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It used to be when you put some stumps into the ground for an important game of cricket that the drought was broken. Now, at least for the Waratahs, it’s playing a game of rugby.
Three of their four Super 14 matches this season have been played in the rain.
They’ve trained for a couple of months with rain on most days. So it is hardly a surprise that they’ve won their rain-affected matches, including the derby match against the Brumbies, and lost their only dry-field match against the Chiefs at Hamilton.
NSW Waratahs 24 – ACT Brumbies 17
Just as the Waratahs-Brumbies match started on Friday night, the rain started to fall. At various times during the match the rain intensified. This is probably a good enough excuse why the skill levels of both teams was down. And it probably explains why both sides were obsessed about kicking the ball away at virtually every opportunity. They kept at their kicking even though several tries were scored by charge downs.
The Brumbies flattered to deceive with last week’s sparkling performance. Against the Waratahs, and away from their fanatical home crowd support, they retreated disappointingly into a defensive and kicking mode. The ensemble play that destroyed the Reds was not sighted. In the end, despite some great line kicking from Mark Gerrard, the Brumbies deserved to lose because they didn’t venture to win. You don’t win big games by kicking the ball into touch.
Queensland Reds 16 – Stormers (RSA) 34
The less said about the Reds pathetic play against the Stormers the better.
Western Force 24 – Canterbury Crusaders 29
The Australian standout team of the round was the Western Force. At one stage in their epic battle with the Crusaders they held a 24 -12 win. Then the Crusaders won a series of crucial scrums. Who says the ELVs take traditional play out of the equation? The Crusaders comeback was based on a dominating scrum. Then chances were created and scoring opportunities taken.
But the Western Force were in the game right up to the final plays when they ran a series of phases attacking the Crusaders try line. It took all the famed Crusader defensive power and resilience to keep out the wave after wave of Force attacks. In the end a pass went astray and the Crusaders were the winners.
If any vindication is needed that the ELVs are a tonic for the rugby game this dramatic, well-played match provides one of several affirmations (the Chiefs-Cheetahs, the Hurricanes-Highlanders, and the Sharks-Blues being other matches in the round, too) that the changes improve the quality of the real rugby being played by allowing teams of different styles to play to those styles.
Player of the round: Ryan Cross