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What a terrific Super Rugby 2013 grand final between the Chiefs, going for back-to-back title, and the Brumbies, trying to recreate a new golden age!
It was easily the best played since 1996 in terms of excitement.
Furious and dedicated players, excellence in defence, the conflict of game plans, some thrilling running – from the Chiefs mostly – and a climax that had the packed stadium at Hamilton in the icy grip of fear and then fiery exhilaration as the Brumbies, pressing for a winning converted try, knocked on after a series of desperate phase attacks after the final whistle had sounded.
The score lines of the match reveal its secrets: Brumbies 3 – Chiefs 0; 6 – 0; 9 – 0; 9 – 3; 9 – 6; 9 – 9; 16 – 9 at halftime.
Then 19 – 9; 19 – 12; 22 – 12…
Hold the score line here, with the Brumbies on top and leading by 10 points and with 20 minutes of play.
Now roll the tape to see how the Chiefs got those ten points back, with an additional five points in interest.
This tough time for the out-of-sorts Chiefs was the moment when they, finally, got their mojo back and revealed they were a championship team made up of champion players, right through to the bench.
Coach Dave Rennie started to replenish his starting side with quicker, smaller and faster players as the game began to slip away from his team.
On came Sam Cane, Bundee Aki, Augustine Pulu amd Robbie Robinson.
As David Lord pointed out on Sunday in The Roar, Rennie is shaping up to be the next great New Zealand coach with three Junior World Cups and two Super Rugby titles in the last six years.
The masterly use of the reserves is one indication of his coaching genius, with Robinson scuttling 30 metres to score the decisive try.
Also, he has taken the Chiefs – a team noted for its free-spirit and lack of structure, fitness and method – into a brilliant running side that does the hard work up front and has the capacity to change its game plan when this was necessary.
So, what did we see the Chiefs do? They raised the tempo of their play with set moves in the backs to set the outside backs into the clear, even from inside their own 22.
And when they got into the Brumbies 22 they played close to the rucks and smashed through the middle, with the entire pack hitting the rucks.
The point of this tactic was to nullify the poaching talents at ruck time of the all Brumbies players. So surge after surge from the Chiefs came through the middle of the defensive line.
The Brumbies buckled and started to give away penalties. And when they avoided the penalties, they were forced to concede big gains by the relentless Chiefs attackers.
Now go back to the score line: 19 – 12.
Against the run of play, the Brumbies finally make a break out. Christian Lealiifano puts in a subtle grubber kick. Clyde Rathbone powers on to the ball. He snatches it out of Gareth Anscombe’s hands and sets off for the Chiefs’ posts, about 20m away.
Here we come to a decisive moment in the game.
Aaron Cruden, who has missed several kicks at goal, races back. He makes the tackle and gets to his feet to contest the ruck. He slows the ball down enough for the Chiefs to put up a strong defensive wall. The Brumbies get the ball somewhere near the tryline but too many bodies are piled over it.
There is a series of phases and the Chiefs are penalised. 22 – 12.
This is tough for the Chiefs, mentally as well as in terms of points needed to re-gain the lead. But if the try had been scored by Rathbone, say, we are looking at a 13 point differential which, in the context of the match right then, would have been too large for the Chiefs to knock off.
There has been criticism of Cruden’s play by Canterbury-based rugby experts, but in my view he out-played Matt Toomua in this match (as he did Dan Carter last week in the semi-final against the Crusaders).
Admittedly, Cruden’s goal-kicking was off a bit until the end of the match. But he kicked the championship goals.
My guess is that at times this year in the Rugby Championship we will see Cruden and Carter playing as five-eighths, with Ben Smith as a hard-running centre.
Before the match the excellent Fox Sports commentary team featured an interview with Jake White.
“The bottom line of finals,” White told the interviewer, “is about abosrbing pressure.
“Winning is the bench mark. The message is to be brave!”
Now these are excellent mantras. At halftime, the Brumbies were leading comfortably through an intercept try, the result of pressure from George Smith on the halfback and then a rush defence and fabulous snatch and race to the try line by Christian Lealiifano.
White was asked, as his team was going back on to the field for the last 40 minutes, whether the Brumbies had to attack more?
White disagreed with this proposition. He wanted more field position to ease the pressure on the Brumbies in the last 20 minutes of the match as travel tiredness began to kick in.
I thought at the time that this was the wrong approach to give to the Brumbies. What happened to the ‘be brave’ mantra?
