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The enforcement of a shot clock on kicks for goal and from hand, together with focusing on restarts, has begun to make inroads into the faux rest periods that have been part of our game in the latter part of the professional era.
Not only did week one’s game between the Crusaders and the Chiefs get the ball in play minutes up over 38 minutes, the actual game time elapsed fell by more than 3 minutes so the game is getting a fatigue buster squeeze from two sides.
One of the first outcomes we are seeing is difficulty in sides transitioning to defence on turnover ball.
The Highlanders are the competition’s biggest strugglers in this regard with tries conceded from turnovers into double figures after only two week.
What is of interest is that in a game where speed has such a high focus, many of the players and sides have reported back considerably bigger than last year – something is going to have to give.
Well it didn’t take the All Black coach in waiting long to figure out that he got tactically spoofed by Clayton McMillan last week and changes were made. David Havili was brought into second five eighth Jack Goodhue went to centre (but only lasted quarter of an hour) while Fergus Burke moved into fullback.
Result: better balance, good coverage in the back field with three kickers plus an energised Sevu Reece and it was the genesis of the first half lead.
Highlander fullback Sam Gilbert needlessly kicked out on the full pushing a kick when distance was his only requirement, try one conceded and on the half hour with the score 10-3, newly installed ex England international Freddie Burns, who overall got a pass mark, showing the lack of patience which seems to be a requirement of a Highlanders number ten, gave the ball away with a poor short kick option, before beginning the inevitable trudge back to stand under the posts.
The Crusaders sparked on opposition turnovers and the Highlanders could not respond.
An optimistic movement of seats to the end the Highlanders were attacking in the second half did not yield the hoped for results.
If ball security and turnovers were not the focus of the Highlanders coaching team over the past week I will be very surprised, but it mattered little. The same blatant disregard for the pill that was so ruthlessly exposed by the Blues in week one became something of an encore performance after the Burns howler.
The Highlanders did make the required changes at 9 and 10 after a poor outing last weeks and looked immediately better for it. Faster clearance at ruck time and initially real invention from Burns gave a false hope but it was definitely a step up, and worth noting a raise in performance from Folau Fakatava when subbed in later in the game.
But once that breakthrough was made the Crusaders were in cruise control, they sparked into life off turnover ball, smashed into contact as if each breakdown was a personal affront and in the main were just a level of pace too much for the Highlanders as the Blues had been.
It’s worth noting Ethan Blackadder was top drawer for the second week in a row, David Havili looked right at home back in the 12 jersey but the maestro performance came from Richie Mo’unga.
Richie Mo’unga of the Crusaders looks to kick. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)
After looking off the pace in week one having not played a preseason game, he brought the full armoury to bear; he kicked well from the back field, from the tee and offensively, his distribution by hand has no current peer in the position, and when he is given a glimmer of space his running game can rip opposition a new one. A benchmark performance for the year in terms of both decision making and execution.
It is only when you watch a game live you see just how much work he does off the ball too.
If the Crusaders are to have a concern, it is that a tight five featuring 4 current All Blacks got a real touch up in the opening stanza from the Highlanders scrum, ably led by Jermaine Ainsley and referee Nic Berry jumped all over them.
The Highlanders did manage two late tries to Josh Timu with only the game clock cruelly halting what could have been a major southern man comeback.
As we saw in week one, the Hurricanes set up to counterattack whenever the opportunity arises, and with the Rebels showing glimpses to have a go, it looked early on that the crowd, which looked better than any of the days last year, were if for some good code.
The Hurricanes are side that you want to watch from high up behind the posts; they have so many bodies in motion much in the same way that the Highlanders don’t. (With apologies to Douglas Adams).
From the young guns in the halves, Cam Roigard and Aiden Morgan to the power based experience of their midfield duo, the running lines and offloading from the visitors was just too much for the Rebels although they did scramble quite well. While the quality of the Hurricanes performance vacillated, one always felt that there was another level they could go to should the situation demand and that was the case, even when down to 14 men for most if the second half.
The Rebels were solid and tenacious. There is some real heart in this side, but if they want to compete for one of those 4-8 finals slots their kicking game is going to have to be better from halfback and first five eighth. They let the pressure valve off the Canes 3 or 4 times in the opening stanza with poor efforts from the boot, and their attacking 10 metre plays are going to need some work.
It is worth noting that they were noticeably slower than the Hurricanes getting round the corner in both defence and attack. We did see some solid ball carrying in the middle of the park from the Rebels in that second stanza but I was left with the feeling they are going to be short attacking weapons for the bigger matches.
There were interesting tactical choices from the Chiefs coaching team this week. Josh Ioane who changed last week’s game in the second half was not only out if the starting team but gone from the 23 altogether. Damian McKenzie was reinstalled in the 10 shirt, and just as I was noting that this was the sort of performance he needs to push his black jersey claims, he made two horrible unforced kicking errors on attack and then added another early in the second half, before again being moved to fullback when Bryn Gatland came on at first five eighth.
DMac’s distribution from hand was excellent especially with getting the passes to the outside shoulders of his runners and putting defenders in poor positions.
Playing the Chiefs is not a place to throw intercept passes in the opening 10 seconds of a match and the Moana Pasifika self inflicted opening wound pretty much set this game up to be over by halftime.
Chiefs were noticeably harder at the breakdown, with Sam Cane an ever present, and the transition to defence from turnovers was a real issue for MP through that opening period.
A roaring start to the second half showed what Moana can do, both through the forwards close to the line, and through their midfield backs. As with last year, work on those defensive patterns is going to determine how many matches they can remain competitive in.
From the NZ side, Sam Cane, Shaun Stevenson and Brodie Retallick again showed up while McKenzie strung more good minutes together at 10, he is building into his season but has to get that error rate down, not the first time I have written that in recent years.
Well, it’s ‘I told you so’ time. After the absolute thumping the Blues gave my guys last week I suggested, perhaps at the risk of looking foolish at the time, that this Blues side lacked the authority in the front five to be competitive with the better sides in Super Rugby and while they will likely be there at the pointy end of this season, they won’t have enough to topple the other likely top contenders.
It didn’t take long to prove the theory.
In particular, in that quite awful stop start, error ridden second stanza, the introduction of Nic White and Noah Lolesio saw the Blues pinned back in their half over and over, with no kicking game to get them out of trouble.
Actually, had the Brumbies offensive lineout not self destructed during the same period it may well have been a whole lot worse for the Aucklanders.
(Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
There is a real difference between Super Rugby and Test match rugby, and a whole bunch of Blues showed they should not be anywhere near that RWC AB squad, even Mark Telea came back to earth with a hell of a bump. And it was also mentioned last week, that the Blues scrum could well be an issues this season, and that was also proved.
The Blues started by conceding 6 penalties in 6 minutes and ended up with a duo on the naughty chairs.
Here the Brumbies totally lost it playing against 13 men. Repeat penalties at breakdowns they did not need to contest, meant they could not get their hands on the pill and the Blues actually found a way over the stripe while being numerically challenged.
During that second stanza, when the Blues needed direction and control, they found little from their senior players and the game plan descended into a series of players making individual plays rather than staying in any sort of collective pattern.
The Brumbies sorted out their discipline issues at the breakdown, scrambled with real purpose on the rare occasion they were broken, and scrapped their way to a well deserved win.
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.