Seven talking points from Super Rugby Round 7

Another round and there were some incredible games. From last minute wins to double sending offs, from teams full of talent failing to click to teams full of average being more than the sum of their parts, this weekend was an intriguing one in many ways.

It was the first weekend in country for the new Wallabies Director of Rugby and there will surely be pages and pages of scribbles in his notebook. To help him out let’s focus on some of the key talking points from Round 7.

A wounded Sunwolf is proving to be very dangerous
There has been a lot of discussion about how the Sunwolves are going to perform having been told that they are counting down the matches until they leave Super Rugby in 2020.

Many have said that their confirmed execution will mean they are going to struggle next season to retain or attract players and that may well be true.

But it’s 2019 right now and the Sunwolves players have two huge motivators every single time they step out on the pitch – stick two fingers up at SANZAAR and play out of their skins to impress other teams who could offer them contracts in a few months time.

This season they have been putting in some greatly improved performances and have already picked up two very good victories away from home.

While there will be many who say “Two wins? Just two? Hmm that’s nothing impressive!” – remember these are the other teams with two or fewer wins so far this season… Brumbies, Chiefs, Jaguares, Reds and the Highlanders.

They are currently just one point off third place in the Australian conference and five points off being in second. Now I don’t think anyone believes they are going to make the finals but every team is going to have to take them very seriously.

Tahs can’t blame resting players
It would be easy to try and excuse the Tahs loss to the Sunwolves in Newcastle this weekend as a result of resting key players, but if anyone tries to tell you that then you need to tell them straight to their face that they are deeply delusional and should seek medical attention as soon as possible.

The Tahs rested Bernard Foley, Adam Ashley-Cooper and Jack Dempsey but still had an incredible array of Wallabies talent on the field including Kurtley Beale, Michael Hooper, Karmichael Hunt and Israel Folau.

The problem wasn’t with who was missing – it was with who was playing and how they played. The Tahs have some serious underlying issues and need to fix them fast if they want to figure in the finals.

The way in which they wasted ball over and over against the Sunwolves was alarming and you have to say that the issues aren’t just on the field. The game plan the coaches seemed to decide upon was just not right and they got the outcome they deserved.

(Photo by Tony Feder/Getty Images)

Who is going to play in the Wallabies centres?
Last week there was discussion about who should be pulling on the No.12 and No.13 and those discussions will continue after this week’s performances.

Kurtley Beale had a terrible game on Friday and his habit of running sideways is causing too many issues for the Tahs for him to be wearing the gold jersey at inside centre.

We also learned that Karmichael Hunt is not an outside centre – he was well off the pace against the Sunwolves and his defence and speed were not up to scratch.

Of course you could still look at Hunt at No.12 and then maybe Samu Kerevi outside him but Hunt needs to get game time and impress.

The Rebels are looking good and both Tom English and Billy Meakes are in good form but are they high quality international centres?

Surely with the new Wallabies selection panel in place there will be change – they simply cannot stick with the previous combinations.

A Blue wind is coming
Brace yourselves – the Blues are back! They’ve won three games on the bounce for the first time in several years and are looking good.

They’ve always had some impressive strike weapons with the likes of Rieko Ioane but this year the men from Auckland have been able to find a more consistent, harder edge to their play that is causing issues for teams.

A great example was in the final 11 minutes against the Stormers this weekend where they were down to 14 men after Tanielu Tele’a was red carded.

Not only did they come away with the win but they were able to keep the pressure on the South Africans and force them to make errors as they chased the game.

There are still plenty of question marks for the men from Auckland to address especially in the crucial fly half slot but you can’t argue with three wins in three games.

They’ve got some tricky matches over the next few weeks including some key local derbies but it’s quite conceivable that they will pick up two to thee more wins from the next three rounds and that could easily see them in second spot in the Kiwi conference.

(Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)

All that glitters is not gold
The round kicked off with what looked like it was going to be the match of the weekend – Hurricanes vs Crusaders which had more talent on display than you could possibly wish for at domestic rugby level.

The game itself – especially the second half – failed to deliver but what was more alarming was the performance the Hurricanes put in.

The Canes have a backline to die for but on Friday they were trying to force passes and made so many errors it was bizarre.

Even when they made good ground with some of their pacemen out wide, they would try and turn it into a try-scoring play with a highlights package style play instead of taking the tackle, recycling the ball and keeping the attack going.

This meant that while the Canes definitely got in behind the Crusaders or around them a few times, they never really put the men in red and black under genuine pressure.

Beauden Barrett had a bad day at the office and this likely won’t happen too often moving forwards, but the Hurricanes can’t base the success or failure of their season on one man.

Should Quade Cooper thank or abuse Brad Thorn?
The Melbourne Rebels picked up a good win against the Queensland Reds this weekend with Quade Cooper putting in another good performance.

There had been a lot written about the extra spice in the game as it was the first time that Cooper would be coming back to play in Brisbane since his year out of the Reds in 2018.

If you follow Cooper on social media then you’ll have seen a fair share of posts and comments that clearly showed the new Rebels No.10 was definitely not ‘over it’.

He’ll have been very happy/relieved that his Melbourne side came away with the win after all of this but you do have to ask whether Thorn’s approach last season was what the mercurial Cooper really needed.

Did it teach him some humility and give him the cold, hard evidence that if he wanted to play at the top level he was really going to have to do something about the approach that had got him in trouble before? Or was it just Thorn’s way of proving who is boss in the Reds sheds?

What is really needed now is the proper ending to the story – Cooper lifting the World Cup above his head in Japan later this year and thanking Thorn in his post-match interview. Hmmmm… that might be a few steps too far, but you never know!

(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

The Jaguares are their own worst enemies
In what was arguably the game of the round, especially from a tension point of view, the Jaguares took their fans through a roller coaster of emotions that sadly ended up in despair come the final whistle.

Having been down by 20 points to six just after half time, the Jags fought back and managed to be in the lead with six minutes left in the game.

The Chiefs had been average at best in the second half and the Jags had made them pay. It all looked like it was going to be a great and much-needed win for the Argentinians.

But then with just three minutes to go, the Chiefs struck the winning try and the Jaguares’ hearts were broken. It must be so frustrating for all involved that this team have the talent to tear so many teams to pieces and yet the inability to get the wins they are so obviously capable of.

The Jags are back on the road for the next couple of weeks and sadly come mid-April they could be looking at five games lost in a row and their season pretty much over.

As mentioned, they have the talent but they have to add control to their performances to turn the talent into wins.

The Sunwolves have shown how important this control is especially in how they closed out the game against the Tahs this weekend – the Jags need some of that.