Nine observations from week one of the Rugby Championship

With the sheer amount of rugby that is played these days I found myself losing interest towards the latter stages of the Super Rugby competition. However, international rugby is back and wow, was this a weekend of entertainment!

After watching Bledisloe and the Springboks vs Los Pumas game (both games live broadcast and highlights at least twice), some observations:

1. Richie McCaw is a Jedi Master
There can be no other explanation for his longevity and miraculous skill in the dark happenings at the bottom of rucks.

I counted at least three turnovers including one five or so metres out from the All Black tryline in the second half.

Add prolific tryscoring, his rapport with the ref, his tactical acumen and advantage-line breaking ball-carrying and it’s probably not an exaggeration to name McCaw rugby’s best player. Ever.

2. Fourie du Preez is still the best nine in the world
After watching the second Rugby Championship game, I realised what was missing from the Wallaby effort in the first game: a playmaker number nine.

Genia has been off the boil for the last year or two and it shows in the Wallabies’ attack.

He no longer ties up the close defence with the threat of a snipe, which results in the wide channels being shutdown easily by the drift defence.

Cruden’s charge down try can possibly be attributed to two errors on Genia’s part: first he didn’t consider the box kick to relieve pressure on the stand-off (Christian Lealiifano in this case) and second he swivelled around to make a right-to-left pass rather than the left-to-right pass that he should have made, giving the All Blacks defence the jump on Lealiifano.

Compare Genia’s performance with Du Preez’s on 27 minutes.

Du Preez was very quick on breakdown ball, his distribution was immediate and pin-point, his option-taking flawless.

The Boks’ attack seemed a lot more fluid with their veteran nine on the park.

Genia’s a classy player though and it’s just a matter of time before he starts firing again (sooner rather than later would be nice).

3. Ben Smith is the form 14 in world rugby at the moment
Can’t argue with a hattrick. Besides his finishing, Smith is busy off the ball, running great lines, drawing defenders and chasing and covering kicks.

Would think that Smith’s name is one of the first penned in to All Blacks’ starting lineup.

4. The Christian Lealiifano and Adam Ashley-Cooper axis has immense potential
Two line-breaks against the top ranked team in the world is CV material. The first came off a well timed pass from a drifting Lealiifano to Adam Ashley-Cooper straightening between Nonu and Conrad Smith.

I felt that Ashley-Cooper should have chanced his arm with a looped pass to James O Connor, but have to respect the player’s decision to not throw the 50-50 to ensure the Wallabies retained possession.

Lealiifano quick feet engineered the second break in the second half.

With more time together and a flyhalf taking the ball to the line every so often, this iteration of the Wallabies’ centre partnership will yield dividends.

5. Ewen Mckenzie’s plan at ten will work
Matt Toomua did not have an inspired game. However, given time, I think the game he has developed at the Brumbies will start to come through at a national level and his combination with Lealiifano will prove invaluable.

Also, having Quade on the bench to run at tired players in the last 20-30 minutes (preferably 30 minutes as it gives him 10 minutes to work his way into the game with 20 minutes to spare for him to pull a rabbit out of his…socks) is smart.

The challenge is for Ewen McKenzie to find the key that unlocks Quade Cooper’s best, circa the 2011 Super Rugby season.

6. Israel Folau is the highest paid spectator in a gold jumper
Folau is a game-breaker, yet he hardly received the ball all game. True, part of the responsibility lies with him.

He needs to inject himself into the game at the right time, in the right place.

That said though, with a player of his finishing ability, I would have a set-move called ‘Give-it-to-Folau’ where the ball is passed/kicked/air-freighted to Folau. Or not.

Have him run a dummy line. Whatever, just get him in the game!

7. Heyneke Meyer has a plan and it’s the same as the old plan
In 2006, Meyer took over as head coach at the Bulls. He started implementing his structures (what has become the classic Bulls game), was accused of playing boring rugby and not scoring enough tries.

The Bulls finished near the bottom of the log in Super rugby that year.

The next year, they won the competition and played a much more expansive, try-scoring game. Get the foundation of basics right first, add the razzle-dazzle on top later.

The same accusations were levelled against the Boks last year.

On the evidence presented in the internationals played this year so far, the Bok fans will be hoping it’s a case of of history repeating itself for Meyer.

8. Los Pumas should refuse to play without Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe on the park
The team missed his charisma and seemed very uninterested in playing the test match. That said though, I think the tactics and strategy planned out by the coach were a little weak.

Taking off a wing when a front row forward was sin-binned? Unfathomable. Los Pumas’ strengths are traditional Springbok strengths.

Strong forward play, accurate kicking, deadly wing three-quarters. Which means, against a good Bok side, Los Pumas have drawn to a lower flush.

I’m actually a little stuck on ideas on where to from here for Los Pumas. They would likely lose a kicking duel.

Likewise, trying to crash forwards through players like Willem Alberts or Eben Etzebeth seems like a recipe for, well, hurt.

The best plan would probably be to replicate Mendoza last year. Fire up the team, have a passionate stadium at your back, flood the break down with forwards and stun the Boks with an early try or two.

9. Are the All Blacks the invincible juggernaut they have been made out to be in the media?
Hard to say as no team has really tested them since 2011. Yes, England beat them last year, but at the end of a long (in some cases 30-40 game) year for the players.

Some cause for hope for the rest of world rugby is: the All Blacks strategy seems to be more reactive than proactive.

They focus on making as few errors as possible and pouncing on the mistakes made by their opponents (like a wing leaving his post on defence or a scrumhalf taking too long to pass to the standoff).

Once the other team has been worn down by either having to continually defend or because the scoreline has run away from them a little, the All Blacks activate a more expansive, champagne-rugby style of play.

A clue to the key to beating the All Blacks (in my opinion) lies in the comments made by Rod Kafer and co. at half time (and picked up by the pundits on this site), the All Blacks almost always win games they lead at halftime.

I think any team hoping to beat the reigning world champs should aim to blitz the men in black in the first half.

Play a high intensity game, score every time you reach their half (use drop-goals if the defence is too resolute.

I feel this option is severely under utilised in Australia) and actively work to reduce turning over the ball. Elementary and obvious perhaps, but probably the Wallabies’ best shot at winning this weekend.