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Punctuated by an excellent 2015 World Cup, it is arguable that, on field, international rugby has never been in a better place.
After decades of tinkering – adjusting rules to accommodate aesthetic and safety concerns while preserving the fundamental ethos that the game remains a contest for the ball – a suitable balance appears to have been struck that, for the most part, delivers a worthy spectacle.
All the wash-up from Springboks vs Wallabies:
» SPIRO: Wallabies lost to back-to-the-future Boks
» LORD: Steyn’s boot sinks wasteful Wallabies
» Who should replace Sean McMahon?
» DIY Player Ratings results
» Five talking points
» What changes should the Wallabies make for Argentina?
» Match report: Wallabies fall short
» Re-live all the action with our live blog
» Watch highlights from the match
But anybody who awoke from a lengthy coma in time to view the weekends’ Rugby Championship matches could be excused for thinking that the game hasn’t moved on at all. One on hand, Morne Steyn, winning a Test for the Springboks via dropkicks and penalties, on the other, the Pumas locked into a scrum fest, and going down like shot sideshow ducks at the merest hint of contact.
Not to mention the Wallabies scrum disintegrating in the second half. Or Wayne Barnes having no idea what constitutes a forward pass. Talk about back to the future; isn’t all of that how rugby used to be, not how it should be in 2016?
The Wallabies showed their hand early in Pretoria; fluid ball movement and continuity stretching the Springbok defence. But in an ominous throwback to the England series in June, the first quarter would prove to be their high water mark, as their own deficiencies and Springbok tenacity evened the game out.
Harry Jones kindly alerted me during the week to the plight of a 21 year-old New South Wales tradesman, dubbed “Australia’s unluckiest man” after being bitten on the penis by a Redback spider for the second time in five months, however that title now sits with Sean McMahon.
After again being offered a starting position and making every post a winner in the first half, due to his sheer combativeness in both defence and attack, he was slowed just before half-time by an ankle injury, and didn’t re-appear after the break. It was no co-incidence that the Wallabies effort began to wilt with him off the field.
Indeed it was the Wallabies’ fragile set piece which came back to haunt them; three lineouts lost on their throw, and a scrum which, after the obligatory replacements were made at prop, provided nothing more than a source of penalties for the home team.
All of which meant that the Wallabies were largely forced to rely on broken play, where Dane Haylett-Petty excelled, but where Quade Cooper wasn’t able to effectively link with his outsides, despite receiving excellent service once again from Will Genia.
Aside from Scott Sio’s well taken try in the first half, the Wallabies lacked composure in the red zone. Genia too, guilty of twice picking the ball up and coming unstuck, looking for un-needed variations, instead of keeping things simple, picking his target, and firing it straight from the base.
As if to illustrate how the Wallabies game broke down in the second half, Sefanaia Naivalu, straight from Melbourne’s Dewar Shield via the Rebels, became, in the 69th minute, the 900th Wallaby, yet will have to wait for another day for his first touch of the ball in Test rugby.
Milestone games have a habit of coming unstuck more often than providing special memories, however Springbok captain Adriaan Strauss, in his final Test at his home ground, triumphantly found himself in the latter group. It is as if it has taken the announcement of his retirement to allow him to finally step out from the shadow of Bismarck du Plessis; his pilfering and running the outstanding individual contribution to the match.
Not far behind him were loose forwards Francois Louw and Warren Whiteley who, time and again, were pillars in defence, when Australia was pressing for what, in all likelihood, would have been a winning score, given South Africa’s inability to threaten the try line.
During the week I had commented as to whether the selection of the 32 year-old Steyn was a long-term step backwards for South Africa, but an important short-term gain. And so it proved, the oft-maligned Steyn showing the cool temperament and level competence at playmaker that has been missing from Elton Jantjies’ play this series.
The game itself became a very stop-start affair and will be quickly forgotten; not always the fault of Barnes, a plethora of injury stoppages marking a dour second half.
Argentine No. 8 Facundo Isa, with the most running metres by a forward in this Rugby Championship, started this game minus three, courtesy of a huge bump backwards by Brodie Retallick from the kick-off. By game’s end however, he had righted the ledger again, and by plenty.
