Autumn Nations Series 2022: England v South Africa

After 5 weeks of action, the Autumn Nations Series reached its finale with England hosting South Africa. The World Champions’ selection was hampered a little by the absence of any Irish, English or French-based players, due to the Test being played outside World Rugby’s Test window, and yet their pack’s dominance in the early scrums gave Faf de Klerk an early shot at the posts, but his radar was slightly off, while England captain Owen Farrell missed an even easier opener of his own just minutes later. Farrell finally opened the scoring after 12 minutes after Frans Malherbe was penalised at a scrum. A strong carry in the 22 from Evan Roos allowed de Klerk to pull things level after Alex Coles was pinged for a high tackle, while Farrell again missed from in front of the posts just minutes later. South Africa tried to make the hosts pay for Farrell’s misses with a clever move at the front of a 5m lineout, but the defence jus managed to hold Siya Kolisi up over the line. As the game reached the half hour mark, Damian Willemse kicked a drop goal to give the visitors the lead, and then just minutes later, he countered a long kick and set Willie le Roux away down the right wing to draw the defence and release Kurt-Lee Arendse, who stepped marcus Smith for the opening try. Willemse’s next touch saw him again get a break going as he arced around Maro Itoje and offloaded inside to release Arendse, but the wing’s grubber to the corner was blocked by Freddie Steward as England looked vulnerable. England’s pack were struggling to deal with their opponents in the set piece, and as the half came to an end, de Klerk added another 3 points off the tee for a 3-14 lead at the break.

England rung the changes at the break, with the entire front row being replaced and Jack Nowell on for Tommy Freeman, but a timely counterruck from the Springboks turned the ball over on the edge of the 22 to allow Willemse another simple drop goal. A great take in the air by Freddie Steward put England on the front foot and allowed a further half-break from Smith that earned a penalty, which Farrell landed, but a moment of stupidity from Jonny Hill gave South Africa a penalty that was kicked to the corner, and Tom Curry soon found himself going to the bin for illegally slowing down the ball in the following phases, and it only took a couple of phases with the man advantage before Eben Etzebeth scored the second try of the game, though he appeared to be on the floor when he played the ball. As the hour approached, the Boks won another scrum penalty against the 7-man English pack, and de Klerk bisected the posts from halfway to stretch the lead to 21 points. England were dealt a lifeline just after, though, as Thomas du Toit was sent off just minutes after coming on for a dangerous high challenge, while Jacques Nienaber inexplicably chose the same moment to remove Willie le Roux. Wth the man advantage, England were starting to find some space, but it was not until Ben Youngs took a quick-tap penalty in the South African 22 that they really made use of this, as they used the quick ball to send Henry Slade over for the try, while the Boks also lost de Klerk and Kolisi to injury for the remaining minutes. But the visitors defence held firm and if anything put the hosts under more pressure, to secure a 13-27 victory.

rugby south africa springboks crest no background

Eddie’s England

How can you tell that a Test-level coach doesn’t have a clue? Watch their team try to take on South Africa at their own game. Despite plenty of prior matches that show the way to trouble South Africa is to play expansive rugby, and that by trying to take them on up front and through the kicking game is almost certainly going to see you lose, Eddie Jones chose the latter and England paid the price.

Selecting Mako Vunipola to take on Frans Malherbe—who treated him as a plaything in the RWC2019 final—always felt like a strange decision and, like in 2019 was proved to be completely wrong as he was dominated at the scrum, while Tommy Freeman was not so much thrown in at the deep end, more thrown into shark-infested water with bloody meat attached to him. And to top it all off, keeping Owen Farrell as kicker when he was struggling with an injury that affected his kicking was idiocy given Marcus Smith was on the pitch. Were it not for Thomas du Toit’s moronic red card, England would have had no way back in this match, and even then, the last 10 minutes were more panicked play than structured attack.

And if you want a final indictment of Eddie Jones and his coaching, you just have to look at the build-up to Etzebeth’s try. England dealt with the restart and eventually won a penalty against Faf de Klerk, only for Jonny Hill to manhandle the scrumhalf after the whistle, resulting in the penalty being reversed. With England under pressure, Curry was forced to illegally intervene and was righty carded as the team were already on a warning for repeated infringements. Then when South Africa were stopped on the England try line, the players around the ruck were too busy appealing to the referee to deal with the ball spurting out of the ruck and Etzebeth recovering and stretching for the line.

Discipline starts with the coach. If they can’t get that right, and then pick completely the wrong tactics, then it’s time for them to move on. The sooner England are away from Eddie Jones, the better.

