Roar Rookie
Joined April 2017
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Australia needs its own domestic competition, but that doesn't mean it should leave Super Rugby. The lack of domestic competition is a structural deficiency…
If the saying goes “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” then what is the logical thing to do if it is obviously busted?…
We probably won’t hear as much of him (maybe 2-3 occasions in the game) but we will probably see the effect of his running commentary on the ref at crucial moments!
Tipping panel – the Final: North versus South
After tipping with my head all year it is now the final and the form lines are quite hard to compare so I’m left with going with the heart.
Highlanders up by 5 at the end.
Dixon to score first
The chrips from AS won’t be as noticeable with a decent crowd in attendance.
Tipping panel – the Final: North versus South
Love your work Nic.
There were 2 classic training moves on the weekend. The Highlanders lineout and the Chiefs catch and pass.
Both were great to watch in their execution and planning. I wonder how many times they run through those before they are able to do the moves to that level in a game.
Why the sting is in the tail at lineout time
I think leveraging the existing SR infrastructure would be necessary. This would need players and coaches to work for an extra 3 months and 4 month contractors for an additional 160 players.
If each state/territory has a team and NSW & Qld has 2 then there are 10 teams for a comp. Each SR team has 2 teams affiliated with them.
Coaching units from SR get split to the affiliated teams and padded out from external (state) sources. Head coaches step out and the assistants run the show. This facilitates the coaching pathway and we get to see who can handle the head role before committing to them at SR level.
SR players get split between the two affiliated teams and the squads are padded out with players from the local club competition.
This provides the national footprint, player and coaching pathways and the intermediate step between club and SR. According to wiki there are over 850 clubs in AU. Drawing an additional 160 players from that pool shouldn’t be that hard.
The hard part will obviously be funding it. As others have mentioned using existing resources would be key in getting it across the line.
The other ingredient for success is time. RA would need to be happy with running it at a loss for a number of years until the support base is expanded and the exposure grows. How they find and mitigate the losses will test the management skills.
The coaches want it, and now it seems RA’s appetite for the NRC might be growing
Hmmmm I might have been a bit dry with the SS comment.
In no sane universe will a club competition prepare you for super rugby. AU needs a domestic comp outside of SR to develop the players as said in the article.
The Wrap: Five-try Wainui reveals Super Rugby’s bald truth
I’m not fully across the wording of that Law. It intent a required component of the process or is it just based on results?
The Wrap: Five-try Wainui reveals Super Rugby’s bald truth
I might be wrong but…
I think if a player is in a card situation they get removed entirely from the penalty try consideration. The questions the ref would have been answering were
Was the players actions illegal in preventing a try. Y/N
Would the attacking player have scored if the illegal defender was not present? Y/N
Five talking points from Super Rugby Trans-Tasman, Round 5
Hi Geoff,
Thanks for the coverage of SR throughout the year.
On the Hegarty YC. Prior to contact with the ball his hand was moving parallel to the ground. It’s a tough situation with the ball bouncing so high but rugby is full of situations where the law punishes poor performance or bad luck (i.e. a prop who gets pumped in a scrum will often receive a penalty for their poor showing).
The non-wallabie players will be able to play Shute Shield until September. They will be steeped in tradition and we’ll rested for ’22 where an improved performance will be assured! It’ll be interesting to see the force play BOP to gauge the difference in level between a SR team and the NPC.
The Wrap: Five-try Wainui reveals Super Rugby’s bald truth
They did seem to have a narrow formation from first phase. The Chiefs first try exploited this really well. It didn’t seem to change after the coaching changes either
Get your questions in for Issue 17 of Coach's Corner
Your recent analysis of the forwards defensive efforts turned my attention in that direction over the weekend. My impression was that the NZ forwards made a lot of tackles in semi open space that the AU forwards can’t seem to replicate. There were some occasions where a NZ forward got skinned for pace but dot as often as the AU mob.
Was this observation correct and if so what is the underlying cause?
Is it individual defensive skill, team formation, attacking skill or just a lack of heart?
Get your questions in for Issue 17 of Coach's Corner
Disagree mate. The action prior to the contact with the ball was parallel to the ground. To me that indicates he wasn’t trying to ground the ball.
After the contract he then stops himself from face planting.
"That's rubbish": Reds in utter disbelief after copping the two worst decisions of the year
His hand was never trying to direct the ball downward which gave the TMO no real option. That YC was correct.
I’m not convinced on the off side one. Should have been a penalty and warning.
"That's rubbish": Reds in utter disbelief after copping the two worst decisions of the year
Ha ha sure could. I’ve finally felt the pressure of being near the top of the table. It makes you second guess everything. I now totally understand your decision to not be at the top Brett 😂 . I bet that has saved you so much stress over the years!
Too little, too late: What we needed to see more of from the Aussies in Super Rugby Trans-Tasman
It was great to see the AU teams start to rise to the standard required. It made for some good games that were enjoyable viewing.
