Close, but no cigar for Australian finals aspirants

In the end, it came down to missed opportunities. The Rebels finished their season in the pubs of Dunedin, unable to get the job done under the roof despite starting the game well and kicking away after halftime.

It was another game they threw away and coupled with three losing bonus points accumulated through the season they’ve given themselves plenty of ‘if only’ scenarios to punish themselves with until next February.

The Brumbies lost four games by less than seven points and will be similarly ruing single moments in their season once the gloss of their much-improved finish to the year wears off.

Both sides finished with seven wins for 2018, and both finished the year with better attacking records than did the Sharks, the team who they will have to watch playing in what might have been ‘their’ spot in the Super Rugby playoffs. The Brumbies even finished with the fourth-best defensive record in the comp.

I think there’s a reasonable debate to be had about whether either or both Australian sides are better than the Sharks, though to be fair, all three sides have had very up-and-down seasons. The debate would simply be around the height of the up and depth of the down.

And though it won’t make the slightest difference to the finals now, it’s worth considering that both the Rebels and Brumbies have shown plenty of signs that they’re on track for the finals in 2019.

Amanaki Mafi of the Rebels (Photo by Dianne Manson/Getty Images)

Yes, they’ve missed out this year, and probably for reasons of their own doing, but there has been plenty to like about their run to the finals that ultimately tripped at the last hurdle. And I reckon that’s worth holding on to, even if just for a few days before the playoffs begin.

Reece Hodge isn’t likely to be the next Michael Lynagh as an orchestral game manager, nor is he going to be the next Stephen Larkham ghosting through defensive lines.

But there is plenty of upside to him playing flyhalf if his role is simplified effectively, as his 29-point performance in Dunedin on Saturday showed. The Rebels know this; when Hodge has played ten for them, they’ve made sure he has plenty of play-making options around him.

Billy Meakes at inside centre is key here; Dane Haylett-Petty and Jack Maddocks both play important supporting roles from the backfield, too, and a certain Wallaby scrumhalf at the base of the Rebels ruck makes a huge difference too.

Hodge’s role as a ten is simply to provide the direction for the team. His kicking boot is part of this, and the length he can peel off in general play is a huge advantage. The tactical part of his kicking game will come the more he plays flyhalf, but his kicking in general play is already solid enough to build on.

His passing his never going to be Will Genia or even Quade Cooper-like, but it’s not terrible. He throws a good short ball and has the vision to know when to and when not throw that pass. His longer passing is similarly serviceable. He’s played enough in the centres to know what his outside men require from him at 10.

So his game as a flyhalf, therefore, is simply to get the ball where it needs to be. The Rebels run a lot of forward hit-ups off him in midfield, but any of the backline attack seems to run from Meakes one pass out, or Maddocks or Haylett-Petty sweeping from the back. Hodge then plays the support player back on the inside, and this has always been a strength of his game. This is good way of getting him used to the role while learning on the job.

Larkham himself wasn’t brilliant from the outset at flyhalf, and it’d be harsh to expect immediate brilliance from Hodge at 10, too. But he’s shown enough from me to think he’s worth persisting with as a first receiver, espcially at Super Rugby level.

Reece Hodge of the Rebels (AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy)

The Brumbies finished the 2018 season playing exactly the sort of rugby they wanted to play at the start of the year. It would be easy to write the performance off by saying the pressure was already off them, with the Rebels’ losing bonus point earlier in the afternoon killing their already slim playoff hopes dead.

But that would be both unfair on the Brumbies, who maybe saved their best game of the year until Round 19, and flattering toward the Waratahs, who stand-in captain Bernard Foley explained post-match were ‘out-enthused’ from kick-off.

Why a team looking to secure a top two finish with a win at home could be lacking enthusiasm against a team with no chance of making the playoffs is perhaps another discussion for another day.

So it was entirely unsurprising that a rather satisfied Brumbies coach Dan McKellar spoke of wanting to fast-forward to 2019, suggesting that while he knew the shake-up of the way they wanted to play would take time, he was really pleased that the transition is well and truly on track.

The interesting part of McKellar’s post-match comments related to how he’d look to fill the holes left by the ten or so players – Sydney tryscorers Kyle Godwin and Richie Arnold among them – moving on now that the season is over.

They won’t recruit for the sake of recruitment, for one thing. Development of players already in their system might actually bring more benefit than new players from interstate, for example. And either way, footballers – rather than athletes – will be the priority.

Did McKellar have a hit list of players that could fit into the way the Brumbies want to play, then?

“Um… no, not really. There’s a couple of guys we’re talking to in the background, and… no. Yes and no, Brett,” he said with a bit of a grin.

“There’s some guys out there that you’d like to target, but recruitment’s tough these days.

“Generally, most clubs with have their really good players locked up early, so you’ve just got to keep looking out.

“But what do the Brumbies do? We develop players. Tom Banks came to us two years ago and hadn’t played Super Rugby, and now he’s pushing for Wallabies spots. It’s not about going out there and finding a rock star, it’s about going out there and finding the guys who we think are going to develop – because that’s what we’ve always done as a club, and what we’ll continue to do.”

The Waratahs, despite dropping off way too many tackles, and looking generally one-dimensional in attack, actually scored some really good tries from counter-attacking situations often of their own making.

Nick Phipps of the Waratahs (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

That will be one positive coming out of a result that probably flattered them with its closeness.

The other thing to cling to would have to be that they can’t possibly play that disappointingly again this season.

Brumbies coach McKellar mentioned post-match that he wanted the Waratahs to go as deep into the finals as possible, and perhaps his biggest pre-finals gift to his Waratahs counterpart Daryl Gibson is that his side highlighted how quickly games can get away from you if your mind’s not entirely on the job.

“I wouldn’t say it hurts our confidence, but it probably shows us that if we don’t turn up with the right attitude and intent you’re going to get beat,” Gibson agreed on Saturday night.

“I think what you saw tonight was a team that was not focused on the job at hand and getting ahead of itself in terms of already being at next week.”

I’d imagine there’ll be next to no chance now of the Waratahs getting ahead of themselves again this week.