Dominant

The South African scrum is one of the most feared weapons in Test rugby, and for good reason. Such is the strength in depth of the Springbok front rows, there are genuine debates over whether the starting front row or bench are better. England has one of the strongest scrums in World Rugby, so to see them demolished so effectively just shows the quality of the Boks.

But you still see the Boks get it wrong sometimes, as they get pinged before the ball comes in for putting too much pressure on. In the case of most teams, you could understand wanting to push things to get a slight advantage ahead of the ball coming in, but if any team has the quality and the weight of pack to just hold off a moment, they will probably still be able to dominate the scrum, while if anything, it will likely then highlight the opposition’s own attempts to get an advantage before the ball comes in.

In a closer game, that could be the difference between a win and a loss.

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Autumn Nations Series 2022: England v Japan

After a week of excuses for their loss to the Pumas, it was back to the pitch for England as they take on Japan. After waiting forever for the Smith/Farrell/Tuilagi midfield that we were promised would make England world-beaters but did very little, the trio were immediately broken up, with Guy Porter getting the start at 13, but it was his opposite number with the first action of note as he charged down Marcus Smith’s kick and looked to break downfield, only for the officials to adjudge his teammate Ryohei Yamanaka was offside, allowing Owen Farrell an easy kick off the tee to open the scoring. England’s pack were gaining early dominance, and when they won a penalty that allowed England to kick into the 22, the ball came out to the backs and Marcus Smith put Freddie Steward over for the opening score the opening try after 12 minutes. It wasn’t long until another England scrum penalty allowed them easy entry into the Japanese 2, but as England tried to play quick attacking rugby for that rare occasion under Eddie Jones, the accuracy was lacking. As the game entered the second quarter, a break by Steward on the kick counter saw Jack van Poortvliet release Joe Cokanasiga, who was stopped just short but managed to offload to Marcus Smith to score in the corner. They found themselves under pressure on the half hour mark though, as a contested lineout was recovered by Japan, which allowed them to open their account for the day with a penalty from fly half Takuya Yamasawa. And they were soon back on the attack, Michael Leith breaking out of his 22 and feeding Dylan Riley; the centre found himself isolated so kicked on and surprisingly beat Jonny May to the ball in the 22, and while the England wing successfully stopped him short of the line, he was then sent to the bin for illegally killing the ball, allowing Yamasawa another easy kick to narrow the gap. However the 15 men conceded just on the stroke of half time. A clever kick to the corner from van Poortvliet was recovered by Japan, and as the ball was played infield to create a better angle for the kicker to clear, the England chase converged to force a turnover, with the ball then being quickly spread to put Porter over, with Owen Farrell adding the extras for a 24-6 lead at the break.

The second half saw Yamasawa replaced by Seung-Sin Lee, whose early penalty attempt from long range was pushed wide as England returned to a full complement. Meanwhile, England chose to put their next penalty into the corner, and after the spread right to left failed to result in a try, the ball started coming back through the forwards and Ellis Genge crashed over for the try. Momentum was with England, and after a great counterruck from Maro Itoje created a turnover, Farrell put boot to ball and Porter won the chase for his second try. As the hour approached and both teams began using their replacements, Japan managed to steal a try as the ball came out unexpected from a ruck deep in English territory, while their next attack of note saw Farrell win the race to Dylan Riley’s grubber. And as England went to the other end of the pitch, a driving maul was brought down illegally for a penalty try, with Siosaia Fifita sent to the bin. And the hosts brought up the half century with 6 minutes remaining after Freddie Steward’s kick bounced kindly for Henry Slade to kick on (while leaving Kotaru Matsushima stranded) for Marcus Smith to cross for his second of the day, while another break from Slade just moments later ended in disappointment as his grubber kick to the corner was just too heavy for Jonny May to catch up with, leaving England 52-13 victors.

Wasted opportunity?

So what did England actually learn from this match? Their defence performed well against a team that likes to spread the ball, managing to keep the key players quiet for most of the match. However their attack was once again limited and unimaginative, with some questionable decisions from Marcus Smith.

Van Poortvliet showed that he should be the starter at 9 going forward, though an opportunity to get Alex Mitchell used to Test rugby was wasted as Ben Youngs was gifted another cap, while Porter’s inclusion also feels somewhat wasted when we know that Jones is focused on Manu Tuilagi joining Smith and Farrell in midfield, especially as Slade’s impressive late cameo on his 50ᵗʰ cap reminded everyone that he is likely the next up at 13 in Tuilagi’s absence.

Meanwhile the pack showed it’s dominance at the set piece, but with Kyle Sinckler and Ellis Genge the clear starters, would this not have been an opportunity to start Joe Heyes and a less experienced loosehead? Similarly with Jamie George and Luke Cowan-Dickie the clear top 2 for England, was this not an opportunity for those lower in the pecking order to push their case for the third hooking spot?