Prior to the TT starting I predicted that the Reds and the Brumbies would pick up 1-2 wins each. I thought it was likely that they would get up over the Highlanders and the Canes. Mostly due to the injury list in the south and the lack of spine in Welly.
Now I’m faced with the a tipping quandary. Will the Canes mount an appropriate response and front up physically? Will the Highlanders be desperate enough for the final and win? Was last week’s performances from the AU teams the high tide mark that they will recede from this week or are they actually on an upward trend?
In the end I’ve gone with the Canes and the Highlands. Mainly due to the Reds not being able to play as tight as the Ponies did last week for the full 80. This will provide the Canes the opportunity to put a few more points on than last week. The Highlanders have a lot more grit than the Canes and will be desperate for the win. The focus on winning and not on the BP will offer fewer opportunities than the Canes have away.
Too little, too late: What we needed to see more of from the Aussies in Super Rugby Trans-Tasman
And nearly 100% of the All Blacks come from club rugby in NZ.
But that sure as hell doesn’t mean they were ready for international rugby when they left the club scene. No, it was the time spent in the NPC and then in SR. Those development opportunities act as a steady progression.
To say that the SS needs to be strong so it produces players to improve the Wallabies is frankly BS.
The Wrap: So where was TJ when the Hurricanes needed him?
Hi NB,
Some sides look to concede one less point than the opposition (defence focused), others back themselves to score one more point than the opposition (attack orientated).
How much of the variation in defence performance is system based vs how much is focused based? I.e. some teams will have a poor plan (Wallabies musical chairs) that no amount of training will rectify (system deficient), others will have an ok plan (Hurricanes) but seem to lack the polish to execute it for 80+ minutes (focus/training deficient).
Given a team only has so many training hours in a week what is the spread in hours devoted to defence work?
Get your questions in for Issue 15 of Coach's Corner
It depends on the cause of the lack of progress.
At present people are saying we haven’t improved in 25 years therefore super rugby is preventing improvement. There is no causal correlation there.
For most of that 25 years there was no NRC. That could also be the root cause. The one team that really embraced the NRC (Queensland) have seen the best improvments and are now getting up to speed in SR. The core team have been together for a few years now and the players are developing.
The Wrap: Reds take their learnings to break Australia’s Super Rugby duck
I think the cards given out for stupidity are under utilised. It would help raise the rugby IQ of the players over time.
The Wrap: Reds take their learnings to break Australia’s Super Rugby duck
You also need to ensure that the punctuation is correct
“I helped my Uncle, Jack, off a horse”
The Wrap: Reds take their learnings to break Australia’s Super Rugby duck
Just saw some comments regarding yesterday’s game and see that MT also put a high shot on and wasn’t carded. That’s disappointing since the Highlanders really needed that BP.
They are probably out of the hunt for the final now.
No use blaming the ref though. You should be good enough to take the ref out of the equation.
The Wrap: Reds take their learnings to break Australia’s Super Rugby duck
I have no issue with the DM red card but the intercept is a bit more boarder line. If he gets another half a hand on that one it’s game on. If he had slapped it down then yeah send him but he didn’t.
DM had the chance to put in a proper hit. He could have lowered his height and cut him in half. The pass was going so there was no point in staying up to remain in the play so commit to the tackle and make it count. That removes the ref from the equation and sets the tone on defence.
One card that was missed was the high tackle on Aumua. It was penalised at the time but resulted in him failing a HIA so probably warranted more.
There are so many legal ways to hurt your opponent in rugby there is no need for any illegal play. When players cross the line they should take the consequences but we all want to see the laws applied evenly and consistently.
The Wrap: Reds take their learnings to break Australia’s Super Rugby duck
Yeah he should have gone for 10. Dumb play when up by 24-6.
I’d like to see the high tackle on Aumua looked at again. It obviously had a bit of sting in it since he failed the HIA.
Was Jordie Barrett lucky to avoid a yellow card for this aggressive cleanout?
I was really disappointed with that game. I thought that the Force would have a bit more go about them but….
The Canes finally turned up and respected their opponents. They showed a lot of steel in D and exited their own end well. When the Force got nothing out of their close runners (one or 2 out) they had nothing in the wider channels. Only Pulu looked dangerous. I tipped the Canes but only by 10 points. That was a bit wrong!
On the cards.
JB should have got a yellow. If not for the dangerous contact then for being an idiot. When you are up 24-6 there is no need to have such a low percentage play. Just dumb football. The ref should have sent him but only a yellow due to the position the defender was in.
Interesting that there has been little comment on the Aumua tackle. The face that it was high and resulted in a failed HIA indicates that there was some force involved. I haven’t seen a replay of it so can’t comment other than the fact it should have been looked at.
Trounced Force face test of character
Thanks mate. You did really well throughout the year – congrats on the win. If I’d gone with the head I would have been stoked with outright second.
Now onto the Tests!
Tipping panel – the Final: North versus South