This was typical Pumas; playing much of the rugby, threatening with ball in hand, nailing some nice spot tackles, yet through small concentration lapses and skill errors, finding themselves well behind on the scoreboard; the match effectively over at halftime with the All Blacks ahead by 29-3.
Typical was captain Augustin Creevy throwing a defensive 5m lineout straight to his counterpart, Keiran Read – almost like it was a planned move – which resulted in an easy try to Ryan Crotty.
Crotty was one who will be well pleased with his match, his combination with Anton Lienert-Brown looking very self-assured.
An unwelcome ‘blast from the past’ was attention-deprived assistant referee, Stuart Berry, twice making a nuisance of himself on the field, holding the game up for lengthy periods, which contributed to an unsatisfactory, disjointed second half.
His second intervention, for a dominant Patrick Tuipolotu tackle that occurred many metres from where he was positioned, recalled the ghosts of touch judges past; people like Stuart Dickinson, individuals who never seemed happy unless they managed to exert some type of influence on the match, regardless of whether their involvement was justified or not.
Thankfully for Tuipolotu his game will be judged by Steve Hansen, not Berry, and on the evidence of his smashing defence, high work-rate and strong running, he will surely receive a high commendation. For a player who cruelly missed the world cup and has since had limited opportunities, this was a timely reminder of his quality and, once again, of the All Black’s depth.
At the other end of the scale, Liam Squire marked his game with two spells in the sin bin, some ineffective running and a poor handling error towards the end; at a point where the All Blacks were desperate to retain possession and recapture their running game.
That they were unable to do so was full credit to Argentina who – when Ben Smith crossed for his try early in the second half – were in danger of an embarrassing defeat. While their tactics may have comprised more than a dollop of score limitation – and they never really threatened to dominate the All Blacks’ scrum to the extent they hoped – they successfully got on the right side of the officials, and threw the All Blacks right off their game for the final thirty minutes.
If only they could get some of the ugly staging and diving out of their game. They are a side that, one feels, many would like to adopt as their ‘second team’, but can’t do so while unseemly play-acting remains part of their psyche.
So the match finished with both sides, in all probability, reasonably happy with the outcome; the All Blacks for playing purposefully and accurately when the match needed to be won, and the Pumas for winning the second half, and finishing far more strongly than they did in Hamilton.
There was also a ray of light for the Wallabies at the end of this match, Isa leaving the field looking very sore and potentially in doubt for next weeks’ clash in London. Not that Michael Cheika would wish ill of any opposition player, but on a Ryder Cup weekend, where the biggest roar of the day from the Hazeltine National home crowd was for Rory McIlroy dumping his approach into the water on the 16th, cheering for the misfortune of your opponent seems fitting.
In the NRC, what loomed as a pleasant, sunny afternoon in suburban Melbourne turned out to be a challenging exercise in (literally) keeping one’s hat on, a vicious wind barreling straight down the Harlequins ground.
Things started badly for Melbourne when Dom Shipperley, restored after a long injury break, pounced on a loose ball 15m from his own line and kicked ahead, only to see it roll touch in goal some 90m away.
The Western Sydney Rams handled the conditions far better – with and against the win – and fully deserved to take the Horan Little Shield back to Sydney with them, by a whopping 68-30. They are very well coached, triple try scorer Tyrone Viiga is a beast and halfback Waldo Wessels directed play superbly.
The match was a sobering reality check for the Rising, who will need to be far smarter and committed if they are to challenge through the finals.
There was concern after the match for referee Ed Martin, whose arm was in a perpetual state of signaling advantage or a penalty to the Rams. Let’s hope the operation to restore flexion to his elbow is successful.
Brisbane City also fell foul of their referee, Rohan Hoffman, doing themselves no favours in going down 60-22 to Perth; Ben McCalman having a field day on the ball.
On Saturday Queensland Country broke their duck, holding on 40-38 against ladder leaders NSW Country. Anyone who believes that the NRC is a manufactured competition which lacks meaning, obviously hasn’t seen the reaction of the Queensland boys at the final siren.
Meanwhile, in Sydney, the Irae Simone bandwagon gathered more fans, the Sydney Rays having fun and looking slick, 58-14 over the Canberra Vikings. Forget ‘Back to the Future’, an ‘NRC All-Stars’ centre combination of Simone and Iziah Perese is the future.