell.
Just as many names are thrown up as lock options, and it really doesn’t feel like James Horwill is as certain a pick as he was only a month ago.
Greg Martin and Rod Kafer on Rugby HQ last Thursday night named a 9-10 combination of Nic White and Quade Cooper. Incumbent centres, Matt Toomua and Tevita Kuridrani, are playing solidly enough to suggest they’ll hold their spots, yet I’ve seen numerous other lists with Adam Ashley-Cooper and even Pat McCabe at outside, and colleague David Lord yesterday named Kurtley Beale at 12. Christian Lealiifano played Tests in 2013, yet is the forgotten man in many a theoretical selection.
Ashley-Cooper and Nick Cummins seem the obvious choice on either wing for mine, but I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read that Henry Speight will come straight in once eligible. Joe Tomane, Tom English, Lachie Turner, Jesse Mogg, even Cam Crawford have rated mentions.
Israel Folau might be the only back who Ewen McKenzie hasn’t written an alternate next to.
Whether this depth translates into Test victories from August onwards – never mind thoughts of drinking from that massive cup we’ve not seen for a while – remains to be seen.
But it seems to me that if Australia’s Super Rugby performance and depth is being recognised and even respected in New Zealand, then there’s every reason to be feeling better about the Wallabies this year.