The Wrap: Australian franchises stunned mullets caught in the headlights

If Australian rugby fans had known that a Thursday night match riddled with dropped balls was going to be the high mark for Round 2, they may well have found something else to do for the weekend.

It started promisingly enough. Don’t you just love first phase tries from set pieces? Western Force debutant Chase Peni jetted in after only a minute, and while Eta Nabuli soon countered for the Reds, and added another two tries for good measure, a dominant performance by a hungrier Force pack in the second half forged a deserved victory.

Coach Dave Wessells appears to have come good on his promise for the Force to play more expansively and positively and, on this evidence, fans in Perth won’t be waiting another two years for the next home win.

For a side with a battalion of on-field leaders – James Slipper, Stephen Moore, Rob Simmons, George Smith and Scott Higginbotham – the Reds curiously lacked direction and leadership. You could also say that for a side with a lot of tall timber they curiously lacked a lineout. Go figure.

Like the Force, the Chiefs reaped the benefits of competing at the lineout, achieving a commanding position well before Steven Luatua’s early exit sealed the deal. At least the Blues didn’t drop their bundle, and contributed well enough in the final 30 minutes to show their fans that they remain genuine contenders.

Despite scoring two tries from a well constructed and dynamic rolling maul, what impresses most about the Chiefs is the speed at which their backs re-align themselves in open play. From what can look like a jumble of players randomly positioned in the backline – from where inferior players invariably take a hit up or pass to someone else in poor position – the Chiefs’ backs instinctively know how to, in a flash, straighten the point of attack, create and run into holes, and pass to advantage. Delightful to watch.

It’s hard to single players out in such a dominant performance but Dominic Bird was arrogantly imposing, Aaron Cruden smoothly sublime and Tawera Kerr-Barlow is showing the benefits of starting a season free from injury; sharp and decisive in his decision making.

In their two matches so far, the Rebels have started brightly but lacked clinical quality in attack and at set piece. What hurt them most in Wellington, however, was their lack of intensity and line speed in defence, except for one effort to save two points with a rare conversion charge-down.

Once basic disciplines go out the window – things like not communicating and chasing up in a straight line – a quality side like the Hurricanes will pounce and things can very quickly descend into a death spiral. Never before has a Round 3 bye been so necessary and welcome.

Perhaps tries off set play aren’t so rare after all, the Highlanders scoring three on their way to a 27-6 lead against the Crusaders in Dunedin. All of which was only good enough to set the scene for one of the Crusaders’ greatest comebacks.

When Lima Sopoaga first came into Super Rugby, he was tagged as a mercurial but erratic talent, prone to spoiling his good work with failed trick plays and brain explosions. That reputation was put to bed with one performance – in 2015 through steering the All Blacks to an epic victory against South Africa, in the Ellis Park cauldron, with composure and assuredness.

With the Crusaders finishing all over the Highlanders, the home side desperately needed an experienced head to grab hold of the ball, retain it and ride out the final four minutes. Sopoaga got that chance, fielding a clearing kick on halfway, but instead of treasuring the ball he reverted to the old Sopoaga, inexplicably attempting a 50-metre ‘hail mary’ dropkick.

The rampant Crusaders weren’t about to turn down this gift, Seta Tamanivalu crossing in the corner for the winner; Sopoaga enduring the double indignity of missing the final one-on-one tackle.

If there can be an excuse, it might be that an exhausted Sopoaga, like all of the players, had punched himself out, physically and mentally; these two heavyweight sides having slugged it out for 80 minutes in an epic contest.

To Canberra, where the Sharks may have lacked pace and strike-power, but not graft and application, hanging in in a match the Brumbies threatened to run away with early.

The Brumbies will rue two lost lineouts in the final stanza; until then they appeared to finish the stronger of the sides, slick hands sending Tevita Kuridrani over the next to the posts. But the tenacious Sharks finally got around the outside of the defence in the 81st minute, the ball sitting up for centre Lukhanyo Am to stun the home fans.

Lowlights from Singapore included the Kings dressed like they had come from a Star Trek convention, and referee Marius Van der Westhuizen wasting time over a TMO review trying to determine who took the ball dead when, no matter who it was, the only possible outcome was the same – a 22 drop out.

The Sunwolves play their best rugby when they move the ball and recycle quickly. That they should kick so much good running ball away was as mystifying as it was idiotic.