Finally, while it is great to see Owen Farrell kicking 100% off the tee, is a match like this not the chance to give the kicking duties to Marcus Smith to get him used to kicking at Test level in case Farrell were to be unavailable in a key World Cup match?

This may be a solid victory for the hosts, but has it really been used effectively as Eddie Jones builds for the World Cup?

When push comes to shove…

As talented as Japan are, they are not going to compete for any tournaments any time soon, as they are just not competitive enough in the tight 5.

They may be reliable in the loose, but find themselves unable to cope with a decent pack in the scrum or the mauls, going backwards at a rate of knots or going to the floor, either of which results in a penalty for the opposition, gifting them territory and possession while forcing Japan to defend again rather than use their attacking skills.

In attack, they can mitigate this by getting the ball in and out, but the problem is in defence, where they are immediately under pressure, and their opposition know they have the dominance so will happily keep the ball in there and push on until they get the penalty.

But how will they improve at this area? Does keeping all their talent in Japan hinder them, as they don’t end up playing in the Northern Hemisphere leagues where scrummaging has become and art form? Or do they need more matches than just the World Cup, June Tests and Autumn Nations Series to face off against the best teams in the world and make playing against an elite pack the norm?

Autumn Nations Series 2022: Wales v New Zealand

With the Test Window now open, Wales’ Autumn Nations Series campaign got underway with the visit of New Zealand to the Principality Stadium. Wales were forced into a late reshuffle after Leigh Halfpenny pulled out through injury but should have had an early numerical advantage when referee Wayne Barnes and his team of officials missed Dalton Papali’i making contact with the head of Gareth Anscombe, and instead Richie Mo’unga opened the scoring with a penalty just a minute later. The Welsh were having the best of the possession early on, but a break from Papali’i following a turnover from Ardie Savea put the All Blacks on the front foot in the Welsh 22, and after going through the phases, Codie Taylor finally burrowed over for the try. As both sides tried to deal with a greasy ball, the visitors were getting the penalties in their favour, and their next visit to the Welsh 22 once again ended with Taylor forcing him over from close range after phases of concerted pressure. With Wales finally winning a penalty after 20 minutes, Rhys Priestland put the ball in the corner, but their maul went nowhere and their attack was pedestrian at best, going backwards for the majority of the 17 phases before finally winning another penalty. Priestland again kicked to the corner, and this time the crowd had something to celebrate as a lovely strike sent the looping Rio Dyer through a gap to score on his debut. A counterrucking turnover of the next All Blacks attack upped the volume of the crowd, and a break from Nick Tompkins off the resulting lineout brought the home side up to the 22 and drew a penalty, which Gareth anscombe kicked to bring the deficit back to 7 points after half an hour of play. But the All Blacks were straight back into the Welsh 22 following a penalty from Taulupe Faletau, and after putting pressure on the line to earn a penalty advantage, Richie Mo’unga kicked high to the corner, where Jordie Barrett beat Dyer in the air for the visitor’s third try. The hosts had one more chance before the break when an overthrown New Zealand lineout was gathered by Ken Owens, drawing a penalty which Anscombe kicked for a halftime score of 13-22.

The Kiwis were under pressure soon after the break, as a rare errant pass from Aaron Smith was kicked to the corner by Tomos Williams, who combined with Taulupe Faletau to force Beauden Barrett out right next to his try line, and while they failed to make anything of note from the position, they did earn a penalty, which Anscombe kicked to cut the lead to 6. Smith quickly made amends though, as he crabbed off the side of a maul and found a gap to shoot through to celebrate becoming New Zealand’s most-capped back with a try. The Welsh refused to give up, though, and when Tomos Williams chipped through in the 22 under penalty advantage, Rhys Priestland challenged Mo’unga in the air to force the ball to bobble loose, and skipper Justin Tipuric just about collected the ball with sufficient control as he went over next to the posts to give Anscombe an easy conversion. The All Blacks were straight back in the Welsh 22, though, and when Nicky Smith fell for the most theatrical of offloads from Ardie Savea, the back row carried through the gap and offloaded to Aaron Smith for another try. A Tomos Williams quick tap pen put him in behind the defence just before the hour, but his offload to Tipuric went agonisingly forwards. In comparison, the All Blacks looked like scoring each time they made it into the Welsh 22, and after a fumble backwards from Caleb Clarke stopped an initial attempt to spread the ball, they reset and went through the phases, with Savea eventually diving over to open up an 18-point lead. With the result looking likely, Wales brought on Sam Costelow for his debut in place of Priestland, but it was the originally intended fly half for the day, Anscombe, who made the next impact as he charged down a kick from former New Zealand U20s teammate Beauden Barrett and regathered, only for Richie Mo’unga to tackle him into touch just short of the line, and with just minutes left in the game, another attack in the Welsh 22 saw Beauden Barrett sent brother Jordie over from close range. With the clock in the red, Wales chose to play from deep after winning a free kick in the own 22, but an untimely slip from Anscombe led to a turnover penalty, and after kicking to the corner, the pack drove replacement Samisoni Taukei’aho over for a try to take the All Blacks over the 50-point mark, with Beauden Barrett’s conversion making the final score 23-55.

