The scramble by all codes to find clear air for their respective sports can be messy. SANZAR, already facing friendly fire in the form of this year’s Rugby World Cup, may initially have felt happy with a February 13 start date for Super Rugby.
With the Asian Cup, rugby Sevens, rugby league Nines and Australian Open Tennis all behind us, and the AFL and NRL seasons still some way ahead, it’s not a bad time for Super League to get started.
And so it was that the 2015 style kicked off in Christchurch, to focus rugby minds away from off-field distractions and back onto the pitch. At least that was the expectation.
As an experienced watcher of TV sport, I have binged with the best. Over time I have developed highly advanced strategic planning skills which, with the assistance of technology, allow me to watch and digest copious amounts of weekend sport. All while still leaving space for boxing training, Sunday morning golf and contributions to the Allanthus household.
Timing becomes intuitive. When to flick away at the precise time to watch key Saturday races. Knowing without looking exactly how long an A-League halftime goes for, providing time to slice into another chunk of a recorded Six Nations rugby match, and so on.
But it is another thing altogether to be emotionally engaged with Super Rugby at the same time as a Cricket World Cup, particularly when it is played in our part of the world.
The quaint notion that rugby is a winter sport has long since gone the way of home milk delivery and chimney sweeps, but there was certainly an element, for this writer at least, that by relishing the start of Super Rugby, we were crashing someone else’s party in doing so.
With the MCG close to full and the Adelaide Oval pulsing with the blue and green of India and Pakistan, this was not a weekend for rugby to claim rights to the back pages.
And to be frank, even if the cricket hadn’t been on, the quality of rugby on display was not sufficient to capture any new hearts and minds, nor inspire too many hardcore fans. Nevermind, a long season awaits, along with bigger fish and bigger frypans.
Not that it was all bad – any weekend where you can watch Daniel Carter and David Pocock grace a rugby pitch once again has to be a damn fine weekend.
Pocock certainly got the best of that comparison, stripping fit and keen, his Brumbies looking far more fluid and appealing than at any stage under Jake White. By comparison, Carter looked well short of full fitness as his Crusaders made a typically directionless start to their campaign.
Upset away wins were the order of the round, the Rebels deservedly breaking their overseas duck, and it is clear, even at this early stage, that tipping the South African conference is akin to tossing one’s pay packet on number 36 black and praying for a miracle. Or channelling into a German octopus.
Defending champs the Waratahs were well down on intensity, which was perhaps understandable, but also confidence, which was rather more surprising. The decision not to accept a last minute bonus point penalty was both curious and idiotic. The Force meanwhile will be delighted to know that their fortunes are perhaps not as tied to Matt Hodgson as we all may have thought.
High profile Reds recruit Karmichael Hunt played too deep in attack, perhaps excusable behind a beaten pack, and his bizarre opening kick-off resembled a stabbing, 15-metre drop-punt recalling his time at the Gold Coast Suns. Overall, however, he looks like a tidy, accomplished footballer, who will be good value for Reds fans.
Disappointingly, it seems that the advent of on-field action wasn’t sufficient to put an end to the off-season silliness which, to be fair, dogs all sports. Although, as it happens, Australian rugby is certainly up there with the best at self-inflicted wounding.
Adam Ashley-Cooper became the latest to join the chorus calling for a lift to the exclusion of foreign-based players from Wallabies selection, in particular calling specifically for Kane Douglas to be included for World Cup selection.
A distillation of various quotes essentially narrowed Ashley-Cooper’s reasoning down to: a) Douglas is the just type of hard physical player Australia needs; and b) the policy needs to change to prevent a mass exodus of players.
The first reason is plainly silly. Douglas may well be all those things that Ashley-Cooper claims him to be, but the day a policy as important as this is based on the subjective ability of an individual player will truly be the day to switch the lights out at ARU headquarters for good.
In these pages recently Chris Roche outlined persuasive arguments in support of the current policy which Ashley-Cooper, perhaps typical of todays ‘cake and eat it too’ generation, seems to miss completely. His argument is full of contradictions, on one hand wanting to allow talent to “dip their noses into overseas competitions”, which will in turn “retain the talent we have here in Australian rugby”. Really?
“We have a lot of competition here in terms of codes and there is a lot of competition now overseas. So I think we have to adapt to that,” he continued.
So the way to deal with competition for Australian audiences is to allow players to desert rugby competitions here at will? Perhaps Ashley-Cooper might like to check how that’s working out for South African Super Rugby franchises, and the level of support for domestic rugby.
Another silly season issue to rear its head were the reports that Daryl Gibson may not be considered as NSW Waratahs head coach to replace Michael Cheika, on the grounds that he is from New Zealand.
If anyone who supports this view would care to explain how this wouldn’t represent hypocrisy of the highest order I’m all ears. By that logic how is it that Cheika himself, and Ewen McKenzie before him, should have been allowed to further their coaching experience overseas before coming back to claim the Wallabies position?
Are the good folk of Leinster and Stade Francais suffering still from having had Australian coaches who didn’t have their heart fully in the job? I doubt it.
In case anyone needs reminding of the global world in which we now all operate, switch again out of rugby mode and focus on how Ireland, Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates and others, are currently on our shores, taking on the big boys in the most English of all games.
Passion and tribalism enrich sport, only insofar as it doesn’t extend to petty parochialism. Any NSW rugby board members still drunk on their 2014 success would do well to clear the goggles, check their calendars to remind them it’s 2015, and appoint the best man for the job.
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