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This week, Beauden Barrett showed the way for the future of men’s rugby, while the Aussie women’s sevens team, the Pearls, showed the way for all of Australian rugby.
On the weekend, at the pinnacle of provincial rugby, Barrett capped off a world-class finals campaign with a best-on-field performance in the match that mattered most.
Through the end of the Super Rugby season, and in the finals especially, Barrett has shown the world a single rugby player can have it all. He kicks accurately, chases with effort, is extremely hard to pin down, picks his spots, and is one of the fastest men on the field.
According to the statistics, the Lions were better than their 20-3 loss. More possession, more territory, more metres gained, more line breaks and fewer tackles.
But they never looked like winning that match.
The Hurricanes set up a defensive line that has been a brick throughout the finals. What makes it so good is its changing nature. The Canes can play a rushing defensive line (their stock set up), slide well to cover extra attackers, flood the break down to secure turnovers when they are under pressure, and snot people to force mistakes.
However, the key to winning with the team set up like that is taking almost every chance you get. That’s where Barrett comes in. There is no one better at launching attacks in rugby right now – whether with the boot or ball in hand.
In every finals game, the Hurricanes tackled their opposition into the ground, and Barrett was lurking to pounce as soon any weakness was shown.
Every 10 now must look on admiringly at that clutch ability. And the All Blacks will eventually make it the next evolution in rugby at the national level.
Test teams in recent years have been playing open rugby, emulating New Zealand’s ability to keep the ball moving at all costs and running the opposition off the park. This year the Hurricanes, and the Highlanders to a lesser extent, have shown a glimpse of the next evolution.
Teams that run the opposition off the park by defending. Blunting the will of the opposition. And then pouncing.
Just as the rest of the world has been catching up to a more open game, the Kiwis have the arsenal to switch it up again.
But all is not lost. Over in women’s sevens, the Australians are leading the way!
The game of sevens is here to stay. I’d guess there are a significant percentage of long-time rugby people who aren’t completely comfortable with the second form of the game gaining such a high profile, similar to how people found one-day internationals and, especially, Twenty20 cricket when it came around.
One of rugby’s biggest strengths is its international nature. That is also one of the strengths of the sevens game – it is an easier game to encourage participation in new rugby-playing nations. Now the Olympics gives it a high-level tournament to aim for, and other nations will want to play for that prize.
The women’s tournament has been run and won at Rio, and the Aussies snagged the gold medal. They’ve been turning heads all year and capped of a World Rugby women’s sevens series victory with top spot on the dais at the Games.
The Pearls are my new favourite sports team – that has probably been the case for a while now. Watching them across a large portion of their play this year, it was impossible not to get excited at seeing something special being built. This was the spectacular result of turning the program professional in 2014.
At the Olympics, the Pearls weren’t perfect, but they valiantly attempted to play in the fast and expansive attacking style they had learned. And they displayed an underrated commitment on defence that would make any other team in the world proud.
Anyone who saw Charlotte Caslick run down the USA’s Victoria Folayan from across the other side of the pitch, or the entire team’s excellent defence while pinned inside the 22 in the final against New Zealand, knows how committed and organised this team is.
I’ve written about it before, but they are the future of the sport in this country. And sevens is the future of the sport around the world.
Another national performance worthy of mention at the women’s tournament was the USA. They tied with Australia and almost beat New Zealand, in results that how serious the States has taken the sport since it was included in the Olympics.
USA sevens, and the trickledown effect across their rugby programs, is a space to watch, and one World Rugby could well benefit from enormously in time.
The Olympics is the first global glimpse of that potential.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.