rugby new zealand all blacks crest no background

Finding a balance

This Welsh team still isn’t the finished picture, but it appears to be finding a good balance. Rowlands and Beard are getting used to playing together as a pair, as are Tompkins and North, 2 combinations where familiarity and chemistry can be so important. In the pack, the return of Ken Owens provides a hard carrying option that allows Wayne Pivac to pair returning flanker Justin Tipuric with another jackal in Tommy Reffell, while North provides a physical option in the midfield to create space for the electric wings Rio Dyer and Louis Rees-Zammit, which was perfectly highlighted by the way he created the gap for Dyer’s try.

They aren’t the finished article, though. The rest of the tight five still needs to provide more metres with the hard carries, and until they manage that, their latchers need to do a better job of securing their weight in the tackle. Meanwhile North chose to keep hold of the ball a couple of times when he could have probably played the ball out to Rees-Zammit and then ran the inside support line. Probably most worrying was how a period of 17 phases saw them go from having a driving maul about 8m out from the All Blacks line to being 30 metres from the line. They may have won the penalty at the end of it, but their attack looked pedestrian at times and easy to deal with… and this is against a team who aren’t known for their impressive defence of late.

It’s a step in the right direction for Wayne Pivac’s men, but they still have a way to go if they want to challenge in the World Cup next year.

Taking control

One thing that the All Blacks should be really happy with from this game is the effectiveness of their scrum. Granted the Welsh aren’t known for having an elite scrum, but the All Blacks pack were dominant on the day, winning a number of penalties and refusing to give Wales a clean platform to work off, while giving themselves a solid and steady platform.

The new starting prop pair of Ethan de Groot and Tyrel Lomax has been a revelation for the All Blacks in recent months, and at 24 and 26 respectively, you can’t help but think that they could potentially be the pairing for the next cycle, while Fletcher Newell is also establishing himself as a regular off the bench aged just 22.

The pack will certainly face much sterner tests, but the continued success of such a young group gaining experience is huge for a side that are arguably in a miniature rebuild with the World Cup just a year away.

South Africa v Georgia (Test 1)

Over 600 days after becoming World Champions, South Africa finally made their return to Test rugby with the first of 2 matches against Georgia as their warm-up for facing the British & Irish Lions. The long time without Test rugby certainly showed early on as the team struggled with cohesion and discipline in the first half hour, with Aphelele Fassi’s debut try the one bright spark as Tedo Abzhandadze kicked 3 penalties to put the Lelos ahead. South Africa grew into the game though, and took advantage of Beka Saghinadze’s yellow card to take a 19-9 halftime lead, with tries from Bongi Mbonambi and Cobus Reinach.

As the substitutions began after the break, the strength of the Spingbok pack saw Kwagga Smith go over from 5 metres out after a series of scrum penalties, and after Herschel Jantjies also sniped over from close range, Malcolm Marx completed the scoring with the easiest of finishes as a 5m catch and drive obliterated the Lelos defence and allowed the hooker to simply drop to the floor once over the line, securing a 40-9 victory.

Going for it

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one thrilled to see the Springboks constantly turning down the chance for 3 points when they had a penalty and instead going for scrums or kicking for the corner. Often, I can understand going for the 3 to some degree, even if it just to build up a lead and then look to take chances later on, but in this game it always looked as if the Boks would be able to run away with it as they grew into the game, if only due to the face that Georgia were constantly defending, which would tire them out.

This was a warm-up game, and after almost 2 years without a Test match, South Africa needed to take every opportunity to compete in Test match conditions. While the Boks would likely take the 3 points in the Tests, there would be no benefit to waste almost 3 minutes (from the time the penalty is given, including making the decision to go for goal, the time allowed to take the kick—which rarely appears to be policed—and then the time to prepare for the restart) each time a penalty was given in range. Kickers do so much practice, and both Pollard and Jantjies are so experienced, a Test match without going for the 3 points will not harm them, whereas going for the corner and scrums allowed the Springboks to maximise the time they had actually playing rugby and working through any issues.

