There’s no two ways about it, that didn’t go well for the Australian sides on the weekend.
In many ways – so many ways, in fact – the Round 2 whitewash was harder to take than the on the opening weekend of Super Rugby Trans-Tasman. In Round 1, we had a couple of finalists thrown straight back on the horse, and a couple of teams who hadn’t played for more than a fortnight. One of them lost two coaches along the way.
After the first week, even with recalibrated expectations of what Trans-Tasman success might look like, there was still a feeling that the Australian sides would make the necessary adjustments.
The Queensland Reds would bin the midfield bomb from way too deep on their side of midfield. The Brumbies defence against the Crusaders would aid a breakdown presence that could slow the Chiefs down. The Western Force would have to start firing shots in attack when camped down the opposition end.
Somehow, some teams went the other direction. Somehow, some teams managed to do the exact opposite of what they said they’d been focusing on all week. All of them, despite expressing desires of not wanting to get caught up in trying to play New Zealand-style rugby against New Zealand sides, somehow got caught up exactly in trying to play New Zealand-style rugby against New Zealand sides.
And so, the scoreboard reads like the scoreboard reads and it will take several miracles from here for an Australian side to feature in the June 19 Final.
As it stands right now, and with most of us on the same page in thinking that four wins will be minimum standard to finish in the top two, we probably now have to contend with the very real possibility that an undefeated run through the five rounds may not be enough on its own.
As Geoff Parkes so rightly put it yesterday, bonus points for the Kiwi sides from here on are going to be like gold; any bonus point you can accrue that the neighbours miss out on will be worth double.
What then for Australian viewers from here?
Sadly, it’s going to involve looking beyond the black and white scoreboard. It’s going to involve looking at moments and looking at details that might give a glimpse of things to come.
These are going to be the future foundations from which a Trans-Tasman win will come. And they are out there, they’re just a bit hard to spot at the moment, particularly if all you’re hearing is updates on how bad things are.
It was really encouraging to note a few little green shoots in the Waratahs, for example.
The difference Jake Gordon has made to that side since his return from injury couldn’t be more stark, and it seems to be his sniping in traffic that is providing the go-forward for NSW to play from.
Jake Gordon. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Clearly, that’s unsustainable in the long run, but it’s interesting to observe Gordon’s impact on the playing group.
Angus Bell has suddenly found another gear to be not just the most effective tight five player in a NSW jumper, but the most effective tight five player on the field in the last two weeks. His ball-carrying numbers are suddenly fullback-esque, and he’s now actively looking to offload and pass.
He’s beating defenders regularly, consistently making the gain line, and that confidence around the field is certainly helping his scrummaging, too. His two tries in two weeks have both come from sheer determination to get to the line.
On the opposite side of the front row, Harry Johnson-Holmes is relishing the lift in intensity in the tight stuff, throwing himself into everything, and emerging genuinely annoyed when he’s picked out as being responsible for any kind of infringement.
All front rowers look annoyed, obviously, but ‘HJH’s’ annoyance looks to be coming from a place of effort, of knowing he needs to hit this one ruck right in front of him because it might make a difference for a play in five phases’ time.
He’s playing like he cares, and Bell is too. I’m not sure that’s always been evident in the Waratahs of 2021.
And they’re showing they’re capable of building phases as a ball-carrying unit. They’re hitting the cleanout, presenting the clean ball which in turn gives Gordon the opportunities he’s taking to find sneaky metres around the fringes.
Ben Donaldson, too, has proved to be a more-than-useful straightening influence when the Waratahs have looked to go wide, when they were certainly guilty of playing too laterally during Super Rugby AU.
There’s still a lot the Waratahs can improve on, of course there is. They still missed 26 tackles against the Blues in Auckland after missing well over 30 in the game of two-handed touch against the Hurricanes in Sydney the week before. They still conceded three times as many turnovers at Eden Park as they won.
But there’s some signs there. Signs are at least something, in the face of absent results.
If you didn’t watch the Crusaders thoroughly dismantle the Queensland Reds and just glanced over the stats sheet, what might stand out to you is that there aren’t too many details that highlight how one way the contest was.
The Reds won similar numbers of lineouts and scrums, kicked less and conceded fewer penalties, even made and missed similar numbers of tackles. They carried slightly less and didn’t beat as many defenders, but the Crusaders did hold a slight edge in possession split.
The game was even played mostly up the Crusaders end, so there had to be a discrepancy somewhere.
