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The annual report card was a column I first started a fortnight ago, before SANZAAR stepped in with all their experience and wisdom to drive us further down the path of shrinking our way to Super Rugby improvement.
So for the delay, I am sorry.
But with 2019 being a Rugby World Cup year and rotation being the keyword for all the Super Rugby sides this season, it really has felt more than ever that we’ve needed six or seven weeks to get a proper handle on everyone. So in that regard, the delay has been beneficial.
However, if ‘rotation’ has been the keyword in team planning, ‘inconsistency’ has been the most common issue for the absolute majority of team performances. Of 14 of the 15 teams, if we’re honest.
Nevertheless, let’s work through the conferences. I’m going to use three broad ratings: whether teams have impressed me, whether I’ve been underwhelmed, or whether teams are going about as well as expected.
South Africa
I had a feeling the Bulls would go alright in 2017, and they have lived up to that expectation mostly, sitting on four wins from six games. They’ve actually impressed me more than the Lions, who lead the conference currently, and just look to have a better balance about their side.
They only real criticism is that only one team has scored fewer tries than them in 2019, but they make up for that with Handre Pollard, who has 91 points off his kicking boot alone.
Handre Pollard of the Bulls (Photo by Steve Haag/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
The Lions, Stormers, and Sharks are all going about as well as I expected for different reasons. The Lions were going to be there or thereabouts, even if they’re not quite as strong as the side who lost the last three Finals, and they are.
I didn’t think much of the Stormers in Round 1, and nothing’s changed since, and the Sharks I think are good enough and play simple enough rugby to push the top sides, if they address the chronic inconsistency that’s plagued them in recent years.
The Jaguares, however, have underwhelmed me. Even losing Nico Sanchez after making the finals last year, I thought the Argentineans had managed their depth and promoted their youth well enough to remain on a similar trajectory, but they just haven’t.
They haven’t travelled well in 2019, and they’re quite beatable at home, too.
New Zealand
Over the ditch, it’s hard not to be impressed by the Crusaders’ eternal ability to regenerate and inject fresh new talent into their squad all the while remaining a competition front-runner.
I thought All Black-resting requirements might have an impact during the season, but that certainly hasn’t been the case to date. There’s nothing to date that suggests a ninth championship isn’t within reach in 2019.
And despite them being a regular target of my and plenty of others’ ridicule, I have been impressed by the Blues over the last few weeks, too. They’re playing some decent rugby at the moment, and even though consistency remains an issue, they are going to cause plenty of teams plenty of issues this season.
The Highlanders and Chiefs are on par, for mine. I thought both might be a bit off the pace with the loss of some key personnel and so it’s proved to be. One of them might be able to mount a tilt for the playoffs, but not both.
The Hurricanes have been a bit disappointing, though. It seems weird to say that the team with the second-best record in the competition is underwhelming, but it’s simply one of expectation.
Hurricanes’ TJ Perenara in action (Photo by Michael Bradley/Getty Images)
I expected the ‘Canes to the be one team to especially take the challenge to the Crusaders this year, and they just don’t seem quite there yet. And it’s not even that they’ve been beaten by the Crusaders twice already in 2019. They’re mid-table in terms of points differential this season, and bottom five for tries conceded. That’s an issue by my reckoning.
Australia
The pressure was going to be on the Rebels this season, adding the kind of playing personnel that they did, and to their credit, they look the Australian team most likely at the moment.
Their depth is good, they’re managing their rotations well, and more importantly, they’re playing the most consistent, well-managed rugby of their existence.
In terms of entertainment, only the Sunwolves come close in 2019, and I’ve been more impressed by the way the Moondogs play every week. They play with freedom and plenty of heart, and after SANZAAR’s decision to cut them from the comp after next season, they’re just playing like they frankly don’t give a shit.
Long may it continue this season, and may they take some healthy scalps along the way.
The Brumbies and Reds looked really promising on paper heading into the season, but the biggest question over both sides was going to be their ability to deliver that promise every week. As expected, that’s been the case over the first seven rounds.
Both have shown glimpses of a game good enough to test most teams, but both have also shown that consistency is a box they’re a good way off ticking yet.
And this just leaves the Waratahs. The temptation would be to say that the Tahs are going exactly as expected, but a side with the experience and names and lack of change that it had coming into this year should be playing a lot better than it is, and a hell of a lot more consistently.
Israel Folau. (Photo by Tony Feder/Getty Images)
They were good against the Reds, impressive, even, against the Crusaders, but pretty ordinary against the Sunwolves. Both times. Their need to rest and rotate players has brought their depth development firmly into question.
On this topic of the need to rest key players, as well as the late start to the pre-season by their Wallabies contingent, I wrote before the season started: “It will be really interesting to see how the Waratahs manage this and the need to rest key Wallabies in the lead-up to the Rugby World Cup. Could it be the difference between them playing finals and not?”
On current form, this looks well on point. Their selections look out of whack, their forwards don’t seem to be able to react to teams who drag them into breakdown and set piece slugfests, and their backline seems to change every week.
Their three-and-three record is the same as the Sharks, Blues and Stormers, and only the latter sit outside the wildcard positions, but it’s exactly this kind of mid-table team that the Waratahs battle most with.
They’ve probably got the next seven weeks to turn it around.