Don’t be surprised to see more of the same in the second Test, but a much more pragmatic approach once they face the Lions.

Power players

The Georgian scrum is one of the most feared weapons in the game, so to see it given such a torrid time by the Springboks shows the quality they have. While Trevor Nyakane struggled a little in the first half, Ox Nché held up well against the Lelos, but the true damage was done when superstars Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe came on.

While Kitshoff won a series of penalties against his opposite number in the build-up to Kwagga Smith’s try, Malherbe was dominant on his side, often getting a push on to wheel or crumple the Georgian pack. It brought back immediate memories of the Rugby World Cup final, where he put on a clinic at the scrum and was only really dealt with to some degree once Joe Marler came on.

It’s going to be a tough test for whoever wins the 2 loosehead spots in the Test 23—currently between Wyn Jones, Rory Sutherland or Mako Vunipola. If one of these players goes down injured, it will be interesting to see if Gatland goes to Joe Marler (who never received an email to say he was in contention for the squad) given his recent form and his Man of the Match performance in the Premiership final.

Weakness exploited

This may sound very harsh, but until Georgia sort out their lineout defence, they are not going to win a match against a Tier 1 Nation.

The Lelos’ issues defending the maul were apparent during the Autumn Nations Cup and things looked no better in this match, with both Bongi Mbonambi and Malcom Marx scoring from 5m catch and drives—Marx’s try especially looking like a walk in the park for the Springbok pack—and a number of other penalties being given away for collapsing the maul.

But it wasn’t just the maul this time that caused issues for the Lelos, as they gave away as many penalties at the lineout itself. Whether it was a tactic to try and disrupt the South Africans setting up the maul, or an attempt to win the ball back so they didn’t have to defend the maul, the Georgians were putting a man up to compete at most lineouts, but they were then giving away penalties for being too aggressive and taking the man in the air or bringing their jumper too far across the mid-line.

I find it hard to believe that these lineout and maul issues are down to just the players and thin that the Lelos desperately need to get someone in to sort out their lineout defence, or this will be a weakness that every team uses against them.

The Change We All Need?

My mind has been on the laws of rugby union a fair amount recently due to my recent post giving my thoughts on the law trials in Super Rugby. While I can see that many of these laws are trying to improve player safety, I think that there is one area of the game that is being largely ignored but seriously brings down the spectacle of rugby: the scrum.

Much like the lineout, the scrum is intended to be a means of restarting the game in some competitive form while creating space for the backs by collecting all the forwards together. However, with the strength of defences these days and the accuracy of goal kickers even from range, the scrum has basically become a way to win penalties. This has led to large chunks of time being wasted with reset scrums as teams try to collapse the scrum while making it look like it was actually their opponent who collapsed it, leading to a stop-start game with too little actual rugby being played.

I’ve been thinking about this, and I have one simple suggestion that could change the game massively: replace all scrum penalties with free kicks

This may sound drastic at first, but if you consider the lineout, all the offences there are free kicks (the maul is not considered part of the lineout), with the exception of taking the man out in the air, which is a penalty anywhere on the pitch.

If the scrum cannot result in a penalty, then teams will switch to positive play at the scrum, looking to get the ball in and out with a legitimate push to put the opponent on the back foot. Not only does this speed up the scrum itself, but the more positive play will lead to less resets, while teams will be more likely to take a quick tap following a scrum offence rather than scum again.

Not only this, but how often do we see the referee award a penalty at the scrum but replays suggest that the penalty should have gone the other way? With free kicks instead of penalties, not only will we probably see less collapses requiring a referee to make a decision, but these decisions will be less costly if they go the wrong way as teams will not be able to kick 3 points or kick to touch and get the throw-in at the lineout.

All of this will lead to a more exciting, positive game of rugby with more focus on skills and fitness… Isn’t that what we all want to see?

Do you think this law change would help the game? Let me know!

Super Rugby Aotearoa: Blues v Chiefs

After losing their last 2 games, the Blues returned to Eden Park to take on the Chiefs. With the Crusaders losing to the Hurricanes the day before, the Blues knew that a win would put them back in the hunt, and they got off to a great start just 6 minutes in when a slight of hand from Reiko Ioane and a brilliant line from Matt Duffie saw the fullback score from the first phase of a scrum with just 5 minutes gone. The Blues soon doubled their lead as captain Patrick Tuipulotu made it over the line, but the Chiefs soon pulled one back through flanker Lachlan Boshier, with Damian Mckenzie kicking the conversion to make it 14-7, a score which remained throughout the second quarter.