And the territory split is the hint: The Crusaders’ metres carried stat was 67 per cent more than that of Queensland’s. Offloads were on par, but the Crusaders threw 53 per cent more passes than the Reds, and made 18 clean breaks to five.
Clearly – and this is something all the Australian sides are being quickly reminded about – the Crusaders have no qualms at being kept down in their half. They were happy to play from their side of halfway, but they also recognised where the space was and shifted the ball there.
More than three times as many clean breaks tells you the Crusaders took advantage of broken Reds defensive lines with regularity.
Queensland might have reason to think they didn’t do much wrong in this game, and plenty of stats show that they matched the Crusaders pretty evenly.
Cullen Grace of the Crusaders runs with the ball. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
But the big lesson of Saturday night – and of the scoreboard – is that if you’re slightly out in the wrong couple of lines on the stats sheets, you’re still in for a rough time against the New Zealand sides.
The Brumbies didn’t have a great time of it in Hamilton, but the Nick Frost star continues to rise. He was a something of a shock inclusion in the no.6 jersey for the AU Final and proved to be surprisingly effective in the wide channels, getting his nose through the gain line quite often. His lineout work has been great all season.
After getting some chances off the bench last season, it feels like he’s leaping forward in his progression. And the Brumbies clearly agree, they extended him through to the end of 2022 just last week.
The tally doesn’t make for good reading at the moment, and only wins will change that. But there are slivers there to find if you’ll take the time to look.
And at the moment, we’ve got to look deeper than the scoreboard, because that’s all we’ve got to work with. You can bet the five coaches are doing exactly that, and you can throw Dave Rennie and his Wallabies assistants in there as well.
These are a few things I’ve noticed. I’d be interested to hear what else you’re seeing out there.
Micko
Roar Rookie
That's not a comp designed to maximise the revenue in Australia though. It was aussie & kiwi protectionism that got to parasite off the saffa's decent broadcasting revenue.
TJ-Go Force!
Roar Rookie
It’s actually not my opinion, I was just rehashing what others have commented that’s the thing. I haven’t had much of an issue with the refs. Ok been a couple dodgy forward passes and maybe an odd penalty missed at key points, but nothing that will dramatically change scores. I thought the refs have come a long way since the Bledisloe/TRC where I think we can all agree they were just awful. I just read the comments on the match live feeds on here and that’s where that comment came from. Personally I see the tactical kicking and lack of able pilfers like Pete Samu and Michael Hooper as Oz rugby’s biggest issue. We have two blokes in 5 franchises who can snatch a ball regularly. Frost, Hardwick, Koteka, McReight and Tizzano were showing good signs in SRAU but haven’t delivered that level against the NZ teams to date, though Frost is certainly a big improver of the 5. Then our kicking is just rubbish but it has been for 5 years since sadly Cheik took over the national team and we started playing f-it footy. My comment was to ask Brett his opinion. If you read into it more of that, then I can’t help that, but it shouldn’t be cause to be had a go at. You can defend the approach as ‘correcting’ but it was aggressive. Peace.
Rhys Bosley
Roar Pro
That is all theory that is at odds with what actually happened abd with the abilities of the players in question. Wright isn’t appreciably faster or more agile than ASY. Wright got turned inside out and run on one occasion by Mounga in this game, while ASY tackled him when he tried the same. Wright was also out run by a Saders loose forward in the leadup to the third try, as was McReight in the same passage of play. Where ASY really demonstrated his value was in ensuring ball retention in the final ten minutes, with his cleanouts and solid runs in traffic with quick recycle. The more the Reds have the ball, the less opportunity the opposition has to score tries. But you know what? It isn’t just about ASY, Wilson can play six and Uru can play eight. That would be a better option than this farcical idea of continuing to play a seven at six who are just not big enough.
Happy to agree to disagree but if you post stuff that deserves correcting Im more than happy to do the correcting. Brett there’s a feeling that among both NZ and Oz camps that they’re (NZ teams) potentially more of the rub of the green at the moment as the old saying goes. This was your post and I 100% disagree with it. You clearly believe it as you wrote it so lets agree to disagree about this "opinion" that its all one way reffing...
Muglair
Roar Rookie
Good points Brett As usual we can expect the Wallabies to be a lot more competitive than the SR teams. NSW look a bit fitter to me (wishful thinking?) and their errors were more in the thinking before doing rather than mucking up the doing. I am really hoping for a promising performance against the Crusaders.
