Super 14 is so much more watchable this season

Queensland Reds player Digby Ione breaks through. AAP Image/Dave Hunt

My lovely wife, a self-labelled cricket widow (and for another two weeks at least, dear), who doubles as my chief proof-reader, has stated in recent weeks that she was getting a little tired of reading about cricket. I guess that’s fair enough, it has been a long summer.

This meant, as I explained to her at a lovely new Indian restaurant on Friday night, that I would need to watch a good deal of rugby if I’m to switch sports for the first time in 2010.

I don’t make the rules, honey, that’s just how it is.

So with those successful negotiations out of the way, I primed myself for a big day of rugby on Saturday, taking in the Australian teams in action.

With the breakdown interpretations swapping from the defending side having the advantage in 2009, to the attacking side in 2010, I thought it might be a worthwhile exercise to watch each game focussing on the loose forwards in each side, in the hope of seeing which Australian team has adjusted to the new interpretations the best.

And so, the alarm went off at an ungodly hour for a Saturday, and while the kettle boiled, I tuned in for the Brumbies taking on the Stormers in Cape Town.

I was very keen to watch how Rocky Elsom, George Smith and Stephen Hoiles operated as a unit.

Initially, I thought the Stormers actually dominated the breakdown, with the Brumbies seeming to take their time to get into the ruck contests. Smith conceded an early penalty, no doubt trying to find the referee’s limits, and it was interesting to hear the South African commentators proclaim “that was perfect rugby from George Smith there, if it was 2009.”

From that point on, the Brumbies were more purposeful in contesting the ruck, with Smith very deliberate in releasing the tackled player, and Elsom trying to stand in the tackle, holding the player up wherever possible, which allowed extra players entering the ruck contest a “free shot” at the ball without having to release the player. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.

Hoiles wasn’t quite as prevalent in the ruck contest as Smith and Elsom, but he was making up for this in attack, where he was playing the link role between forwards and backs very well. Elsom was also at his usual rollicking best in broken play.

By halftime, the 6-6 score highlighted how tight the game was. The Stormers had all the possession, but the Brumbies had the territory. I thought though that the Stormers were getting more impact from their locks in attack, and as a result, their pick-and-drive was much more effective.

Several times in attack they got past the seventh phase, where by contrast, I can’t recall the Brumbies getting to the seventh phase at all. Mark Chisholm and Ben Hand seemed to be in the shadow of their Stormers opposites all game.

In the second half, I noted that Smith and Elsom were both playing the “fetcher” type game, just concentrating on the ruck ball, and Smith was starting to win turnovers.

The ruck contest was keenly fought all through the second half, and clear dominance was still hard to establish.

It was probably fitting that a loitering Smith took the late intercept for the first try of the game in the 77th minute, and while the Brumbies did their best to throw the win away after fulltime, they will undoubtedly take the tight 19-17 win. Back to bed for a couple of hours, then.

After a day of cricket, I settled in for the evening on the couch.

The Reds were returning to the home of Queensland rugby at a wet but very well-attended Ballymore, taking on the Auckland-based Blues. Youngster Jake Schatz, former Blue Daniel Braid, and Scott Higginbotham were the 6-7-8 focus for the Reds.

The wet track at Ballymore should have meant a tighter contest, but surprisingly (pleasantly so), both teams seemed keen to play their natural attacking games.

For the first half, I had the Blues in front at the breakdown, and in general actually. They seemed to have more intent in the ruck contest, and I noted that the Reds’ backrow “unit” wasn’t as obvious as the Brumbies’ was.

In the second half, and though down 13-8 at halftime, the Blues started making big ground through a dominant pick-and-drive, and this led to their second try. Schatz followed on his impressive debut last week with another strong showing – and looks a prospect – but Braid’s moment of laziness at the lineout, that led to Blues scrumhalf Alby Mathewson’s easy try, highlighted his hot and cold night.

Higginbotham was quiet in my view, and his replacement, Leroy Houston, had little impact.

The Reds lifted at the breakdown in the lead-up to their second try, from a well-executed rolling maul, but the Blues were never really threatened in the end, and a late try sealed the 27-18 win.

From a wet Brisbane, it was then over to a very hot Perth, with the Western Force taking on the Chiefs of the Waikato, returning from South Africa.

The 6-7-8 focus for the Force would be young Ben McCalman, Matt Hodgson, and Sam Wykes, possibly the only player on the field with more hair than the tour-inspired hirsute Chiefs.

McCalman and Hodgson were very strong from the outset, with Hodgson especially in everything. Despite conceding a few breakdown penalties, the Force backrow featured heavily in both attack and defence, winning turnovers and counter-rucking well.

But that seemed to be it for the Force, and a poor lineout and some ill-discipline at the ruck let them down in the second half. The Chiefs looked comfortable very early after the break, and ultimately their pressure at the contest gave them the platform to break-out into counter-attack at will.

The Chiefs’ bonus-point try looked inevitable in the end, and was the perfect answer to Ryan Cross’ wrong-place-right-time late intercept try. 37-19 was pretty indicative of the Chiefs’ performance.

Overall, I thought the Force’s backrow looked pretty good, a lot more cohesive than what I’d seen from the Reds. McCalman and Hodgson had good games, and while Wykes was pretty handy in the ruck, I thought he didn’t offer much in attack.

I decided that sleep was in order at this point, and also reached that the conclusion that the Waratahs’ previous displays didn’t really deserve my audience at any hour, let alone at 2am from South Africa.

So as a result, I can’t really make comment on the ‘Tahs backrow game against the Bulls, though I was happy to see in the highlights that NSW coach Phil Waugh has allowed the concept of try-scoring to enter his game-plan.

From reading early reactions from the Tah-alligned Roarers, it seems blindside flanker Ben Mowen was very good in the 48-38 loss to the Bulls, and I was pleased to see a return to form from Wallaby scrum-half Luke Burgess.

The Australian sides have taken to these new breakdown interpretations fairly well on the whole, and happily, the Super 14 games are certainly much more watchable than they were this time last year.

However, it’s maybe a little early to tell which teams are handling the interpretation change better. Like the teams in general, the “loosies” are all still taking their time to adjust, and thus are still a bit hot and cold.

The next month will be key for all four teams, and whoever adjusts the best could quite likely find themselves in finals contention.