April 30...... pass it on.
Quick taps: Chiefs still undefeated | Razor empties the SR coaching cupboard | NZRU makes big loss whilst Aussies find a profit | Ireland, I mean Leinster, closing in on a champion club season.
Super Rugby
The Canes managed to get enough right on the night to beat the Brumbies although they gave up an unfortunate bonus point. The Canes had plenty of pill, heaps of territory, but time after time failed to finish off good play, usually coming up with an unforced error. The Canes have the cattle but they’re just too loose and some of their option-taking was mysterious to say the least. Roigard continues to impress…Ardie was a bit quiet though. The Brumbies are a good enough team that never lets a chance go by and just kept hanging in to a game they were not going to win but grabbed a bonus point at the death to stay 2nd on the table.
The Blues (didn’t watch the game as was out watching club stuff) sounded like their quality was too much for the locals in an oven at Lautoka. Reports indicate a number of the Blues rock stars stepped up, the pack dominated especially at scrum time and they successfully controlled the pace of the game and not letting the locals cut loose. As long as scrummaging matters, the island teams will struggle - they need to put more focus on it.
Wandered down Highway 1 to the Tron Saturday night for the big game - probably the biggest game thus far in SR 2023 - finally a mouth watering contest - could the high flying Chiefs knock over the Crusaders for the second time in the same season?
The Waikato rugby gods had turned on a fine, dry, mild evening, a minor breeze and the fans poured in - nearly 24,000 of them and the full house signs were posted. We took our seats along with a couple of Jim Beam mixers and the buzz was evident.
The first 40 belonged to Razors boys and the TMO. McKenzie was running around like a headless chook and the Saders isolated him and made him pay. The Chiefs struggled to break the shackles applied by a hungry Saders pack and in-ya-face defence but after an early try, the Saders were twice denied by the TMO. They clearly had the Chiefs on the run, so how on earth did they find themselves 12-7 down at oranges ???
Whilst the running mode on DMacs boots was malfunctioning, his goalkicking radar was in sync and he slotted 4 penalties whilst Richie Mo missed a couple. The Chiefs were defending well and, sensibly, whenever they managed to get a penalty inside Saders territory, Cane took the poles option seeing as their attack was not firing.
The general consensus from the halftime hui was that the Chiefs needed to lift intensity especially up front and DMac needed to reconnect with his backline. Both things happened and the match turned into a classic ding dong.
DMac is like a Jack Russell terrier: a ball of energetic muscle that boxes well above its weight and can rip a game apart. 2nd half, Mac the Jack turned up. Thrusting himself at speed between 2 tacklers then offloading perfectly to Stevenson who drew the last defender before in-passing to a rampaging Guzzler to dive over early in the 2nd 40. Dmac nailed the conversion and suddenly the Chiefs were purring 19-7 up.
The Saders rallied, scoring twice to take the lead 21-19 before DMac kicked another penalty, then, scorching into a huge backline gap, he sent a perfect pass to Stevenson who was over in the corner. Crowd went wild and the Chiefs were finishing strongly.
After camping deep in the Saders 22 for the last 5 mins, the Chiefs smashed their way over for a final try on the hooter. Dmac converted, and job done 34-24. Plenty of heroes and whilst DMac was a big factor in the 2nd 40, big efforts from Guzzler, Cane, Tau’keiaho, Vaa’i, Finau up front, the Chiefs midfield was rock solid and off the bench Pita Gus added real power. Lots of talk and press suggesting DMac tuned Richie Mo up for the AB 10 jersey but his 1st 40 effort is the cautionary concern, as international teams like the Frogs and Paddys would tie him up and dissect his natural running game. AB bench at best for me.
The Crusaders had a few of their previously injured AB stars back on deck and a couple of them looked a tad short of a gallop but they will be lurking dangerously at finals time. Young Dom Gardiner looks very good and I hope Cullen Grace stays in one piece as he’s my AB No 8, if not this year, certainly from 2024.
All in all, a very successful evening and a happy trip back over the Bombays.
As for the other games - the Aussie mobs battling away in the bottom half of the table whilst the Highlanders were pipped by the Tahs at the death after clawing their way back with a gutsy 2nd half effort. Aaron Smith did everything he could but they just don’t have the stud cattle right now.
Other Stuff
Does anyone know if the NZ U20 side is going to have any warmup games prior to their world tournament in June? I can’t find anything and can’t believe they’re gonna go in cold, especially as all the Northern teams have recently finished their 6 nations U20 comp. Why would the NZRU do that……..??
There’s been a bit of noise around Razor opening the Pandoras Box of ABs selecting players based overseas. Lots of debate but mainly the concern as to what impact that would have on the quality of the SR comp and the NZ provincial comp. Whilst the NZRU will never be able match the foreign chequebooks, the draw of the AB jersey is and has always been their big lever so removing that is a risk. A couple of threads with this that may be worth considering: overseas clubs would likely pay less for players if they could be called away for AB duty or these clubs may dangle big contracts complete with a clause removing AB availability. Careful what you wish for.
Can anyone explain how the NZRU can post a $47m annual loss after increasing revenue by over $100m? Adding salt to that wound is that the supposedly cash strapped Aussies announced an $8m profit! Is it a one-off loss, is it some future provisioning or have we got a problem ? Anyone ??
Razors 2024 coaching team was predictably named but leaves a big hole in the head coach SR landscape. Just who the Blues, Crusaders and Hurricanes will sign up will be very interesting - will it be a chance for promotion for the next layer in NZ or will it attract some NZ coaches home from Europe ? Chiefs cleverly resigned their coach last week so they’re well sorted !
Still a little early to be zeroing in on an AB squad but on form there should be some promotions for the likes of Stevenson, Roigard and Gardiner and the reintroduction of DMac, Goodhue and Cullen Grace. It’ll be interesting just how loyal Foster is given its a RWC year and the struggles he’s had settling on his 1st XV.
The star team beat the team of stars eh Rod? Is DMac the new jersey no 22 supersub for the All Black's at the RWC (last owned so brilliantly by Beauden Barrett)?
file:///C:/Users/andrew.w/Downloads/NZR_Full_Financial_Report.pdf
the accounts to Dec 2021.