The Rebels were the big winners this week, as The Brumbies and Waratahs lost; giving themselves a slim chance of stealing a playoff place.
Australian Conference Round 13 Review
Canterbury Crusaders vs Queensland Reds
Score: 58-17; Venue: AMI Park, Christchurch
For the first five rounds on this year’s competition, The Reds were virtually uncompetitive; aside from a win against fellow strugglers The Western Force, they lost their four other games by a combined score of 119-21, in particular getting blown away twice by The Brumbies. After a bye in round six, The Reds still lost four of their next five games, but their performances as a whole were a notable improvement on the way they started the season; with some of their younger player catching the eye and perhaps hinting at brighter things to come.
In the first half of Friday’s demolition derby in Christchurch, they looked to be continuing that upward trend – James O’Connor looked dangerous from first receiver, Samu Kerevi continued his strong play, Liam Gill and Adam Thomson were both disrupting The Crusaders ball, meaning that after an early try the home side were unable to really build any sustained pressure as the half drew on – there were things to build on. Even more encouraging was that they finished the first half firmly on the front foot, sustaining phases inside The Crusaders 22 and even forcing the referee to sin bin Dominic Bird for repeat infringements in the 35th minute.
In fact, as the hooter sounded, Kerevi showed the excellent balance and strength he’s displayed all year to crash over after receiving a pin-point cut out pass from Will Genia. With a successful conversion from O’Connor cutting The Crusaders lead to just five points at half time (15-10) and five more minutes of 15 against 14 at the start of the second half to look forward to, there was even an outside possibility The Reds could steal an unlikely away victory, which would have capped a superb week for the franchise following Quade Cooper decision to stay in Queensland after the World Cup. It took all of 45 second half seconds to end that dream though, with Nemani Nandolo intercepting an O’Connor pass before stepping inside a helpless Lachie Turner to score. After working so hard to cut the deficit from twelve to five at the end on the first half, this early sucker punch was one The Reds would never recover from. However, what followed was a wholly embarrassing sequence of tries, including four between the 53rd and 63rd minutes and the visitors imploded spectacularly, eventually conceding six second half tries before a late consolation (if you can call it that given what preceded it) made the final score 58-17.
More than just the crushing loss, the result and performance means a return to square one for a team that appeared to be on the verge of turning a corner, a fact which clearly weighed heavily on head coach Richard Graham, who labelled the team’s efforts disgraceful after the game. While I’m usually not in favour of coaches publically calling out their players, in this situation it seemed not only warranted but necessary, given just how bad some of The Reds defence was at times in the second half. Next Friday when they face a Rebels side riding high off the back of two impressive victories, it’s crucial that they show that they’re the team from the first half of Friday’s game rather than the second, otherwise this season really will have been for nothing.
Melbourne Rebels vs Auckland Blues
Score: 42-22; Venue: AAMI Park, Melbourne
Another week, another impressive performance from the feel-good story in Super Rugby this season as The Rebels controlled proceeding in an imposing victory over a Blues side that has looked good for the past couple of rounds. It is now four wins in their last five games for the Melbourne based franchise, making them one of the form teams in the competition, while the performance itself has added only to the chatter that they now stand a legitimate chance of challenging perennial powerhouses The Brumbies and The Waratahs for top spot in the Australian conference. Of course, they are still third behind the two international-laden sides and have a three game South Africa road trip to look forward too, but they’re within one win of both teams and have two relatively easy fixtures against The Force and Reds still to go.
For the majority of the season, The Rebels have been far from a push over thanks to solid, disciplined defence and organised attacking structures. It’s a formula that has kept them in just about every game they’ve played and meant that even before Friday’s contest they had already equalled their franchise record number of wins with six games remaining. However, the game against The Blues showcased an attacking potency and cutting edge that hadn’t been previously evident as the home side scored over 30 for the first time all season while running in five tries.
After an even opening 10 minutes the game burst into life thanks to some brilliant counterattacking from The Rebels. With The Blues looking to go wide, Mitch Inman flew out of the line to force a loose pass from Francis Saili. The ball was intercepted by The Rebels ever-improving young fly-half Jack Debreczeni, who quickly offloaded to Colby Fainga’a whose perfectly timed pass to Sefanaia Naivalu sucked in two Blues defenders, meaning that when the speedster got the ball back inside to Scott Higginbotham, all the captain had to do was calmly return the ball to Fainga’a and the flanker was able to stroll over to make it 8-0. It was a try that encapsulated this improving side, with good defence followed by tidy link up play and an impressive try (all knitted together by the side’s talisman in Higginbotham).
Throughout the first half The Rebels defended excellently, only being cut open by a beautifully executed Blues move on the halfway line which culminated in one of the passes of the season off Saili’s “weaker” hand to put Melani Nanai away in the corner (Munster won’t be disappointed when he links up with them after the World Cup…). Otherwise though, the home side’s defence was resolute in the face of some aggressive and inventive attacking play from the visitors, with their scrabbling defence and ability to get bodies around the ball when near their own line particularly eye catching. In addition, Fainga’a was excellent throughout the first half, showing off underrated power and quick feet in attack while constantly making a nuisance of himself in defence.
Nowadays due to the exceptional play and sky high potential of Sean McMahon and ever-present Higginbotham, there are limited opportunities in The Rebels back row and you could almost see it in the performances of Fainga’a and fellow flanker Jordy Reid. Both were extremely energetic and active during their time on the field and while Fainga’a shone in the first forty it was Reid who was stronger in the second, morphing into a tacking machine while providing the turnovers Fainga’a had supplied in the first half. He did a fantastic job at the forefront of the efforts to slow 19 year-old sensation Akira Ioane throughout the match as well, just a week after the teen’s man of the match performance against the Western Force.