The Chiefs came out of the blocks quicker following the break and soon had their reward as a great move off a scrum down the blind side released Solomon Alaimalo to score – though he injured himself in the process. McKenzie kicked the conversion and added a penalty a few minutes later to put the team ahead for the first time in the match. The lead didn’t last long however, as Finlay Christie forced himself over for the go-ahead score on 55 minutes, with Beauden Barrett – starting at 10 for the first time in his Blues career following Otere Black’s late recovery from a neck injury – kicking his 3ʳᵈ conversion to make the score 21-7. Both teams continued to battle, but things didn’t look good for the Blues as they conceded a penalty 5 metres out in the middle of the pitch with 2 minutes left and lost Harry Plummer to the bin. However with the game on the line, Josh Goodhue managed to get over the ball on the line and won a crucial penalty, allowing the Blues to clear their lines and see out the final seconds in safety, before kicking the ball into touch to put them back to 2ⁿᵈ in the table.

Toeing the line

The Blues defence in this game was out to have an impact. The team were putting the pressure on the Chiefs right from the first minute, with Ofa Tu’ungafasi, Kurt Eklund, Tuipulotu, Blake Gibson and Akira Ioane all leading the way with double-digit tackles. It took a moment of great footwork from McKenzie to break through the defensive line and put the Blues on the back foot for Boshier’s try, while Alaimalo’s try came from a great move to effectively work the numbers down the blind side. With such dedicated defence like this, they won’t be easy to score against.

Except for one big problem. To have such an impact, they were playing so close to the line between what was legal and what was illegal. As a result, they finished the game with 14 penalties conceded, many for offside or defensive infringements at the breakdown as dominant tackles saw them end up on the wrong side of the ruck or the next player in went a little too far in trying to win the ball back. It was this accumulation of penalties that led to Harry Plummer’s yellow card for the team’s repeat infringements, and being a back down with a penalty where it was should have cost them the game (more on that later).

If the Blues can defend like this in the remaining games, they have a good chance of challenging for the title, but they need to be careful to stay on the right side of the officials or a better team will take advantage of the penalties.

Scrum success

The Blues’ scrum has been one of the most successful in the tournament, and it certainly looked it in this match. With some big bodies behind them, the Blues front row has done a great job of at least holding parity with their opponents, and often overpowering them. Ofa Tu’ungafasi looks in great form not just at the scrum but also around the park and had a great day against Reuben O’Neill. On the other side of the front row, Alex Hodgman appeared to struggle for almost the first time this tournament against All Black Nepo Laulala, but the coaches moved quickly, replacing him at the early signs that he was losing his duel and bringing on All Black Karl Tu’inukuafe, who immediately solidified that side of the scrum and got the Blues pack back on the front foot. Andit was clear that the Chiefs knew the Blues had the dominance there too.

With a 78ᵗʰ minute penalty being earned 5 minutes from the Blues try line in a central position, and with the Blues down a back following Plummer’s yellow card. The clear tactical decision is to go for a scrum, as it ties in the forwards and allows the backs to exploit the extra number. However such had been the performance of the Blues scrum, the Chiefs did not feel confident enough to call for the scrum, instead going for the tap-and-go and giving away the crucial penalty a few phases later.

As long as the Blues scrum can continue performing like this, they will remain in a strong position.

More of the same

It says it all really that when Josh Goodhue won that 79ᵗʰ minute penalty, my shock lasted just a couple of seconds. It’s a little harsh to say, but this was another typical Chiefs performance.

As with pretty much every match this season – last week’s loss to the Highlanders was an aberration – the Chiefs found themselves starting slowly and conceding 2 tries before they managed to score one of their own. Then once again with the game on the line in the final minutes, questionable decisions and not good enough play ended up costing them.

This is an horrific run from the Chiefs and it needs to be stopped soon. It says it all that from 5 matches, they have come away with 4 bonus points for losing by 7 or less. They are staying within games, but are failing to put together the 80 minute performance needed to turn these close defeats into wins. And with Warren Gatland taking the British and Irish Lions to South Africa in less than a year, I can’t help but wonder how much his mind is on the Chiefs and if any changes will be made any time soon.

Super Rugby AU: Reds v Waratahs

As Super Rugby Aotearoa prepares for its 4ᵗʰ week of action, Australia kicked off its own domestic tournament, Super Rugby AU, as they continue to get over the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament sees the 4 Australian Super Rugby franchises (the Reds, Rebels, Brumbies and Waratahs) and axed Super Rugby franchise the Western Force combine for a 10-round, 5-team round-robin tournament similar to Super Rugby Aotearoa, but with a 2-week playoff at the end involving the top 3 teams in the standings.

