Written Wednesday 09/05/07

WEEK 14 SUPER 14

The Round robin part of Super 14 is over,  few hoodoos broken,  one created.  Not sure what you say about the Reds,  but we will try later in any case.  The Brumbies went out well,  breaking their Dunedin hoodoo,  finishing up winning as many games as the Crusaders,  just not putting together as many bonus points though.  The after fulltime loss to the Blues in Canberra will be a haunting memory for a while to come.

The Waratahs too had a strong win in a very physical match to finish off the season and farewell the Hurricanes Tana Umaga and Paul Tito.

Another nice tough win by the Chiefs against the Crusaders was not enough to elevate them to finals standings,  but good to see Sione Lauki getting back to the potency we know he can display.  This  was one of the games of the weekend that showed how a dominant scrum can have a big influence on a match.

The Force couldn't match the Blues in Perth,  coupled with some poor officiating on that incorrect ball used for a quick lineout throw resulting in a try.  Commentator Greg Martin got it almost right when he said the same ball had to be used for a quick throw in,  it has to be the same ball and not touched by anyone else.

Then of course we have those Reds,  what can you say about those Reds.  Well a very wise man,  one of my first bosses in the corporate world once told me,  blame the people last,  look at the systems first.  I fear this may not happen,  and there should be a long hard review of systems and systems development within that organisation.  I assume of course there are systems and procedures in place from everything like ordering stationery to identification and retention of talent,  new and proven.

The poor decisions of years ago are now haunting this Reds outfit,  poor decisions like letting a Mark Chisholm for one go,  a Nathan Sharpe.  Who had the foresight to let these guys,  and others go.  Why was Julian Huxley a poor player in Qld and a Wallaby in Brumbies colours.

From a contracting and distribution base,  why are young guys like prop Pekahou Cowan sitting behind a number of props in W.A. and Qld having to "find" or manufacture something from basically no where to fill the prop void when injuries hit.  Why were there so many injuries?  Why have our club systems failed to produce these players.

I see Eddie Jones comparing the current Reds Outfit to that of the Bulls outfit of a few years ago.  Except for the fact that both franchises at times of comparisons were losing badly,  nothing else is the same.  Rugby in Australia competes in a four way tussle for dollars,  for spectators and for just about everything.  The country's sponsorship base is probably also lower.  Rugby sits at three or four in Australia,  one or two in South Africa,  soccer may be in front there,  sits at one in New Zealand,  maybe two,  again not sure about soccer over there.  With the reality of big cuts from the Pay Television sponsor in 2010, coupled with severely declining crowd numbers,  revenues will be cut further and there may not be enough dough in the pot to pay Tuqiri's and Giteau's salaries.  So there is very little to compare in the entire landscape between the Reds and the Bulls.

What was interesting is the number of "tiers" of professional and semi professional rugby in Africa.  Three or four from memory of the article.

Back to the match,  not sure what these guys have been taught,  but it is possible to defend a driving maul,  but you need more than one guy against 8 or more driving and marauding Africans,  the second guy that joins needs to not be standing up and chest on.  I watched the replay yesterday,  Tuesday 08.05.07 from my sickbed,  terrible.  The really ordinary thing is or was the lack of respect shown by the Bulls,  believing they could win by 45 or more and then closer to the game believing they could win by 72 or more to secure a home final.  AS we now know,  they managed both quite easily.

For those of you that want rugby on free to air TV,  don't hold your breath,  no one watches the games,  rugby to the mainstream general populace is essentially a boring sport,  even to some diehard watchers,  so unless it is a big test match or a world cup event,  forget about free to air.

As I have said plenty of times, the type of player required at Schoolboy level,  and then Super 14 level,  and then test level are three different styles,  especially in key places like 10 and one and 3.

Plenty of work to do,  lets see if anyone is prepared to stand up and do it and develop some real reforms,  some real change to fix where rugby is currently.

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