While the spot next to McMahon and Higginbotham has been swapped between the two who started on Friday and veteran Scott Fuglistaller, the fact that they have several quality options for one spot is something that would have been virtually unheard of a couple of years ago. The increased togetherness and strength in depth has been a feature under head coach Tony McGahan, who has had a profound impact on the franchise since his arrival in 2013. There was no better example of this than The Rebels second try; a quick lineout (which technically shouldn’t have been allowed after the ball had already been touched by a ball boy) between two McGahan recruits in hooker Pat Leafa and prop Toby Smith, with the latter crashing over after a catching the entire Blues defence sleeping. This show of quick thinking, from two front rowers no less, would have been unimaginable during the franchise’s formative years in the competition.
This score late in the half made it 18-10; however, after bringing on Jamison Gibson-Park for Jimmy Cowan just a few minutes into the second half, The Blues went onto the attack, sparked by the young scrum half, who crossed in the 48th minute after a sustained period of pressure. Before this season that score may have been enough to unsettle The Rebels, but they simply returned to their structures, going through more than a dozen phases before Higginbotham crossed to stretch the lead back out to eight just three minutes later after Mike Harris’ successful conversion, with that try making the number eight the record holder for the most tries by a forward in Super Rugby history with 29.
After The Blues next try in the 66th minute, the home team’s response was even more immediate, when a wonderful looping kick-off from Debreczeni was tipped by Higginbotham and then gathered by stand-in outside centre Dom Shipperley who raced away to score in the corner and earn the four try bonus point. They put added gloss on the score line after more good work from Shipperley, when; back in his more familiar wing position he broke a couple of tackles before offloading to Debreczeni who scored their fifth in the dying seconds of the game. With loses for both The Brumbies and Waratahs presumably only adding to their ever growing confidence, all of a sudden anything seems possible for the team that had lost more than two thirds of their game in every season before this one.
Western Force vs NSW Waratahs
Score: 18-11; Venue: nib Stadium, Perth
The Western Force won just their second game of the season, at the same time breaking a ten game losing streak while also completing the most improbable of doubles over 2014 Super Rugby champions The Waratahs. I know… Me neither.
If The Tahs go on to miss the playoff (still pretty unlikely, given they are only a point behind the conference topping Brumbies having played a game less) the two losses to their lowly Australian counterparts will probably be the ones they regret the most. The match played out in a very similar way to their first encounter, with The Waratahs pack bafflingly being outmuscled and outworked by a Force unit who have clearly been reenergised since the return of their captain Matt Hodgson. Although Kane Koteka played well in the his absence, it has been clear since he returned that it was Hodgson’s leadership and intensity that The Force missed the most when he was injured. It was therefore fitting that it was the captain who crossed for the game clinching try after a well-executed rolling maul in the 63rd minute.
Before that point the home side had done an excellent job stifling their more illustrious opponents, only caving once thanks to a superb individual show of power and balance from winger and rugby league convert Taqele Naiyaravoro, who swatted aside three defenders to score in the corner. It was a rare show of attacking power from a Waratahs side that has yet to consistently unleash the overpowering waves of play that saw them win the competition last season, with Kurtley Beale in particular struggling to get into the game. Folau and Will Skelton also failed to impose their will on a resilient Force defence, with the latter only managing nine running metres.
Coming into the game on the back of three wins, it seemed The Waratahs were destined to put together a winning streak similar to the one they managed last year, where they won their final seven games of the regular season; so this was somewhat of a setback for the New South Wales franchise. However, given the improvements they’ve already made since their average start to the year, I’d still expect them to win the conference, a feat which may even be good enough to earn them a home semi-final. For The Force, they knew before the game kicked off that they had nothing but pride to play for, so it was impressive to see them approach the game as they did, returning to some of the stifling defence and methodical attack that saw them win nine matches last season.
DHL Stormers vs A.C.T. Brumbies
Score: 25-24; Venue: Newlands, Cape Town
It is hard (even impossible) to say a games that lasts eighty minutes can be decided by one moment, there are simply too many other factors to consider to come to such a simplified conclusion. However, it can be defined by one moment and, in The Brumbies one point lost to The Stormers on Saturday, that moment came in the 71st minute, after David Pocock had smartly broken off the back of a rolling maul to score near the post. As Christian Lealiifano stepped up to convert and give the visitors the lead, most of his teammates weren’t even looking, already strolling back to their positions to receive the kick-off. It was a kick they had seen their goal kicker (playing fly half on Saturday instead of his more natural centre position due to Matt Toomua’s continued absence) make thousands of times before, one he makes 999 times out of 1,000. Of course, that one miss came when they needed those precious couple of points the most. The ball clanged off the post and away, leaving Lealiifano momentartily in a state of shock and disbelief. His team wouldn’t get a chance to make up for that mistake either, with the remaining ten minutes being seen out confidently by the home side.
With only a point separating two very good sides in a game that was extremely competitive and physical throughout; while The Brumbies may go on to regret that missed kick more than anything, to get to the real reason why they lost you have to go back to the 15 minutes either side of half time. It was a period in which they lost their discipline entirely, with Jordan Smiler getting sin binned, as well as conceding four penalties that allowed Demetri Catrakilis to chip away at the lead The Brumbies had amassed in the first 30 minutes. In addition, while down to fourteen, the visitors conceded a try that gave The Stormers their first lead of the game in the 61st minute, a deficit they were never able to overcome.
“Main Photo”
