Written Wednesday 25/04/07

WEEK 12 SUPER 14

I heard an interview during the week,  on a show called Talkin’ Sport out of Sydney.  Graham Hughes,  a sports commentator I have a lot of time for is one of the main operatives of the programme,  but Mark Geyer is there,  sometimes Brett Papworth.  Anyway,  back to the interview.  They were talking with the CEO I think of the New Zealand Rugby League,  don’t remember his name,  and as always they got on to the subject of league vs rugby in New Zealand.  These guys are always very fair to all the sports in their coverage.  The guy’s answer was very simple,  “the best advertisement we have for rugby league at the moment is the Super 14”,  and looking at the year,  he is very correct.  Not too many games have not put me to sleep in season 2007. 

What is the answer,  well a lot are pointing to Law changes as being the answer,  not so sure that it is the blanket solution everyone is looking for.  The breakdown and the scrum are disgraceful,  and need to be addressed,  but other than that the game is not in bad shape from a law perspective,  few technicalities that are often ignored now anyway need to be removed,  but other than that,  the game needs to remain different from other games to survive,  but also needs to be entertaining and pleasing to the crowd to survive as a professional sport in a  competitive environment,  particularly Australia,  where four winter sports compete for the same set of limited dollars. 

Anyway,  the Super rugby for the weekend I didn’t think was all that flash,  what I have seen in any case.  Seemed to be a lot of late charges for the win,  Sharks,  Blues,  Waratahs.  These Chiefs are looking to be the dark horses and are really playing some good footy,  nice and physical leading into the real games coming soon. 

My tipping form was none to good for the weekend,  but it was really good to see the Reds have a win.  Haven’t seen the game yet but judging by what I have seen in the press,  the young guys and the scrum stood up this week,  which is a positive thing. 

The Blues are stumbling at the finish line and look  a little shaky.  The Bulls this week in Africa will be no easy task either,  with the Bulls playing very well.  We may well see two African sides in the finals. 

The Crusaders also are not playing that well,  but they still continue to notch up the wins,  which is the mark of a very good side.  I have not been enamoured with their performances the last two weeks,  which like the Aussie cricket team, usually means someone is about to pay for those two poor weeks.  Let’s hope it is not the Brumbies. 

The Force are gone as finals contenders I think.  Good battle on Friday night between George Smith and David Pocock.  Someone obviously told Smith that this guy was the up and comer for his 7 jersey,  George seemed very focused and intense,  more so than usual anyway.  Pocock is quite a player,  for one so young,  and quite big,  saw him on the sidelines at the Churchie/State High trial on Saturday 21/04/2007.  There were plenty of battle scars around the head from the previous night’s encounter.  The Brumbies game seemed to fall apart at key moments,  even the great Larkham passing game was a smidgeon off on Friday night,  or maybe it was the runners to whom he was passing. 

The Brumbies are building well though,  with Josh Holmes,  who I struggle with being the number 3 half in NSW,  moving there in 2008.  Matt To’omua is also joining the franchise,  so they are building a strong base of young lads in key positions,  adding to the two Faingiaa brothers,  Julian Salvi,  with the experience of Chisholm and a couple of others in there as well.  2008 will probably be a tough year for the Brumbies but the class they are building will ensure they will be there and thereabouts as the years roll out. 

All in all another reasonably ordinary weekend of super rugby I thought from an entertainment perspective. 

Many talk about policing the distance between the defence and attacks.  I actually like what we have,  with the offside line being that reference point,  last feet.  This gives the attack the ability to set the agenda for the game through their depth and alignments.  At the moment we have many/most attacks playing very flat to the tackle/hit line,  except maybe the Crusaders.  I think basically,  the ball needs to be passed and taken at/close to the tackle hit line,  but the runners,  support players need to be operating from some level of depth,  rather than all players being and running flat lines.  We seem to have,  or at least Australian sides seem to have,  returned to the old and very basic structure of no second man runners,  just pass,  pass to the winger,  which is pretty easy to defend today. 

If you have a look at the Melbourne Storm,  they catch and pass at or in the hit/tackle line really well,  possibly the best in the competition at the moment.  It will be interesting to see them play Manly who probably have the most effective defensive outfit in the competition to date,  to see how much of that ball is coughed up and turned over.

I Missed 100% of the Shots I Didn't Take,  Michael Jordan.