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The big wet descended on Hamilton, where Tawera Kerr-Barlow and Damien McKenzie, like two little water rats readying themselves for Noah’s Ark, judiciously chipped the ball into dark corners that rendered the Hurricanes impotent for much of this top-of-the-table clash.
The rain also heralded ‘niggle night’. The Chiefs were targeting TJ Perenara, seemingly on the basis of that old proverb, ‘he who giveth lip shall receiveth plenty in return’. Which worked against them when Perenara scored a remarkable try; giving away around 30 kgs, but with sheer determination and the strength of a sumo wrestler, outmuscling and causing KAOS to replacement prop Sigfried Fisi’ihoi.
The Chiefs, though, were too strong and smart, now three from three with the Rebels up next, looking every inch a championship contender. They can win in tight or out wide, in an arm wrestle or a shoot-out.
The Hurricanes will be less concerned about the loss than the ankle injury to Nehe Milner-Skudder. After two glorified training runs they now know they’re in a real competition, and as the game opened up in the second half they looked more assured than the side that was out-grunted in the first half.
In the light of Steve Smith looking for off-field guidance in India, it was interesting to note a Chiefs trainer running into the action at the end of the game, to pass on instructions from the coaches box. Different game, different rules, but there’s something unedifying about vastly experienced players like Aaron Cruden and Sam Cane waiting around like schoolboys for a trainer to tell them what to do next.
Referee Brendan Pickerill was rightly impatient. Is there another World Rugby guideline in the wind?
Everyone knows of the genius idea that looks great on a whiteboard but turns out rubbish in real life. When Fox Sports’ sideline reporter Natalie Yoannidis bounded onto the field in Canberra to get the inside scoop from Henry Speight, seconds after he scored the opening try, it could have been the birth of one of rugby’s greatest new innovations.
Or not.
I wasn’t exactly expecting Speight to deliver the Gettysburg Address, but whatever he said – and I’d defy the world’s best linguistics expert to decipher it – it was perhaps not quite worth the effort.
At least Henry showed Natalie the courtesy of clearing his nasal passages just before the ‘interview’. Pure comedy gold – albeit in an unintentional, ‘WTF’ kind of way.
Not so funny was Ross Haylett-Petty, just after the Force entered the final ten minutes with momentum and a four-point lead, dropping a late shoulder into halfback Joe Powell. This earned himself an early finish and effectively blew his side’s chance of a famous win. Dumb stuff.
The Brumbies were delighted to finally get their season started, but still have the same problem that has dogged them ever since Jake White’s tenure. They need to do more in broken play if they are to trouble the better sides. Fullback Aidan Toua is a tidy player, and his covering tackle on Chance Peni saved a try, but how about some variation and invention on the kick return?
With the worst of the horrible weather passing, the Blues might have expected to control the ball better than they did against the Highlanders. Alas, coach Tana Umaga learned the hard way that if you’re going to play your flyhalf out of the defensive line, Quade Cooper-style, it’s best to make sure he can catch first. Ihaia West at fullback, rather like the Blues themselves, is a work in progress.
The Blues were also found wanting tactically. After chancing their arm all game from their own 22, when they finally achieved field position and momentum in the 67th minute, it seemed a strange and soft decision not to have a crack from a penalty under the Highlander’s posts.
In the end, the game got a thrilling finish it didn’t deserve. The relieved and undermanned Highlanders hung on for their first win, 16-12.
Reds coach Nick Stiles insisted he wasn’t angry at his side’s last-gasp loss to the Crusaders, and you kind of know where he was going with that. The purpose and effort was noticeably higher than in Perth, and a couple of nice tries were conjured on the way to a 17-0 lead.
But on reflection, he should be cheesed off at a few things. Too much ball being kicked away from the base, and an overly defensive mindset creeping in towards the end, as if they expected the Crusaders to come and take the game away from them, instead of keeping on winning it for themselves.
The Reds also need to get serious about their strategy from penalties; instead of the ball being pumped towards the corners to set up attacking lineouts, what’s the deal allowing Karmichael Hunt to chip the ball only 15m up-field, rugby league-style?
