SPIRO: Bragging right for both Reds and Brumbies - and the Waratahs

The Reds and Brumbies top of the Super Rugby table match at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night was of Test match quality and intensity. Two strong sides, both well-coached, playing differing styles went at each other like two boxers fighting for a world championship.

In the end the match was drawn, but both sides got something out of it.

The Reds with their three tries proved to themselves, their supporters and to the Brumbies (which is probably more important) that despite the negative tactics used by their opponents they could score tries against the strongest defensive system (thanks to the rugby league expert Brian Smith) in the tournament.

If the Reds had shown more composure and a bit more willingness to go wide when close to the tryline instead of bashing away, they could/should have scored three more tries at least.

Skipper James Horwill, who was magnificent as a storming, mauling skipper made a number of tactical mistakes by turning down at least 10 (probably more) kickable penalties to go for mauling drives from 5 metre lineouts. In general, it is a bad principle to give away easy points as Horwill did.

Occasionally teams have to go for the try, but when Horwill did it time after time again there was plenty of time left in the match. Ewen McKenzie, albeit in a roundabout way, made this point at the after-match interview.

For the Brumbies, there was a sense of mission virtually completed. They kept their points margin over the Reds intact, even though they were playing at their fortress.

But it was a close run thing for the Brumbies, even though they were leading throughout the match and the Reds had to score seven points at the end to get their draw. The Brumbies were, as the British commentators like to say, ‘under the cosh’ for long periods of time. To their credit, they scrambled their way out of danger time after time.

But they had to do this with two players yellow-carded, and with a different referee they could easily have had more players yellow-carded. There was what could be called a successful form of cynicism in the way the Brumbies killed the ball.

No one was more adroit than extending the latitude of laws more than the wily, brilliant veteran George Smith. Smith flirted with offside time after time, backed away, pushed forward and occasionally fell over the tackled player and killed the ruck and was seldom punished for what seemed like violations.

I have no doubt that if, say, Richie McCaw, had done even half of what Smith did against a Brumbies side then their supporters would have been screaming their heads off with cheating allegations.

This should not be read as a criticism of Glen Jackson, the youngish New Zealand referee. I thought he handled what was a tough game, with gamesmanship and hectoring from both sides, extremely well. As a former player, Jackson’s instinct is to let the players sort things out. He seems to have a reluctance to dish out yellow cards, and this is a good thing in my opinion.

Wayne Smith pointed out in The Australian that Jackson gives fewer penalties than the other referees in the tournament. Good. He also pointed out that the Brumbies and the Reds are among the most penalised sided in the tournament. Not so good.

If either of these sides gets a bloody-minded referee (no names, no pack drill) in, say, one of their finals, they could be refereed out of a crucial match.

I know this will draw the wrath of the passionate Brumbies supporters (is there any other kind?) on my head but I don’t think they can continue with the present strategy of killing opposition attacks near their line by whatever it takes for the second half of the tournament and the finals and continue to flourish with victories.

The point here is that they don’t have to do this. They have some brilliant attacking players (Jesse Mogg was the standout runner in the match) and some terrific systems to get runners into space and this needs to be the driving force for them going into the second half of the tournament.

Every Sunday I get an email from the media officers of the various Super Rugby franchises. They invariably make interesting reading as an indication of how the rugby media is being massaged.

The Reds media release had this headline: Queensland Reds score three in draw with the Brumbies.

‘The Reds produced an entertaining and highly physical brand of Rugby to score three tries… although (they) would consider themselves unlucky not to walk away with the victory after crossing the tryline on three other occasions only to come away empty handed… Long periods of sustained attacking pressure forced the Brumbies to commit 12 of their 16 penalties, although they were twice punished with yellow cards…’

You get the point in all of this. The Reds were bitter, and you could see this in McKenzie’s comments, about the fact they tried to play, often succeeding, expansive rugby and could only get a draw against a side that was determined to defend their way rather than attack their way to a victory.

The Brumbies media release had this headline: Defence decides draw in battle of Brisbane.

‘Despite scoring three tries to one and face two 10-minute spells of 14 men, the Reds couldn’t put the Brumbies away in a game they never led but constantly challenged… When you see a defence effort like that you have to be proud,’ Head Coach Jack White said.’

This match also was a sort of trial for the Wallabies squad in the three-Test against the British and Irish Lions in June.

Let’s cut to the chase here. Every player on the field advanced their cause, some perhaps more than others. The standouts though were Mogg, Goerge Smith and Christian Lealiifano for the Brumbies. Will Genia, James Horwill and Liam Gill were standouts for the Reds.

Robbie Deans was asked after the match how he rated the players and, typically, he was non-committal especially about Smith. My feeling is that that he may use Smith as a super sub able to play any of the back row positions.

He did single out Lealiifano, however, and noted that his goal-kicking was strong. I don’t know what to read in this. But an James O’Connor – Lealiifano combinations in what the New Zealanders call the five-eighths has a certain appeal.

Quade Cooper neither advanced his case significantly, nor did he detract from it either. Greg Martin, who rather sheepishly was one of the post-match interviewers of Deans, did not especially push the case of a player who he said a week or ago could only not play for the Wallabies if there was some New Zealand plot to undermine the side from Deans.

Cooper had a mid-field tackle, punted well and passed a beauty of a long cutout ball to put Rod Davies in in the corner. He was knocked over, though, from time to time by Brumbies runners.

My guess is that on May 19 when the 25-man Wallabies squad is announced that Cooper will not be in it but will come in (if at all) with the last six to be named later.

The point about the Will Genia-Cooper combination is that in the form Genia is in virtually any of the number 10s playing in the Australian Conference would look good.

Genia is far and away the best halfback in world rugby. He is well on his way to becoming one the best-ever Australian halfbacks which will make him an all-time great.

You get a sense of how good Genia is when you compare him with other good halfbacks, like Andy Ellis of the Crusaders.

Part of the problem with the expansive game that the Crusaders are trying to play is that Ellis, a Rugby World Cup-winning All Black, doesn’t have the snappy passing and running game to give the back line the energy it needs to light up.

Finally, a word or two about the Waratahs. They made the Chiefs look very ordinary. They were full of running. At last the all-Wallaby pack lived up to their reputations and played as a unit that had an international quality about it.

I loved, too, the fact that the backs unleashed a couple of killer set moves that had the Chiefs (with their defence coach being the famous ‘real’ Wayne Smith) totally flumoxed.

The rare time the Wararahs kicked, the ball went out on the full. Most of the time the ball was kept in hand with hard-shouldered forward runs and slick passing among the backs. Israel Folau was brilliant on attack and defence. He is an X-factor player who doesn’t seem to make mistakes.

He took a kick-pass from Bernard Foley in the clinical manner he used to do the same in his rugby league days for Queensland in State of Origin matches. I think that he is a good chance of making the Test squad, if not the Test side, for the matches against the Lions.

The Waratahs, despite their slow start to the season, was now in equal-sixth position on the table, with the Sharks and Cheetahs, and a point ahead of the Crusaders!

I don’t believe they will make the finals this year. They will probably struggle in South Africa where they play the Bulls next week at Pretoria. But they are becoming a dangerous spoiler team and, if progress continues, a definite finals prospect in 2014.