Super Rugby's crown jewel will receive grand final polish

This year hasn’t been the greatest year of Super Rugby in history. But the grand final is the jewel in any competition’s crown and this year it could be one of the shiniest.

As the clock wound down at the SFS last Saturday night I tweeted that the Hurricanes were the only team that really deserved to win the championship this year. And while I hoped the Waratahs would make the final, the Highlanders were more deserving.

I said that because an honest appraisal would find there were more ‘good’ or ‘solid’ teams in Super Rugby this year than ‘excellent’ or ‘fantastic’. It wasn’t a poor offering, but not a strong one either – many teams had serious fatal flaws and wild inconsistencies despite their presence at the pointy end of the season.

The Hurricanes were the only truly consistently excellent team in the competition this year. Last year’s winners, the Waratahs, were only good enough to hang around, never good enough to win it.

The Stormers were a dark rumbling cloud that never brought the rain. The Brumbies were hobbled by injury and only able to sporadically deliver on the promise of expansive rugby. The Chiefs were also knocked about due to injury and lacked some type of spark that sent them over the top in previous years. We know the Crusaders pillaged on their way down the stretch but the long journey to the promised form didn’t bring enough early points.

The Highlanders, who deserve their place in the final, were also inconsistent at times. But the worst of their inconsistency could be blamed on their coach Jamie Joseph’s adherence to resting All Blacks. One match in particular you might have investigated him for fixing if you hadn’t already known about the directive from on high to rest key players.

Taking away the spine of Aaron Smith and Ben Smith along with Malakai Fekitoa in one swoop basically gifted the Brumbies a victory in Canberra.

Another reason to forgive the Highlanders their inconsistency is by recognising just how hot they were when on song. Their ability to tear opposition defences limb from limb was incredible, and only matched by their foe in the final.

Ben Smith, Waisaki Naholo and Patrick Osborne were particularly ferocious and didn’t tire through the season – seemingly capable of more and more absurd feats the longer it went.

Aaron Smith is the world’s premier halfback by some margin as evidenced by his play this year, particularly in a tough qualifying final against the Chiefs where it was his steadying hand and ruthless attack that guided the Highlanders past a Chiefs outfit that wouldn’t go away. And then you get to their forward pack which is not full of grand test-playing masters but has eight men who know their roles, trust their skill and enjoy the thrill of the hunt.

It was the Highlanders dismantling of the Waratahs in Round 5 that first signalled they had the speed, focus and skills to replicate the play of last year’s champions. Quick, nimble, ensemble support and quick-passing play the champions couldn’t replicate themselves.

So it was in the semi-final the Highlanders proved skilled, focused and speedy enough to beat last year’s champions in a completely different way – by executing a plan with precision, taking every opportunity that was presented and squeezing tighter every time the Tahs tried to take a breath.

Yet, it was the Hurricanes who were the brightest, most pure jewel in Super Rugby this season. A rollicking team willing to attack from their own try line – consequences be damned – and make it work. A team that could bulldoze you down the right and cross-field kick to your flank the next. Such blazing excellence with the ball in hand was tempered by defensive resistance missing in previous years.

For every Nehe Milner-Skidder, for whom being tackled by the first defender is as foreign as a night in a cheap Ulaanbaatar apartment, there was a Conrad Smith, making the defensive reads and straightening the attack. While Julian Savea raged and rampaged down his wing there was Ma’a Nonu, finally playing like the experienced All Black selection during a Super Rugby season, decking people in midfield and holding a spread out defensive line together.

For every Ardie Savea, with youthful exuberance in abundance and athleticism more so, there was a Ben Franks, with nous and starch a-plenty.

Privately, even non-Hurricanes fans were smiling this year, especially during their nine round winning streak. We were all watching the Hurricanes team we’ve been waiting so long for. As rugby fans it was impossible not to smile, even if you were smiling at your own team’s demise.

While the Waratahs raised hopes by beating the Hurricanes in Round 10, it was only ever a false dawn. They were helped by the Hurricanes own attacking philosophy, able to capitalise on mistakes at the attacking extremity of the field. The question was whether the Hurricanes willingness to attack would have to be tempered. The answer was no. They would just get better at it.

In the semi-final, there were times when the Brumbies kicked very long and seemed to relax for a moment, only to be punished. Against normal rugby teams there is a kicking length from which you can be confident the ball won’t be run back.

That depth forms the second of the notional kicking options against an attacking team – kick it into row z, or kick it long down the middle, rolling well inside the 22 metres line. Against the Hurricanes that second option doesn’t exist no matter how far you kick it. And they’ve improved their execution since the Waratahs banana skin. They pass less and run more. Marshall, Savea or Milner-Skudder will kill you as you take a breath.

So, with two bright lights still remaining as the final approaches, the rest of the Super Rugby field, all its inconsistency and flaws, fade from memory. In the front of my mind are the blazing heights of the Highlanders hot games and the rugby purity of the Hurricanes in 2015.

The Hurricanes are the really deserving victors this year, but for the jewel in the Super Rugby crown to shine as brightly as it could the Highlanders have the right tools to provide the cut and polish.