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The sooner Gareth Delve is made the Rebels captain the better. Sorry Stirlo, but what I observed at Suncorp was not leadership material.
In the face of a team (Reds) properly and aggressively attacking the breakdown, there was no response, and no adjustment to this obvious strategy.
A captain’s options in this scenario are to keep the ball in tight and run in pods, supporting the ball carrier until a break, a misread, or fatigue slows the responses, and then capitalise on that opportunity. Or, conversely, to pass twice to a straight runner, who will be backed up by the two passers at the next breakdown.
Not one thing on the field that night said to any observer that the on-field leadership had read the opposition and done the necessary tweaking.
Rod McQueen has always tried to inspire leadership in his players, and only the politics of having a Welshman leading an Australian Super 15 side must be holding him back.
I have only seen what everyone else has seen on the field and what is available over the ‘net, but in Gareth, the Rebels have a natural leader who appears to be a laid-back, easy-going bloke, who plays his rugby hard, clean and skillfully.
He appears to have a very sound rugby-brain and deserves the vice-captaincy.
As the games against the Sharks and Brumbies suggest, this team is capable of being more than just a thorn or a road bump, and it is glaringly obvious that what is missing is the voice of reason – if Stirlo is not the man the pass the mantle on to someone else.
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