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Digby Ioane of the Reds charges through the defense of Robert Ebersohn of the Cheetahs , during their Super Rugby match in Brisbane, Australia, Saturday, March 26, 2011. The Queensland Reds defeated the Cheetah's 41-8. (AP Photo/Patrick Hamilton)
The sight of disgruntled, shocked Stormers supporters filing silently out of their stadium like mourners leaving a funeral with five minutes of play remaining and the Reds leading 19-6 was a moment of sheer delight capped off a splendid day for Australian rugby.
The Brumbies had defeated (just) the hapless Hurricanes. Then the Waratahs kept their finals chances open with an emphatic, four-try (their third of the season) victory over the Western Force.
But these achievements of the Brumbies and the Waratahs were a much smaller consequence and merit than the win by a pacey, pumped, well-coached, hard-shouldered in running and tackling Reds side.
To defeat any South African side in South Africa is a notable achievement. But to defeat the top South African side which was unbeaten in its previous six matches in front of their wildly-partisan supporters, and to do so absolutely convincingly with a South African referee officiating, must be regarded as one of the great Super Rugby victories by an Australian team.
The Reds had a smart game plan based on vigorous contesting of the rucks and mauls, a strong scrum, shrewd defensive play at the lineout to counter their rolling mauls, intelligent kicking for position and chasing and a smart series of plays to run back the predictable Stormers kicking game.
It is a pleasure to write in appreciation of the tactical guile that went into this game plan by Ewen McKenzie.
As an aside, why couldn’t he achieve a similar sort of all-field game, with aggressive, hard-running forwards and backs, with the Waratahs?
Dare I point to the leadership of the Waratahs, especially the influence of Phil Waugh, as an inhibiting factor.
There is also the consideration that you can devise the smartest game plans going around but you need the team to have the guts and the skills to carry them out. The Reds forwards hunted like a pack of snarling wolves and generally won the collisions and the battle for the advantage line.
Will Genia was smart, accurate and quick with his passing (unlike the procrastinating Luke Burgess). Genia defused several of the Stormers bombs in the manner of Fourie du Preez. Occasionally, too, he popped kicks over the top for the Reds wingers to chase and harry the Stormers defenders. On this form, Genia is taking over from du Preez as the best halfback in world rugby.
Quade Cooper, too, played one of his best matches. There was none of the nonsense of kick-passes inside his own dead-ball area. Nor were there self-serving little chips. He ran on to Genia’s passes and distributed the ball beautifully, long, short, hard and soft.
I once described him as the Picasso of the Pass, and this game demonstrated once again the truth of this sweeping generalisation.
Most of all, Cooper under-played his hand. What he did was brilliant, as usual. But it was an efficient brilliance.
The Reds backs always had the Stormers off-balance with their attacks based on Cooper’s subtle weighting of his pass.
The point here is that Cooper is always at his best when, to mix a metaphor, he swims within the flags.
Next Saturday, the Reds play the Bulls at Brisbane. They will have the disadvantage of having to come back from South Africa while their opponents only have to come across from New Zealand.
People who know about these things tell me that this journey back from South Africa is tougher for players than going the other way. Bouying the spirit of the Reds is the fact that they come back from South Africa with two victories under their belt.
The Bulls, too, will be somewhat shattered by the thrashing administered to them by the rampant Crusaders side, without Richie McCaw or Daniel Carter.
Carter’s back-up Matt Berquist is the epitome of the journeyman professional rugby player. He has been undistinguished in New Zealand provincial ITM rugby. He has not been able to hold down a starting position in a Super Rugby side.
But, aside from the missed kicks at goal which would have given the Crusaders a 40-point total, he played splendidly.
What is it in the Crusaders coaching set-up that gets the best out of virtually all their players? On a higher level, the play of Sonny Bill Williams at inside centre has been nothing short of sensational this season.
The Crusaders pulled off a terrific set piece move, orchestrated by Berquist, to put Sonny Bill through to score a blazing try which virtually sealed the fate of the Bulls, even though it was early in the match.
I thought the only tactical mistake the Crusaders made was to do a different move (which didn’t come off) from the same set-up later on in the match. This business of what move to pull and when involves bluff and counter-bluff.
When a move is successful, do it again because the opposition is expecting something different.
The Wallabies did this in RWC 1991 against Ireland to pull the game out of the fire.
What we have now in Super Rugby 2011 is the cream rising to the top. The Reds and the Crusaders are at the top on 30 points. A point here is that the Crusaders forfeited playing the Hurricanes and gained only 2 points instead of 4 or 5.
The Stormers are on 29, but they are yet to play matches out of South Africa.
The Waratahs are on 27 having defeated all the Australian sides, including the Reds at Sydney. Then there are three sides on 25 points, the Blues, the Highlanders and the Sharks. The defending champions the Bulls are on 21 points.
These eight sides look like the obvious contenders for the six finals positions. One side from each conference must play in the finals. This leaves three positions open.
The South African conference has three finals possibilities, but two at most (the Stormers and Sharks) will be a good result for the conference.
The New Zealand conference has three teams that could cannibalise each other’s possible points tallies. The Highlanders have over-achieved this season and you’d expect them to start losing a few games when tougher opponents are confronted.
A crucial match next round though is the Blues-Waratahs contest at Eden Park. Whoever wins this match, will go through to the finals, at least, you’d think.
In Australia the match of the round is the Reds-Bulls contest.
The Reds are targeting six straight wins, something they have never achieved before in Super Rugby. A win will also give the Reds victories over all four of their South African opponents, an achievement that few teams have been able to pull off.