Best teams within each conference a bit harder to pick

After trying to establish which conference was the toughest or strongest last week, eight rounds into the season is probably as good a time as any to extract the best teams within each conference.

If the Super Rugby table was a funny looking beast last week, it’s even uglier this week.

Four New Zealand teams occupy the top six places on the table. The fourth-best New Zealand team, the Crusaders, have a record superior in every determining facet than the best South African team, the Bulls.

And the team with the most bonus points is still winless and running last!

New Zealand
This is the easiest one, with the Hurricanes heading into their second bye with a blemish-free record, and as the standout team in the competition.

The ‘Canes have always had a dangerous attack. They’ve always been a team capable of beating any other team in the competition. They’ve long been one of the better counter-attacking and most entertaining sides to watch.

Have they often been all that at the same time, though? Not necessarily, and that’s what has been frustrating about them. The Hurricanes have endured a long-suffering state of underwhelming.

This year the Hurricanes are different though, and they’ve become the must-watch team in Super Rugby. Their forwards look vastly improved at set piece, and their breakdown presence far more capable of providing the clean ball their superstar backs desire. How much of it comes down to the appointment of Chris Boyd is hard to say, but it’s an easy point to arrive at.

Something they do have that’s different this year is a bit of ‘x-factor’, in the form of fullback Nehe Milner-Skudder. Hyperbole alert, but Milner-Skudder might be the most exciting, the most instinctively brilliant and naturally talented young player I’ve seen in Super Rugby.

I can’t readily think of a bigger impact in a debut season. Maybe Israel Folau, I don’t know what measure to use to back up a gut feeling.

Like Shane Warne in his pomp – on the field, that is – whenever Milner-Skudder has the ball has the ball in his hand, you need to watch that little bit closer, because something will happen.

And again, Milner-Skudder’s arrival and the Hurricanes’ revival might be purely coincidental, but it sure must be a great time to be a supporter. (Hey, Digger?)

The Chiefs can feel hard done by, having the second-best record but stuck in fourth overall. And I can’t recall them putting the same XV on the park in consecutive weeks. And I don’t know if it’s just the magnitude of the win over the Sharks, but it feels like the Crusaders are clicking into gear earlier than in recent years.

From here, though it only gets harder though.

South Africa
With four teams on four wins now, and the four of them only separated by two points, it’s even harder to comment about the South African teams than it was last week. Officially, the Bulls are the top side in the conference, followed by the Sharks, Stormers and Lions.

I’m thankful the Bulls got a bonus point out of their loss to the Lions, because to see the Sharks leading the conference after a forty-point flogging and with a -31 points differential would’ve been difficult to swallow.

But funnily enough, I don’t think the Bulls are playing brilliantly, either.

For mine, there’s a decent argument there that the Stormers – in ninth overall – are the form South African side currently, and not the Bulls. The Lions might have the momentum currently, but even though they beat the Bulls on Saturday night, I don’t think they’re quite at that level yet. They could be, however, by season’s end.

The Sharks haven’t enthused me from the start of the season, and only seem to disappoint more each week. Three red cards – and Jean Deysel must be looking at as long a stint on the sideline as Bismarck du Plessis and Francois Steyn – in the last three weeks points to something of a discipline issue.

The Bulls had a very nice draw before the season started, where they don’t leave the Republic until May, but only their wins over the Crusaders, and the Sharks in Round 3, stand out as top-notch performances. They really missed Handre Pollard in Johannesburg on Saturday, and didn’t look overly threatening.

Though all four Stormers’ wins came in the first four rounds, they’ve shown positive signs in their two losses on tour to the Highlanders and Hurricanes. The second half effort in Wellington, to come back from 25-3 down at halftime to lose 25-20 was phenomenal. They are playing with a lot more attacking intent to go with their solid defence, and to my eyes at least, feel like a better side than their record suggests.

Australia
In the Australian conference, it is at least a choice in two. But that doesn’t exactly make it easier.

Like the Bulls and the Stormers, there really isn’t a lot between the Waratahs and Brumbies either.

The Brumbies do have the better record with one more win, but the Waratahs have had both byes now, and thus have played one less game. The Brumbies have the second best try-scoring tally in the competition, and the best defensive record. But then, of the six tries they’ve conceded this year, three were from the Waratahs and two were from the Western Force, for whatever that’s worth.

The Waratahs did beat the Brumbies, though, and beat them very well. Beat them at their own game, even, with an outrageously good defensive effort over the last half an hour in Sydney a fortnight ago. But then, this clash has rarely been won by the away team, and so that ledger could easily be squared on May 1.

The success rate stat says the Brumbies have the edge at both set pieces, but it feels to me like the Waratahs scrum is more solid and concerted in 2015. If that’s the Argentinean influence of Mario Ledesma, then can we order one for the Wallabies, please?

Both teams are one-and-one from ‘international’ games, though, so not even that splits them. Both teams have enjoyed good wins over the three other Australian sides, and their very different games are working well for them.

If you threw both squads up in the air, the two hybrid teams that landed on the ground would remain strong. And that tells me the two teams are a lot closer than a couple of bonus points.