TJ-Go Force!
Roar Rookie
I had a lot of time for your opinion and enjoyed reading your comments. However, I notice you’re particularly aggressive and it’s not needed.
TJ-Go Force!
Roar Rookie
Hang on you called me a liar for saying that Nick is talking about this stuff then you’re not even man enough to admit you had a go at me and trolled me over for republishing what he was saying and asking the author a legitimate question if he’s seeing things the same way? Usually a bigger man would say you know what I shouldn’t have had a go. I then posted a quote from Nick and read his comments last night on another thread he’s writing an article about it. Again instead of saying fair play mate I jumped the gun, but here’s my opinion. You just doubled down with your aggressive troll tactics. You’re actually ridiculous.
Monorchid
Roar Rookie
Well written BF. I agree. And your comment about WA is also spot on. As you know, I'm a Brisbane old bloke too. In fact, there is so little coverage of rugby over a season in our local rag that I don't often look for it. And I get a hard copy and a digital copy of our rag every day. I cut the trail of The Roar by accident and found it to provide excellent coverage and comment. That's why I signed up and stayed on even when my views are rubbished. Actually, the rubbishers are often right about me. Still it could be worse. I used to often watch a game at Ballymore; read Frank O'Callaghan's column in our rag the next day; and wonder if we'd both been to the same match (lol). But Frank once told me he fought for every inch of publishing space for his beloved rugby, and I believe him.
Matt
Guest
James Turner was possibly the worst of that lot, Where`d he come from? I`d also add Ryan Smith Lachie Swinton and Dane Zander to that unimpressive: list.
Obes
Guest
Nonsense. They have plenty of one on one tackles when the ball is spread wide.
Beefa
Guest
Incorrect. not just Daugunu on wing and Campbell at 15. Other obvious errors were: Wright bench ASY start. Zander bench Fotuaika start at loosehead. Smith out of 23, Uru start. Blyth bench. and Hegarty bench or out of 23. The irreversible damage was done by the time the better players came on. You will see a different 15 starting this week.
charels edwards
Roar Rookie
Helpful analysis, thanks Brett. Always good to see some positivity in these gloomy times. That said, Geoff Parkes nailed it in his discussion on Monday of how Australian teams have not kept up with the game's increased tempo. Once we get up to speed, literally and figuratively, those green shoots you spied will doubtless flourish into a veritable forest. But with the relentless competition for talent from other codes in this country, my suspicion is that, long-term, Australia will be lucky to get back into the global top 3 - let alone stay there for long.
See this is the garbage that comes forth when your sides get a thumping. You blame everyone else. Its the Refs fault is a real old excuse TJ particully when the scoreline reads 20 or 30 points difference in the results or when sides always lose by 10 points or so. At what point does Aus rugby own the results without making excuses? When is it that the Aus Fans like yourself start accepting the outcomes of the games are what is reality without fabricating excuses. Is it really a REF conspiracy against all the Aus sides? This includes all the games reffed by Aus refs to doesnt it? Are they all part of the conspiracy? Get better at rugby and stop blaming everyone else.
TJ its really weird isnt it that you have an opinon and I have a different one. When you voice your opinion thats all great but how dare I voice mine??? Good stuff mate.
Morning Brett :laughing:
Republican
Guest
.....'what does that say about your intelligence'? Well, since intelligence is so broadly defined my 'emotional knowledge' tells me that your depersonalising, condescending judgement hardly invokes intellect to the discussion. Good day & good luck to you Brett.
numpty
Roar Rookie
Reds were beaten by speed and execution, not physicality. The saders would've just run around ASY or taken his tackle, quick recycled and scored next phase. The mobility of the reds backrow probably saved the saders putting 80 points on. I'm not saying ASY is slow or unfit, but Wright/McReight are quicker and more mobile than him and that was needed more than his additional physicality.
moaman
Roar Guru
"For some reason my moniker doesn’t inspire NZR to return my calls." I wonder why!?! :stoked: :silly: :laughing:
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
Well no Moa, I thought that a friendly kiwi like your good self might just tell me. For some reason my moniker doesn’t inspire NZR to return my calls. Again, thank you for your kind words.
moaman
Roar Guru
Ken, That original post was beautifully constructed; it read like prose to me. Those ten years you have spent trying to get into the minds of kiwis would have least opened up some neural pathways! So, like yoga and sudoku, hard but not a complete waste of time, eh? :stoked: ps.Have you considered contacting NZR and asking them?