Now let’s go back to the score board: Brumbies 22 – Chiefs 12; 22 – 17; 22 – 24; 22 – 27 at full time.
On Friday, for an hour and half, I answered questions about the final on The Roar.
I was asked about whether the Brumbies had a Plan B. I explained that Plan A was a clever mix of South African and Australian rugby practices, with the Brumbies invariably kicking out of their half in the South African manner and then playing Rod Macqueen continuity play on attack inside the opposition’s half.
But when the Brumbies needed points at the end of the match, I suggested, they would play the continuity game irrespective of which half they were in.
If the Brumbies had been brave, like the Chiefs, they would have pulled out this Plan B. Unfortunately, they did not.
Halfback Nic White and fullback Jess Mogg both preferred to kick the ball out their half, Plan A, even though time was running out and the Brumbies were down on the score board.
Essentially, the Jake White game is a negative game. It relies on the opposition making mistakes through the intense pressure the Brumbies kick-and-contest-the-ruck game places on opposition.
It also requires the Brumbies to play generally mistake-free rugby against teams that don’t make many mistakes themselves.
The Brumbies missed 23 tackles to the Chiefs’ nine.
They gained two scrum penalties with their tactic of holding the ball in and driving, but lost a scrum by being turned and being monstered in a scrum when the Chiefs wheeled a set up Liam Messam to score from a short drive to the line.
They dropped a high ball and kicked out on the full a couple of times and missed touch from a penalty.
Their rush defence, too, created a try but allowed the Chiefs to break-out several times from within their 22 to take the game away from the Brumbies at the end of the match.
The Jake White game plan then is a work in progress. It needs to have a system to vary the kick-out from inside the Brumbies’ half with a New Zealand-style back three attack.
The Brumbies have the fullback and wingers who can do this. Will White tweak Plan A to allow this to happen?
None of this should take away from White’s achievement this season. He has taken a bits and pieces bunch of players and turned them into a competitive and strong-hearted side.
By having the team meeting for breakfast at seven each morning and virtually living together, White has compacted a four year development program into two years.
The next step, as I argue, is to make the Brumbies an attacking rather than a defensive side. Attacking sides, as the Chiefs showed in the final, can create their own destiny.
This is generally more effective than having the team’s destiny dependent on the opposition not playing at their best.
Despite this criticism, White deserves great credit for his coaching of the 2013 Brumbies.
A mark of a good coach is that players improve substantially under their care. White has helped Ewen McKenzie no end by offering him up to a dozen players who could comfortably play for the Wallabies.
You would start with the Brumbies front, throw in Scott Fardy as a second-rower, and Ben Mowen on the side or at the back of the scrum.
Earlier this season Stephen Larkham suggested the Brumbies back line could start for the Wallabies. I agree with this from fullback to number 10.
Robbie Deans stacked his side with NSW Waratahs players. Ewen McKenzie is expected to change from Waratahs to Reds players.
But on the evidence of the finals, the base of the McKenzie Wallabies in 2013 should be made up of Brumbies players.
One final word on a great final. It was a terrific match because it was expertly refereed by Criag Joubert, the assistant referees and Vinny Munro as the TMO.
Examples of Joubert’s affinity with the open game is the way he allowed the Brumbies to burst through the rucks whenever the Chiefs put their hands on the ball.
He also called out the Brumbies when they gave away penalties on defence. His strong offside line, too, was established, which enabled the Chiefs, in particular, to run the ball.
Right at the end of the match, with the Chiefs on attack and doing one-off drives to eat up the clock, Joubert (an advocate of the open game) warned the Chiefs about sealing off the ball.
Two phases later, when the ball was sealed off, Joubert penalised the Chiefs when they did what they were advised not to do.
Vinny Munro, too, gave a master class in how the TMO should be utilised.
He was called to rule on the Brumbies intercept try and whether George Smith was offside when getting in the way of the Tawera Kerr-Barlow. Munro pointed out that it was tackle situation, not a ruck, so Smith was not offside.
Later, he was asked to rule on a possible interference by Greg Clark when Robinson scored his try. Again, Munro quickly established that no interference had taken place and the try stood.
This was great stuff. The technology was used to establish what had happened and the correct decision quickly made.
And not once did the assistant referees intrude on proceedings.
The players were allowed by the referees to go at each hammer and tongs, which they did, with the result that we had a memorable final.