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The first month and a bit of Super Rugby has had a bit of everything for the Australian sides.
Even if the table positions say otherwise, it already feels to me like the Australian teams are in a better spot than this time last year, from a rugby-on-the-field measure.
The Australian sides are all playing a different type of rugby to last year and have all had degrees of success with those changes. That’s been great to see and is a big reason for why I’m enjoying watching them in 2018 already.
But the main reason I’m enjoying the Australian sides so much this season has been the emergence of some serious talent. Some of them are players in their formative days as a professional player, some have been in the system for a little bit and are showing signs of the ‘next step’ being taken, while one of the five I’m going to mention here is in his second stint at this level but having a huge impact.
Before the season started, you might recall I named five young Aussies I was really looking forward to seeing in action this season.
For what that exercise was worth, Jordan Uelese, Isi Naisarani, Taniela Tupou, and Matt Lucas are all playing really good rugby for their respective teams. Alex Newsome is going OK for the Waratahs, though hasn’t quite made the most of his opportunities to date. There is plenty of time for him though; it’s still only March, after all.
If you’re looking for an illustration of the rise and rise of the Melbourne Rebels, I’d argue your search starts and ends with fullback-cum-winger Jack Maddocks.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Maddocks showed plenty of promise when he debuted for the Rebels last season, and he looked right at home at fullback for the Melbourne Rising during the NRC, too. Come this season, I was curious to see where he might fit in the Rebels side suddenly brimming with talent, but he answered that during the pre-season, demanding a place in the side for Round 1.
And such was his form in the opening rounds, becoming a key component of the Rebels attack and particularly their counter-attack, that Wallabies winger Marika Koroibete was forced to make his return in Round 4 from the bench.
Maddocks played fullback on Friday night, deputising for Dane Haylett-Petty while he overcomes concussion symptoms, but his roaming presence from the wing, popping up wherever there might be an opportunity has been one of many reasons the Rebels’ attack has scored more tries and accrued more bonus points in five games than they managed in all of 2017.
He’s got plenty of speed, a decent kicking game, and having played enough flyhalf in his junior days, he has that ability to make the play that will create the opportunity for himself, or for support players. His combination with Will Genia really good, as his support play in general.
We’ve got a bit of a bad habit in Australia of wanting to rush the next bright young thing into a Wallabies jumper, but given Maddocks has already toured with the national team and then stepped his game up on return to Super Rugby, I don’t think a Test Debut this season can be ruled out all.
In the lead-up to last year’s NRC Final in Canberra, I recall writing that given it was known before the game that the Player of the Year was from one of the two finalists, that “if it’s not [Canberra Vikings backrower Rob] Valetini, it’ll have to be [Queensland Country inside centre Duncan] Paia’aua”. They were they two standout players throughout the competition, and I know I wasn’t alone in this thinking.
So when Country no.8 Caleb Timu was read out as the Player of the Year, the initial feeling was that they’d read from the Player of the Final envelope. It was La La Land and the Oscars all over again. Timu had had a solid campaign, but was it really that good? Even six months on, I still scratch my head at that one.
Coming into Super Rugby this season, Timu’s build-up has been another slow-burner. He made reasonable contributions in the opening round, but since nailing down the no.8 jersey in the absence of suspended captain Scott Higginbotham, Timu has been outstanding.
To the point that Higginbotham’s return to the Reds side came via the bench in Cape Town against the Stormers. And though the Reds showed plenty of character to come back in the match and rescue a losing bonus point, Timu was a clear stand out among the visitors.
(AAP Image/Dan Peled)
And he’s been slowly standing out for a few weeks now, getting better with every game played at this level. He carries well and plays with a genuine physicality up through the middle channel and defends well to boot. He’s got nice hands, a bit of skill with the ball, and can get an offload away. And can run a support line, too, as he showed at Newlands to back up Jonno Lance’s half break close to the line, scoring under the posts.
Timu’s another of these players who just looks comfortable every time he takes a step up in class, and comments above notwithstanding, it’s easy to see a Wallabies jersey in his future.
After the Brumbies were thumped at the hands of the Rebels a few weeks ago, one of the six changes Dan McKellar made was to start Andy Muirhead at fullback in place of Tom Banks. Some viewed it as a brave call, harsh on Banks in some quarters. But while Banks had been OK in the opening rounds, he started the season below his best in my humble opinion; though he was hardly alone there.
But Muirhead definitely deserved a start, and after repaying this faith with a really good showing against the Sharks, McKellar has a genuinely hard decision to make this week for the Waratahs game. Whenever he come on from the bench in the opening rounds, Muirhead sparked something for the Brumbies in attack, giving them exactly the sort of impact you want from your reserves.
Muirhead and Banks play very similar games, preferring speed and footwork and agility to a thumping exit kick from their own territory, and with the Brumbies wanting to play a more instinctive game in 2018, both will have important role to play. At the moment, Muirhead is slightly ahead; but if that sparks Banks’ game, then the Brumbies’ attack will be the real winner.
Speaking of changes, Darrel Gibson’s decision to switch Israel Folau to the right wing and start Bryce Hegarty at fullback was also seen as risky – but only in very small numbers, with a large number of Waratahs and Wallabies fans applauding a move many saw as being overdue, and one that really just mirrored the game Folau was playing anyway.
While the move worked for Folau and the Waratahs, it worked because like Muirhead, Hegarty was playing so well from the bench that it became an easy choice for Gibson to make.
With plenty of Super Rugby experience at flyhalf, Hegarty at fullback injecting himself immediately took attacking pressure off both Bernard Foley and Kurtley Beale, while also giving the Waratahs another genuine kicking option from their end of the ground, while also simplifying Folau’s role on the right edge.
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And the move worked so well for the Waratahs that I honestly believe they’d be mad to change it this weekend against the Brumbies. It’s already sparked their season, and can provide a point of difference that could – and perhaps should – carry through to the Wallabies.
Filipo Daugunu had scored five tries in just two NRC games for the Queensland Country when the Reds swooped and locked him in, and when he finished with 13 for the campaign – including three in the Final – the anticipation for what he might do in Super Rugby was set.
Already, he’s got two tries in two starts now for the Reds, and is showing all the pace he showed last year in the NRC and more. His first couple of appearances off the bench were enough for Eto Nabuli to realise that his future lies in France, while poor old Raymond Rhule was lucky to walk away from the ankle-breaking side-step Daugunu put on him at Newlands on the weekend.
Daugunu is one player I won’t rush into Wallaby contention just yet, but my goodness, he’s good to watch in space already.