Giant steaks, refereeing, and who will win the Super 14

The Western Force finishes the season with three games in South Africa. Maintaining success on longer trips away is always a tricky thing to do – with coaches and strength and conditioners all having their own theories about the best way for teams to get their bodies and minds in the right space to perform well. It was interesting to find out that the Bulls have never won the last game on their Australia and New Zealand legs.

We had a bit of a practice run in January, playing the Stormers and Sharks in Cape Town in a pre-season tournament.

Hopefully this helps us on this trip.

As a group, we are excited about the opportunity to continue to improve in the last few games, and there is still plenty to play for.

We arrived in Johannesburg on Wednesday morning, after getting off the red-eye from Perth. The day was spent doing yoga, a swimming recovery session, and then meetings and weights in the afternoon to ensure everyone stayed up and active to try and get our bodies adjusted to the time zone.

That evening we ventured out for a team dinner to the Butchers Shop, famous for their oversize steaks and great food. And they definitely didn’t disappoint.

Led by the frontrowers, almost everyone enjoyed a big steak, with a few battling to finish theirs (these few were NOT in any way members of the Front Rowers Union).

As a team being out of the finals, I can say that there is certainly no lack of motivation to play well and win.

I have no doubt a lot of teams in the lower half of the table are ruing missed opportunities and “what could have beens” had they performed to their potential in more games. In the Super 14, there are no guaranteed wins – any team is capable of beating a top four team on their day.

Seeing the Highlanders upset the Waratahs this morning is just more proof of this.

It’s a great weekend of rugby and a few key games with teams vying for finals spots coming head to head should make it even more interesting.

I think it’d be hard to not pick the Stormers this year, especially if they secure a home semi final.

I have been very impressed with their loose forward trio’s work at the breakdown this year. Their shift from playing the ball to playing the man has paid dividends and gets the refs on side.

I also like the look of the Reds, if they can maintain their solid defence in the last few games and keep their squad injury free. Their attack seems to look after itself, with Quade Cooper directing traffic.

A lot has been said about the referees this year and how much of an influence they have on games. And I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion.

They are in the same boat as players in the professional era – earning a living from how well they are judged to be doing their job. And I think that as long as they are accountable for their performances (which they are – although possibly more transparency with the rugby public would reduce some of the angst around the issue?), people who criticize them should put their hands up and climb the refereeing ranks to do a better job.

We know refs are not cheats: they sometimes just have a bad game. And don’t we all. I think we should all cut them some slack.