- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Opinion
There’s understandably lots to talk about after a round that featured the best and worst games of the season so far.
Both competitions are in full flight and some definite trends are starting to appear.
The Rebels score from only one type of method in any one game, the Reds and Brumbies are streets ahead in the Australian competition, James O’Connor is really maturing and the refs must have to limber up their mouths in the warm-up considering how much whistleblowing they are doing.
But beyond these important themes, what are the talking points from this past weekend?
Can the Reds go the whole way now?
Well, what a little beauty that was, eh? The Brumbies taking on the Reds in Canberra was picked to be the match of the round, and holy moly did it deliver! For everyone who tweets or comments about the poor look for rugby that the Force-Rebels game was, just reply confidently with a link to the highlights from the last-minute Reds win over the Brumbies. It was such an enjoyable game.
There’s been talk that the Brumbies had so many injuries that the Reds were destined to win, but that could not be more wrong. Yes, the Canberra team lost players during the game, but after 15 minutes the Reds were down 17-0, with 19 minutes to go they were down 15 points and with just six minutes left in the game the visitors were behind by eight points.
There’s been plenty written already about how well the Reds played, and the analysis of the game is interesting for sure. But this win is for nothing if the Reds don’t know kick on, win the Super Rugby AU competition and challenge when we get all trans-Tasman.
The Reds have been on such an enthralling journey under Brad Thorn over the past few years and are starting to repay all the patience and support that the Kiwi coach has given his players.
They are by no means a complete team yet – they still have some average to good players in positions where they really need good to great players, but the team as a whole are playing together and for each other in a way that can paper over these cracks a lot of the time.
James O’Connor is having a very good season and genuinely leading the team and managing games like a legend, the pack is becoming more reliable, scary with Taniela Tupou putting together consistently good performances and Seru Uru showing his exciting talent in the second row while Harry Wilson is really coming on and being a great threat in the loose. They’ve also got a pair of centres who could scare any defence if they can really click in Jordan Petaia and Hunter Paisami.
They really can win the AU competition, and while no-one would suggest that they can beat the Crusaders yet, they would be confident going up against the rest of the Kiwi teams right now.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Will New South Wales learn from the Reds and Thorn?
Speaking of Brad Thorn, the New South Wales leadership should be looking at the form and progress of their friends up north and taking heed. There are many differences between the two situations of course, but what is important is that Rob Penney is given genuine time and support to build the club back up.
A meeting of senior members of the Waratahs organisation took place earlier this week, with chairman Roger Davis confirming after the meeting the insightful comment, “Rob still has our support until he doesn’t”.
It’s rumoured that he also confirmed that water is wet and that the sky looks blue.
It seems as though Penney will get the backing up until the end of the season at least. That is good to hear, as a midseason change would do more harm than good to the team and the club. But the NSW organisation do need to regard this next phase of their journey as something that will take time, and they need to pick and stick.
With the players they’ve got, there isn’t some secret coaching ingredient that will turn them into competition winners. The players and the coach need time and support.
Thorn was given that time and look where here’s been able to progress the Reds to. The Tahs need to be thinking in terms of years for their resurgence, not weeks or months.
Rob Penney. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
The importance of good decision-making
In Super Rugby AU this weekend we saw how crucially important good decision-making is to a team’s chances of success. Of course throughout a game players are making decisions all the time in the heat of the moment, and they all matter. But the decisions we’re talking about here at the ones to take the shot at goal or go for more when given a penalty.
The Force gave an absolute masterclass in how to make the wrong decision against the Rebels. With three minutes to go until full-time and losing by three points they chose to have a scrum instead of a shot at goal when awarded a penalty inside the Rebels’ 22.
Some said it made good sense because the Rebels were down a man, but that is wrong. You might say that hindsight is 20/20, but the Force should have taken the three, squared the game up at 10-10 – yup, only ten points apiece in the 76th minute, but that’s another story! – and then come straight back at the Rebels, who would still have had only 14 men.
On the flip side, when faced with similar decisions James O’Connor took a more successful approach. Taking points from penalties at several stages throughout the game knowing that it was crucial, even if they were behind, to keep the scoreboard ticking over and take every chance to stop the Brumbies’ lead from getting out of control.
Even with six minutes to go and an eight-point gap O’Connor took the shot at goal knowing that this would leave them with five minutes to create a try-scoring opportunity and that they had all the momentum at the time. It wasn’t a guaranteed plan by any means, but he knew that if he had refused the penalty and gone for the try and it had not worked, not only would the scoreboard have been against them but the Brumbies would also have had the momentum to wrap up the game.
However, taking the three, inching that bit closer and keeping the pressure on the Brumbies was a better bet, and it worked out perfectly.
Richie Mo’unga is a class apart
While playing flyhalf behind this Crusaders pack might be one of the easier positions in world rugby, Richie Mo’unga is playing beautifully this season and looks so comfortable.
Against the Chiefs this weekend he seemed to have so much time to do whatever he wanted. He tormented the defence, mixing up his kicking and passing well, while tacklers were made to look very slow as he side-stepped them time and time again.
Perhaps the best demonstration of his complete control was in the second half when Will Jordan scored his try. The line the fullback picked was deadly, but it was Mo’unga’s contribution that caught the eye.
The No. 10 went to go right but found the defence was waiting for him, so instead he stepped back to his left and saw nothing on that way, so he stopped. He just stopped. He took a split second to assess his options and then without looking popped a pass inside to Jordan, who came flying through to take the pass and slice through the defence.
It was like Michael Jordan in his pomp for the Bulls – he could do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted and there was nothing the opposition could do.
Beauden who?
(Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)
Marika Koroibete is on track for a stellar season
While the Rebels have struggled to find the tryline this season, that hasn’t stopped Koroibete from being very busy. He caught the eye most recently this weekend with his performance against the Force, especially for his try creating run and set up for Jack Powell. But he’s been putting in good games in these opening rounds and his name is all over the top of the stats tables.
Those are some pretty good stats, but one that really stands out is the number of carries. He’s really going looking for work, which is great to see. If the Rebels can generate some creativity and give him some space to work with, he’s going to turn those stats into a load of points scored, and that can only be a good thing for Melbourne and the Wallabies.
Chiefs blown off the park by the ref’s whistle
The Crusaders were really good on Saturday and the Chiefs were thoroughly outplayed, but there was a point in the second half where it almost became uncomfortable how easily the Crusaders were picking up penalties from the referee. Their scrum was dominant and they used it not just to get good, clean possession but as a way to draw a penalty several times. And why wouldn’t you?
But just like some people say that a red card kills a game, the ease in which the Crusaders were able to pick up penalties destroyed any chance of the Chiefs getting into the game.
Add to that the fact that the Chiefs were on the end of a very poor TMO decision when Brad Weber was deemed to have touched the ball when in fact it was a Richie Mo’unga forward pass and the uncomfortable feeling grew.
Sometimes, for good safety reasons, we have uncontested scrums in games – perhaps for the good of the flow of this game we should have had uncontested scrums on Saturday so that the Chiefs could actually get their hands on the ball and get out of their own half.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.