As for the Kings, they aren’t winning this competition but look to be vastly improved on last year. They have some big bodies up front and blistering pace in the back three.

The Waratahs in Johannesburg were not all bad, with 36 points a fair return for their endeavour with the ball. Of more concern was the 55 points conceded, including three tries from lineout mauls; perhaps enough to suggest that the balance in the laws, as to what the defending side can legally do to defend it, is still not quite right.

This was far from a polished Lions side. Elton Jantjies was particularly skittish, but on a dry day on a fast track, they were allowed too many opportunities to rectify their mistakes by the Waratahs missing too many tackles.

Anyone looking for a clue to the Stormers’ game plan might note that halfback Jano Vermaak has now played the better part of two matches without kicking the ball once. It is as if the ubiquitous box kick has been expunged from the Stormers’ vocabulary.

For 60 minutes, the Jaguares read the game well, defending stoutly and gaining in confidence, closing to within two points. But old habits die hard; two yellow cards in two minutes, and a penalty try conceded, killing their momentum.

How typical of the Jaguares too, to conjure a brilliant comeback try with 13 men. But the damage had been done; 32-25 to the Stormers.

It was left to the improving Cheetahs to bring an end to an exhausting Saturday, seeing off the Bulls 34-28 in yet another highly entertaining game. To tell the truth, I might have enjoyed it even more had it not been the seventh straight match at the end of a 15-hour marathon.

Perhaps one game too many for one day, and indeed it was disappointing to find no Friday night game scheduled in Australia for this round.

Recently, I met with Simon Green, CEO of BT Sports, television broadcaster for the Aviva Premiership in England, who explained the importance of building a narrative through the ongoing coverage, where viewers get used to, and look forward to, watching their sport at the same time every week.

It seems that the Force versus Reds game was moved to Thursday to accommodate a Justin Bieber concert (as if he hadn’t caused enough trouble already with Ali Williams). Whatever the excuse, it’s critical that SANZAAR ensures that, every week, there are back-to-back fixtures from New Zealand and Australia on a Friday evening to kick start the weekend.

Hopefully, there will still be an Australian audience watching, with worrying signs emerging very early in the competition.

It is clear that the New Zealand sides have not stood still over summer, upping the ante in physicality and speed of ball movement. And, despite their loss in Hamilton, the Blues’ undoubted improvement means that the New Zealand threat now comprises five franchises, a 20 per cent increase that the rest of the competition didn’t really need.

It is also clear that – as a generalisation – the South African franchises are coming to terms with a more expansive game and have more scoring power than in previous years.

The Jaguares too, impress as a more cohesive, disciplined unit in attack and defence this year. Sure, the wheels feel off in a horror two or three minutes in Cape Town, but this was as much down to circumstance than the flaky, cynical petulance of last season.

The Australian franchises are in danger of falling even more behind the pace. They are indeed, to mangle a couple of metaphors, like stunned mullets caught in the headlights.

What this doesn’t mean, however, is the death of Super Rugby, or that one or two sides need to be cast aside in some kind of knee-jerk, baby with the bathwater reaction. Who’s to say that the remaining three sides would perform any better?

A little perspective is required. The maligned Force fielded nine local players in the match day 23, and beat one of the two traditional pillars of Australian rugby. Anyone who believes that strengthens the case for further concentrating rugby into the eastern and northern suburbs of Sydney surely can’t be serious.

Fitting in a couple of games from the English premiership over the weekend (yes there was time), I’d venture that all Australian franchises, the Rebels included, would be more than competitive, as well as in the French Top 14 and Pro 12 – along with Super Rugby, the world’s other premier professional competitions.

The paradox for Super Rugby is that the closer the rugby is at the top end to Test match level – which is surely a worthy objective – the more the difference between the top and the bottom is emphasised.

The NBA has Cleveland, Golden State and 20 sides that have no hope of winning the title. That doesn’t mean the death of US basketball nor the culling of so-called uncompetitive teams.

Those fans have learnt to admire the elite and to continue to love their own teams for their effort and the wins they do deliver. And they live in hope that the worm will eventually turn their way.

Short-sighted Australian rugby gloom merchants might do well to do the same. The season is shaping as another rough one, but there are no glib, easy fixes. What Australian teams need more than ever is their fans to stick with them.