The tournament kicked off at Suncorp Stadium with a match between North/South rivals the Queensland Reds and New South Wales Waratahs. After both packs traded early tries, the Reds took control with another 2 tries from Filipo Daugunu and Tate McDermott to take a 19-13 halftime lead. They were slow out of the blocks after halftime, however, and as their discipline disappeared, a great line from Jack Maddocks saw him cross for the the Waratahs’ second try and – though the Reds crossed again through Harry Wilson – the flawless kicking off the tee from fly half Will Harrison saw things all square with just 10 minutes late. The Reds ended the stronger, though, and 2 late penalties from James O’Connor saw them come away with a 32-26 victory, ending a run of 11 consecutive losses to the ‘Tahs.

No pushovers

Just last week, I wrote about the importance of a dominant pack at the set piece. While the lineout had issues (certainly not helped by the early loss of lock Angus Blyth) the scrum was an area of serious success for the Reds.

The Tahs chose to start with 19-year-old Angus Bell at loosehead and the poor kid was taken to school by Reds tighthead Taniela Tupou. He may be widely known as the “Tongan Thor” but at 5’9″ he is like a rhinoceros, and found it easy to get underneath 6’4″ Bell, allowing him to dominate the right hand side of the scrum. By the 30 minute mark, Bell had been penalised at the scrum 4 times and was finding himself sent to the sin bin.

The scrum is such a key component of the game and important weapon. While Tupou was certainly a big weapon at the scrum, it was a team effort, with a big second push from the pack often putting the ‘Tahs on the back foot. The Reds will be very happy with their performance here and hoping to repeat again in Melbourne next week. The Waratahs meanwhile, will have to decide whether to put Bell in again next week against the Western Force, or whether they take him out of the firing line for a week.

Kick out the new laws

Fans watching Super Rugby AU will notice some differences to how the game is usually played as the tournament is trialling a number of new laws. The 3 that I’m going to focus on right now are as follows:

Play will be restarted with goal line drop-outs following an attacking player being held up over the line (replacing 5m scrum)/the ball being grounded by the defending team over their own goal line, regardless of who took the ball over the line (replacing 2 drop-out/5m scrum)
If a player successfully kicks the ball from inside their own 22 to bounce into touch inside the opponents’ half, the kicking team will throw into the lineout
If a player successfully kicks the ball from inside their own half to bounce into touch inside the opponents’ 22, the kicking team will throw into the lineout

Now, I will start by admitting that I was not a fan of these law trials when they were initially announced and remain sceptical, but I am giving them a fair chance. One match in and I’m not convinced.

There was a moment in the second half when Michael Hooper found himself caught behind his own goal line after getting back to field a kick. Usually, this would have meant that a dominant Reds pack would have had a 5m scrum in the middle of the pitch, which feels like it would have ended in a try and perhaps even a numerical advantage. Instead, under the new law trial, the Waratahs were allowed to clear their lines and the Reds found themselves getting possession back over 40m from the line. How is that rewarding a good kick chase from the Reds?!

As for the 50/22 and 22/50 kicks, I was surprised that there weren’t more attempts from players to go for these, but the 2 that did pay off from the Reds – a 50/22 from Tate McDermott that got a lucky bounce to take it to 10m out from the Waratahs’ line, and a 22/50 from Bryce Hegarty – twice gave the Reds possession that did not feel earned at all.

I understand making changes to benefit the game, but these changes felt unnecessary when announced and one match in I can’t see how these are improving the game.

Golden future

The Wallabies have not been great for a while and with an ageing squad and Michael Cheika gone, it wouldn’t surprise me if new Head Coach Dave Rennie brings in a number of younger players early in this 4-year cycle with the intention of building for RWC2023. Judging by this game, the future could be bright for the Wallabies.

There were already a handful of young players in or around the national team, such as Jack Maddox and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto (23), Tupou (24), and Liam Wright (22), as well as 20-year-old Jordan Petaia, who was not involved in this match, but there were also a number of other young players putting their hands up for selection.

Will Genia will be hard to replace, but Tate McDermott (21) looked fantastic, keeping a good tempo to the attack, while showing his wheels when given space and also some quick thinking to take a quick-tap penalty after a series of scrum penalties, when everyone was just expecting another scrum. Flyhalf has been a bit of a mess for the national team for a while, but Will Harrison (20) looked composed taking the ball to the line and was flawless off the tee to keep the ‘Tahs in the game.

Elsewhere on the pitch, Fijian-born wing Filipo Daugunu (25) – who recently turned down a lucrative contract in Japan with a view to wearing the green and gold – showed some good moments in attack and took his try well. Waratahs flanker Lachlan Swinton may have conceded one of the winning penalties by straying offside in the dying minutes, but he put in an otherwise great performance, really filling the role of enforcer at blindside with some big tackles, while also making the pass that put Jack Maddocks through for a try.

