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In Christchurch, the Crusaders took on the volatile Moana Pasifika with all eyes on Richie Mo’unga as he brought up his 100th for the franchise.
The script started perfectly as the man of the hour skipped past three down the left to set up Codie Taylor for the opening try.
Mo’unga’s run stats this year are incredible, especially given the multitude of changes in the pack and the youth of the rest of the backline. After six matches he has racked up 54 runs, 368 metres, 7 clean breaks with 28 defenders beaten. On Friday, his defenders beaten number equalled Beauden Barrett’s effort for the season to date.
But as with most games this year, Moana Pasifika then roared into life early, primarily through their two main ball carriers, Levi Aumua and Timoci Tavatavanawai who totalled 180 run metres and 11 defenders beaten and 3 tries between them as the Crusaders wandered off to the sheds behind on the scoreboard at halftime. MP are adding an increased kick return threat via William Havili and with an improving offloading game, we await the day it all clicks.
A few weeks ago, I observed that the three best passers of the ball in this comp are Aaron Smith, Frank Lomani and Ere Enari, and once again, Erani drove his side around the park with real purpose and with the ball zinging off his hands. The time is going to come when this side gets through a full 80 minutes and someone is going to cop it. Maybe it will be the Reds in Apia this week, but this Moana side is not one acclimatised to playing at home like the Drua are.
While the second half was by no means an easy finish for the Crusaders, their young players showed the ruthlessness in execution that would be perhaps be expected of more experienced players. They finished the game with a forward pack averaging 22 years of age; it really is a production line they have in that Christchurch academy.
The HIA which saw Jack Goodhue off again early demonstrated the inconsistency with the laws and officiating for both sides of the ball. Goodhue in position early, won the now much needed race to get lowest earliest, and the ball carrier, Sam Slade, was late to lower his height, led with his head and drove straight into him.
The other way round and that’s a stone cold red and a month off. It’s like ball carriers who raise their knees before contact, we need to get rid of it or at least officiate it as we would a defender.
In the increasingly chillier climes of Dunedin this match intrigued not only for the multiple head to heads, but also as a measure to just how good this Hurricane start to the season has been.
Most first blush looks at the Hurricanes focus’ on the big names, Ardie Savea, his brother Julian on one flank and Salesi Rayasi on the other, and with Brayden Iose and Du’Plessis Kirifi rounding out the flanks there are attack dangers everywhere.
But this Hurricanes side is just as likely to bash straight through your front door as it is to get to its flanks. When they present the ball at the tackle there is confidence to reach out, full arm’s length, plant the ball and rely on the speed and accuracy of the cleaners to secure the pill before using that pick and drive repeatedly. It’s a hard tactic to combat.
Combine that with new levels of determination to defend their try line and you have a side that will be able to compete with the top 3-4 sides of the competition. There was a passage around the half hour mark where the Canes repelled a series of home side attacks, and you got the feeling right then that the tone had been set for the day.
There is a both a patience and a connectivity in these guys that wasn’t there last year, as evidenced by the 16 phases they went through for the first try.
Once again, the Highlanders had to alter their side late as Aaron Smith returned to Fielding to support his family and he was certainly missed. After a late season start due to an All Blacks protected species edict, he has torn through his opposition in recent weeks with 10 try assists, twice the number of anyone else in the comp. The guile of the master was missed in the red zone this week.
Ethan de Groot got the points decision over All Black tighthead mate Tyrel Lomax, and with both recently signing NZR extensions they will be handing out scrum challenges at international level together for a few more years yet.
It’s worth noting that Jermaine Ainsley is probably a name Australia should not have discarded.
Billy Harmon the Highlanders captain won the battle on the floor off the back of some sterling work from his fellow loosies, Billy Proctor shows every week that the largesse of the Roger Tuivasa-Sheck selection wasted a year for someone else, the next generation of halfbacks and first five eighths put on a great display between them.
A returning from injury Shannon Frizell, who looked totally gassed when he departed after 50 min with 80 minutes worth of stats collected, was excellent, but his departure saw the Highlanders turnover stats go from only 5 to end the match at 17 – gotta look after your own ball boys.
The big difference was the Hurricanes’ kicking game, with four guys all able to drive the Highlanders back consistently they took the territory stat to over 60 percent and they were good enough to take advantage.
With the Blues back in Melbourne for the second time this year the New Zealand rugby media had all eyes on the form of Beauden Barrett, albeit about a year after the symptoms began to appear and there were no signs of any great revival in the opening stanza.
Beauden Barrett (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
Unwilling to commit to living in the 10 slot he spent a lot of time out the back, a couple of nice positional kicks evident but largely underwhelming again and not indicative of what was to come.
The Rebels however are just good fun to watch this year as they combined innovation off their own line which ended up in a score, with good technique at maul time and overall, an attitude that is going to keep them in a lot of contests this year, but 25% possession in the second half was never going to be enough to keep the marauding Blues horde off them.
One thing the Blues will always bring you is a contest up front; they will bludgeon you if they can, and with Leon MacDonald now seeing the light and playing two actual locks in the second row, they have a far more solid look about them. They also fielded a loose forward trio which was more work than play this week and they really took it to the Rebels in the narrow channels.
Be it the physical contest, bad luck, a spell from a naysayer, who knows, but the Rebels’ tight five player stocks were going backwards quickly and Sam Talakai had to answer the call to fill in as third hooker. It’s a tough role at the best of times but free kicks against for brake-foot and a baulk free kick at a lineout showed it had been a while since he had played there, and the die was cast.
This Blues side has shown over the last couple of seasons at they are ruthless, open the door an inch and the whole company rampages through and that is exactly what happened. Barrett was suddenly up for repeated touches in the 10 slot, and the blue wave was racking up points for fun, as the first five went through his full array of attacking short kicks with the chip, regather and grubber for Mark Telea to score in the corner a real highlight. But that was counterbalanced with a non-existent running game, a couple of charge downs and kicking for poles which was a season’s worst. The battle for the All Blacks 22/23 shirt is still on.
The big winner for the Blues was Finlay Christie who was in everything and even if a little inelegant, was the clear game driver for the visitors. The big loser was the injured Roger Tuivasa-Sheck as Harry Plummer followed up recent good games by Bryce Heem in the 12 slot, with a mature all-round performance, running for over 100 metres and showing what a genuine kicking alternative in the middle of the park can add for a side. It’s going to be a long way back for the league convert me thinks. There is a current pub game in New Zealand, see how many midfielders you would select for the ABs before RTS, current market is 8-10.
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.