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Opinion
Australian Super Rugby sides are not very good. They should not be pushing their Trans-Tasman competition so hard.
Yet New Zealanders generally seem pretty happy after all five of their sides made the finals. I’m not sure why.
Putting aside the absurdity of an eight-team finals series in a 12-team competition, any New Zealand team losing to the Force or Rebels should ring alarm bells across the Tasman.
And it wasn’t just the last round that showed the gap between distinctly average Australian sides and their counterparts from across the ditch isn’t as big as it should be.
The Rebels are the poorest Super Rugby side since the Southern Kings in 2013, maybe ever. But they came within seconds of victory against the Chiefs just two weeks before beating the Highlanders.
We saw the Brumbies win against the Highlanders, Chiefs and Hurricanes all in a row.
(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
The Waratahs beat the Crusaders in arguably the biggest upset in Super Rugby history.
Putting the wins to one side, the majority of losses by Australian teams have also been surprisingly competitive.
Queensland blew three solid leads against NZ opposition before admittedly being soundly beaten by Auckland and Canterbury. All this while being steered around the park by a 20-year-old rookie flyhalf and without a host of first-choice forwards.
Even the Force pushed the table-topping Blues in a 22-18 loss.
In more than a handful of these defeats, it has been a case of Australian sides beating themselves rather than being beaten by anything especially outstanding.
The common denominator in the majority of these losses has been brain explosions and terrible mistakes by Australian players lacking composure.
It has not been about Test match pressure or being forced to answer particularly difficult questions.
Take the litany of errors in the Waratahs’ loss against the Hurricanes, for example. A quick tap from a penalty in your own 22 after absorbing pressure early in the second half.
A dropped ball when on attack ten metres out and three points up. A red card when the scores are level late in the second half.
The Waratahs then backed it up with under-12 rugby against 13 Aucklanders. Why not kick the ball to your opposition four times in ten minutes while you have two extra players on the field?
(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
New Zealand provincial sides would not get these concessions and let-offs against the elite northern hemisphere teams in 2022.
Brain explosions while under little pressure at crucial moments of games have not been hallmarks of the European Champions Cup.
The final between La Rochelle versus Leinster was Test match quality played at a Test match intensity. The physicality on display was twice what we’ve seen in Super Rugby this year.
A host of sides in Europe such as Leicester, Saracens, Toulouse and Racing would push the top four in Super Rugby all the way. And that’s before Leinster and La Rochelle even come into it.
Yes, there has been some razzle dazzle on display in Super Rugby and the Fijian Drua have brought an extra dimension to that!
Yes, there have been some very close games settled by field goals or other dramatic scores in the final seconds.
But too much of what we’ve seen in Super Rugby this year was a little light on.
It is like sipping a lovely pinot noir from Marlborough when you had expected a Malbec with your steak drenched in peppercorn sauce. Disappointing. Not quite right.
It pains me to say it, but the European Cup is a more physical, higher quality competition right now.
Maybe it is associated with more southern hemisphere players heading north in their prime. Maybe South Africa’s inclusion in European provincial completions has helped.
But this has been coming for a while and it can no longer be said that whoever wins Super Rugby is the best club side in the world.
Has that ever been the case before?
Of course administrators have deprived us all of a La Rochelle versus Blues or a Leinster versus Crusaders match-up in 2022.
But judging by the quality of Super Rugby, that may be a good thing.
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.