Yesterday we looked at the Rebels’ first year in Super Rugby as a team. Today, we’ll look at some outstanding individual performances:
Ged Robinson was a revelation at hooker, working hard in attack and defence, as well as doing a sound job at set pieces. He would be in my New Zealand World Cup squad.
Gareth Delve thoroughly deserved to be recalled to Wales World Cup squad. Tireless on the field and a leader to whom the rest of the team listened. His season was marred only by conceding a lot of penalties in later matches.
Jarrod Saffy will go close to World Cup selection for Australia.
A non-stop worker, he just needs a little more guidance about how to contest breakdowns.
Nick Phipps is close to the second-best halfback in Australia. A good, tough defender, his long pass is better than Burgess’, and he clears the ball more reliably. He needs to work on his attack.
Mark Gerrard oozed class, especially at fullback. Good defender, great kicker, good step and fend in attack. May be the answer to Australia’s outside-centre problem given he spent much of the season there (unlike Ashley-Cooper).
Greg Somerville showed he was still capable of getting parity with – or superiority over – any loosehead prop. Not so successful when switched from tighthead to loosehead. His value was shown by how many minutes he played. His retirement will be a big loss.
Hugh Pyle was a surprise but played as well as any second-rower in the middle part of the season. On the fringe of the World Cup squad.
Of the other players:
Richard Kingi showed the value of the sevens program in developing players’ ability to beat an opponent one-on-one and to know how and when to link with teammates. He deservedly played at wing and fullback even though lacking some positional skills.
Stirling Mortlock is still a great defender but his contribution in attack was much more limited. Alas, age (and a string of serious injuries) looks as though it is wearying him. May not play much next year if Cipriani stays. (O’Connor to inside centre, Gerrard at outside centre, Beale at fullback, Kingi and Vuna on the wings.)
Luke Rooney was a disappointment.
I never saw him play league but expected much more of someone who played Origin and for Australia. It wasn’t that he was bad but I expected something more than average: speed perhaps, a step, a good fend, a big boot, exceptional defence, but there were none of those.
Now to wait and see what happens next year.
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