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Another round of Super Rugby is under the belt with plenty of highlights and action from all over the Southern Hemisphere. The Australians continue to struggle, while an unexpected dark horse arises. Here are five talking points from Round 5 of Super Rugby.
Are the Jaguares serious finals contenders?
In their debut season in Super Rugby last year, the Jaguares won just four games from 15 Rounds, finishing at the wrong end of the standings.
While expansion into Argentina was a massive boost for rugby in that country, a season like that doesn’t instil a lot of confidence in the fans, players or administration.
Fast forward to Round 5 of this season, and the Jaguares have already racked up those four wins and currently sit in the finals wildcard position after a win over the struggling Reds this week.
The Jaguares dominated the bulk of the game and genuinely looked like a top side of the competition. That could have something to do with the Reds not looking like one at the moment, but you gotta give credit where credit is due.
Their only loss so far after one-third of the season was against the undefeated Stormers in Round 2, other than that, they sit second in the South African Group by just a single bonus point.
They’ve scored the third most points out of all 18 teams in the competition as well, with their wins all mostly high-scoring affairs. They average over 32 points per game, while also conceding the second lowest amount of points among the South African Group.
Some may blow it off as misleading early season form, but there’s no reason why the Jaguares can’t play finals footy this year, especially if they keep playing the way they are.
It certainly helps that they don’t play any of the New Zealand sides all season, so the window is certainly open for them to climb through.
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The Brumbies problems with finishing off a game
Pushing aside a superb second half effort against the Waratahs in Round 4, the Brumbies have shown a serious flaw in their game across the opening rounds of this season.
They gave up a 73rd minute try to the Highlanders this week to go down 18 points to 13 at home, earning them their third loss from five games.
Their inability to finish off the contest and come out on top in a close game has cost them in all three defeats now.
They lost by just four against the Crusaders away from home, which is a feat in itself, but when they created the opportunities to take the lead late in the game, they fell over themselves.
At home this time against the Sharks, the Brumbies conceded a try in open play from halfway after full time when the scores were level to lose the game 27-22.
And now this week, holding a two-point lead for nearly half an hour before finally letting the Highlanders in inside the dying minutes.
They haven’t been playing terrible rugby, after all, they’ve got themselves in these winning positions to start with, but they can’t afford to keep running out of gas to close so the finish line.
In the midst of a struggling Australian Conference, every win is key for a finals berth because there won’t be a wildcard spot up for grabs.
When are the Aussie teams going to start beating someone other than themselves?
From a combined 22 games, across five teams, Australian sides have won just six games so far this season. Only one of those 22 games has been a win against a team outside of Australia.
When James Tuttle crossed the line for the Reds in the 71st minute against the Sharks to win the game for the Reds in a tight 28-26 affair, hopes were high for the Australian sides to be, at the least, competitive this season.
Since then, though, the only time an Australian side has won a game, is because they were facing another Aussie side, and someone has to win!
There are problems all over the place in Australian rugby, on the field and off, especially with the grey cloud of losing a team hanging over the majority of teams down under.
Performances on the park have been less than ideal and it’s showing in the results. Australia is simply a rung below the standard at the moment and they just can’t compete.
The Brumbies have come close a few times to bagging big wins, but that point has been covered. The Waratahs have been a shell of their 2014 championship season, showing glimpses of potential in their second half blitz of the Rebels.
The Reds and Force have just one win this season, with the Reds the only side looking half decent at times away from home.
The Rebels are still winless and look likely to either be scrapped or merged at this point.
Australia’s Super Rugby sides won’t be a threat this season at all unless they can find a way to win away from home, and against someone out of their own country.
Crusaders finally get a simple win, now who can stop them?
The Crusaders have been touted as the comeback kings already this season after a string of unnerving performances that have successfully given their fans collective heart attacks.
The aforementioned match against the Brumbies was a tight one, to say the least, but it all started in Round 2 with a magical win over the Highlanders.
They scored two tries in the final five minutes to steal a three-point win from the jaws of defeat, before repeating the feat one week later against the Reds.
Turning around a 17-0 deficit to win the game, they once again scored in the dying moments with a 76th minute try to take the two-point lead that would give them a 22-20 victory.
Just to confirm these were no flukes, the Blues became the next victim. The ‘Saders came back from a 21-5 halftime deficit, once again scoring two tries inside the final ten minutes to win the game despite looking for all money like going down.
They finally got a straightforward win this week, cruising past the Force in a 45-17 demolition job. They’ve proven they can win from any and all positions in the game, meaning they are now the team to beat in Super Rugby at the moment.
Who can possibly stop them at this stage? The Chiefs and Stormers are also undefeated but have played fewer games. The Crusaders aren’t likely to run an undefeated season, but they’re looking damn good so far.
More tries being scored on the goal post padding
This has happened before this season, and Digger was keen to bring it up back in Round 3 when the Crusaders were the beneficiary of a strange, but completely legal, play in rugby.
You’re allowed to plant the ball on the padding that surrounds the posts and it will count as a try. It’s a rule that has always been there but caused some contention. I’m neither here nor there on the matter, but I can see how people wouldn’t like it.
The ball is planted short of the line when being placed at the bottom of the padding, which you would assume meant no try, and it’s also a nightmare for defence because it’s pretty much impossible to stop.
You can’t defend or stop the ball because you’re either behind the post or next to it, either way, there’s a post in your way and the attacker has a pretty clean path to it coming from the front.
It happened twice this weekend. Matt Todd came bouncing out of the back of the ruck close to the line, bumping into the right post as the defence tried to get around.
Then again for the Bulls with big man Lizo Gqoboka actively looking for the padding before the pick and go close to the line. You can see on the replay that he looks at it multiple times before going at it.
It’s an extremely smart play in attack, but it’s extremely harsh on the defence who really have no way of avoiding it.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.