How the NZ Super sides fared tactically: head to heads in Hamilton and the Highlanders' party trick is back

There was a saying that if a rugby Test was 60 minutes long Ireland would have already been world champions (presuming of course they could negotiate the quarterfinals in this truncated world).

The same is true for Moana Pasifika; on their best days stringing together increasingly longer passages of power-based rugby but as yet still short of the Super Rugby standard for a full 80. But when they can get their primary weapons firing, they are all sorts of a problem to handle in the interim.

On Friday night they repeatedly got the ball into the hands of Timoc Tavatavanwai and Levi Aumua, and the Highlanders missed tackle count from player numbers 12-15 raced to 19. One recalls the ubiquitous under 12s coach who would tell you to bend your back and hit with your shoulder but said coach had not met either of these two ball carriers.

The Highlanders withstood the initial storm, hit back with some very direct attacking of their own and in the end, used the time available to head off with a comfortable win. While the Highlanders players down is still a problem, the return of Thomas Umaga-Jensen and Marino Mikaele-Tu’u showed glimpses of what the southerners attack has been missing.

Tactically it was nice to see the return of a pre Folau Fakatava injury move. Aaron Smith passed the ball 52 times in this game and while we have seen the return of his sniping best in the prior two wins, he did not run in this game. He passed consistently, making that MP defence work harder and harder and because he was not running the Post D in channel 2 began to slide early. Enter Fakatava, and that ruck gap which had been nurtured for an hour, was ruthlessly attacked leading to three tries, two of them directly from the new halfbacks passes.

The Fakatava assists start at 4.00 and 4.25 on this clip. Watch the second defender in both instances get disconnected from their mate inside

Wonderful stuff indeed, but anyone want to bet that New Zealand TV’s “Breakdown” panel will wonder aloud where Smith’s running game has gone?

Over in Queensland the team announcement Wednesday provided room for concern on both sides. The Crusaders were sending out a side with a backline that included four players with fewer than 20 starts between them and a 19-year-old halfback debutant up against an established Australian international.

While Noah Hotham did an acceptable job for the Cantabs, in particular his ruck snipe leading to the Dominic Gardener try, his service was a little wobbly forcing his backline to play perhaps a little flatter than perhaps they would have liked, however the Reds couldn’t generate any real pressure on him to take advantage.

Equally alarming was the Queensland Reds’ front five list, which must have known from team release time that they were going to get some sort of touch-up at scrum time, and so it proved, releasing pressure on the Crusaders time and again.

The Reds’ Liam Wright looks every inch a test footballer and the increasing speed of the game will be bringing the size dynamic back in his favour, if not as a starter, certainly as a bench option.

Coach Scott Robertson adopted a very simple, and common Crusader tactic of using their kicking game to ensure the Reds had to attack from distance with ball in hand, which they scored one excellent try from, but in the main the Crusaders were able to turn less possession into greater territory gains as their famed defence tackled at 89% thus protecting the youngsters in the backline.

Combine this with a clinical attack that averaged 4.4 points from their 5 visits into the Reds 22 and it was going to be a difficult evening for the Reds who managed to look like some of them had met in the car park prior, none more so than Isaac Henry who after making a storming line break and with a man next to him, somehow found a way to join the ‘nailed by Richie Mo’unga in the backfield’ club when simple hands would have had his side under the dot.

The Crusaders have Moana Pasifika next week and then a bye week which should see some of that injury backlog relieved.

The big match of the round was at the Tron as the Blues came looking to get their season back on track against the undefeated Chiefs only to run into a pre-match deluge which narrowed the tactical focus available to the coaches and the kicking for position the focus.

The match has two serious sub-battles that all eyes were on.

The contest for openside flanker rights was a comprehensive win for Sam Cane over Dalton Papalii, who really struggled to get into the game, both in the narrow channels and throughout opening half.

There were a few moments of real class from Cane, chopping Sotutu behind the ad-line from a Blues loosehead, getting out and putting pressure on Beauden Barrett which cost him a whack in the soft bits on one occasion, and a wonderful read on Caleb Clarke looking to run a down line inside the Chiefs 22. This is the man the All Blacks are going to need in the trenches, even if he understandably limped off somewhat gingerly after an hour.

The battle for the All Blacks 23 shirts was equally comprehensive but not without concern. I am not sure what is going on with B Barrett this year but even his goal kicking, which has been excellent this year, deserted him big time as two kicks from the tee were duck-hooked into the car park like a poor club golfer. He again seemed reluctant to sit in that 10 slot and drive his team around, and the less said about the touch in goal effort, the better. Its hard to see how Foster and Co can pick him if there is not a real change in form.

His opposite Damian McKenzie started finished his first 80 in the 10 shirt and after struggling to get the ball in behind the Waratahs last week, opened the game with a wonderful grubber for the deceptively quick Emoni Narawa to score. The penalty kick from his own half was something else too. If DMac is now leading the race for the All Black bench, and he clearly is, then the lateral running, turnovers conceded (18 in 5 games now) and errors kicking from hand, (how many Hamilton hearts stopped when that goal-line drop out went out of the full in the 48st minute), are going to need to dramatically improve.

What concerns, for both players, is the inability to bring those around them into the game. Barrett has long been able to do a David Copperfield and make Rieko Ioane disappear at international level, and this year that has dropped to Super level. For all the attack opportunities the Chiefs had in the first half, I do not think the Chiefs centre touched the ball once. I stand to be corrected, but as a test, how many can even name who played in the 13 shirt for the Chiefs.

Ironically the handling errors were inverse to the rainfall. Quite tight and compact during a wet opening stanza, but more handling errors in the second once it dried out.

For a side that got belted in the penalty count and had to make 170 tackles, that was a well-earned win from the Chiefs.

One had to really feel for the Western Force and their trip to Palmerston North this week.

Firstly, they were in Palmerston North, second, the third week of a three week tour when you are unlikely to win a game is a real slog and they showed some real ticker to finish well in the last 15 minutes of a game again.

Overall, I thought the Hurricanes offensive rebounding was a positive as was their mid court transition, but the Forces 3-point shooting kept them right in it.
Both sides will be working on their D.

This one was a poor spectacle all round.