Symptomatic, perhaps, of a side that is improving but doesn’t yet have a ruthless winning edge.
That’s two get out of jail cards used up in two weeks now by the Crusaders. Admittedly hurt by early injuries to key players, they must know that they can’t continue to ride their luck in this way.
For a side that talked all week about putting a focus on improving their defensive effort, the Waratahs were surprisingly lame against the well-organized Sharks, comprehensively going under by 37-14.
Ironically, it was the Sharks’ power and intensity in defence that was the telling difference between the sides, Waratahs runners constantly being manhandled and wrestled backwards by more powerful and committed opponents, forwards and backs.
Sharks centres Andre Esterhuizen and Lukhanyo Am made 21 tackles between them – many of them dominant – compared to their opposites, Irae Simone (three) and Israel Folau (none). At least Folau finally showed some spark with the ball, his second try coming off the back of outstanding commitment by Sekope Kepu, involving himself four times in the lead-up.
Such a shame that that level of commitment wasn’t matched across the park, and so without any go-forward at all, stand-in flyhalf Bryce Hegarty was indecently exposed for options.
Also exposed were the Lions in Buenos Aries by a Jaguares side that is looking far more composed and assured this year. This 36-24 win is perhaps the best in their short Super rugby history, not just because it came against one of the favourites for the title, but because of the manner in which they played – finding a nice balance between backs and forwards. Promising signs.
Promising signs also for the Sunwolves, who led into the final quarter against the Cheetahs, matching them four tries apiece, before succumbing 38-31.
In the Six Nations, rather like a 16-year-old boy on his first date, a tournament which was set-up so enticingly for a memorable climax next weekend in Dublin came to a premature, damp-squib end, with Wales upsetting Ireland 22-9 in Cardiff, then England sending Scotland out the back door 61-21 in a commanding display at Twickenham.
After coming so close against England, Wales will be delighted that they salvaged something tangible from the tournament, although as much as anything they can thank Ireland centre Robbie Henshaw for a moment of madness. He was rightly penalised for rushing in to join a maul ahead of the ball, when Rory Best was going to score anyway.
As good an argument for forwards and backs staying in position and letting each other do their own job as you’ll ever see.
Instead of taking the lead with 13 minutes to go, Ireland were forced to desperately chase the game from deep, coughing up a third try to Wales, and with it their tilt at the title.
Scotland has prospered so far during this Six Nations through playing dynamically, but a combination of England’s defensive organisation and strength, and the Scots losing their nerve on the big stage, meant that a reversion to stodgy, ill-disciplined play meant that they were never in the hunt.
Defensively they spread themselves far too laterally across midfield, where England centre Jonathan Joseph had a field day stepping into acres of space, no doubt disbelieving of the charity the Scots’ defenders were providing him.
Talk of heavy Scottish representation in the Lions touring squad will now have to be dialled back to more sober levels; the Gray brothers, for example, were not equipped physically to handle Courtney Lawes and Joe Launchbury in the close exchanges.
England, despite successive Six Nations titles already in the bank, clearly still have plenty to play for next week; a grand slam plus a world record for consecutive Test wins.
To be frank, this probably suits Ireland better than if the championship was still open. They seem to excel at getting themselves up for one-off wins as opposed to delivering consistent excellence.
To close this week, with a brickbat for Fox Sports. After getting back from a birthday party on Saturday night I settled in to watch the Reds versus Crusaders, which all went swimmingly until the Reds were about to restart the game, leading 20-19 with three minutes to go.
That was the point where the IQ recording came to a sudden halt. Shame for the Reds that the match officials weren’t on the same clock, but really, this programming aspect needs urgent attention; this is not the first time the recorded action has been killed at a crucial, late moment.
Perhaps instead of nonsensical interviews, Fox Sports would do better to concentrate on delivering the basics. Assuming he has his breath back by now, maybe Natalie Yoannidis could ask Henry Speight what he thinks about that?