If these players can carry on with performances of this level, international recognition can’t be far off – once international rugby returns!

Super Rugby Aotearoa: Crusaders v Chiefs

It’s hard to believe but we’re already 3 weeks through Super Rugby Aotearoa and the teams are already starting to really separate themselves from each other in the standings. Warren Gatland’s Chiefs went to Christchurch in search of a crucial win but will find themselves returning home with just a losing bonus point, having not led at any point in the match.

In wet conditions, Richie Mo’unga and Damian McKenzie each slotted a first half penalty but it looked like the match would be devoid of much excitement, until Sevu Reece beat McKenzie to a high cross-kick from Mo’unga and broke down the right wing, before feeding the ball inside to Will Jordan for the go-ahead try. The same 2 players combined again shortly after half time, with a quick lineout from Reece catching out the Chiefs and allowing Jordan to run in uncontested. The Chiefs began to fight back after this and Sean Wainui crossed to narrow the deficit, but the Crusaders managed to hold on and remain one of only 2 teams still unbeaten in the tournament – the other being the Blues (3-0), who have a bye next week before their trip to Christchurch.

New kid on the block

If there’s one person currently that will be making All Blacks Head Coach Ian Foster reconsider a 10/15 playmaker axis, it’s Crusaders fullback Will Jordan. The 22-year-old has started the tournament in fine form and is currently keeping David Havili on the bench with his great performances.

In bad conditions today, Jordan looked assured under the high ball and made some incisive runs, finishing with a match-high 98 metres. Not only that, but he is clearly developing a good link with Sevu Reece, being in the right place to support for the opening try and seeing the opportunity with Reece to take a quick lineout for the second try. If he carries on like this, international recognition can’t be far away.

The only thing going against him right now, though, is that he is much more of a prototypical fullback, as opposed to the second playmaker that I think the All Blacks will be going for, especially given the great performances Damian McKenzie and Beauden Barrett are putting in at the position. It may be that for the near future at least, Jordan has to prove that he can also have a great impact on the game from the wing, much like Ben Smith and Israel Dagg did at times to keep themselves in All Blacks contention.

Play every second

The Chiefs certainly weren’t happy with the awarding of Will Jordan’s second try, but they had only themselves to blame. The laws state that a quick lineout can be taken provided it is on/behind the mark, nobody else has touched the ball and the lineout had already formed, which was exactly the circumstance when Reece fed Jordan for the crucial score.

It seemed like many of the team saw Aaron Cruden go over to speak to referee James Doleman and assumed that time was off. However, Cruden was not the captain so had no right to speak to the referee and was rightfully brushed away.

I always remember being told to play to the whistle, but in situations like this, it is a little more complicated than that. Usually the moment the ball goes into touch you can have a quick rest as you prepare for the set piece, but the one thing you can’t do is switch off mentally, as the moment you start doing things by rote rather than reacting to what’s going on around you is the moment your opponent will make you regret it.

Hopefully with Warren Gatland at the helm, the players will have learned from this mistake. But in the meantime, with just 2 points from 3 games, that is a costly and completely unnecessary mistake.

Set piece success

When you’re playing in wet conditions like in this match, there a 2 things you need more than anything else: a playmaker who can control the game and put you in the right areas of the pitch, and a pack that can gain the upper hand at the set piece. While both teams certainly had the former in Cruden, McKenzie and Mo’unga, it was the Crusaders pack that gained the advantage that probably proved crucial.

Of course the set piece is always important, but in bad conditions it becomes even more so as the territory game leads to more lineouts, while the greasy ball will likely lead to more handling errors and therefore more scrums.

In this match, the Crusaders pack managed to stop a 5m catch and drive from the lineout midway through the first half, despite the Chiefs throwing in a couple of backs to increase their numbers. They caused the lineout problems all game, especially after Chiefs’ replacement hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho entered the fray. Overall, the Chiefs ended up losing 4/20 (20%) of their own lineouts, while they also lost 1/5 of their scrums (20%) and found themselves being pushed back and giving away penalties on multiple occasions.

The old adage is that the forwards win the match and the backs decide by how much. The Crusaders once again showed that to be true.

Super Rugby Aotearoa: Chiefs v Blues

Today should have been the Super Rugby final, but the COVID-19 pandemic brought a premature end to the competition. Thankfully, New Zealand have effectively combated the disease, so we sill managed to get professional rugby today in the form of the first match of Super Rugby Aotearoa’s second round.

Fresh off a narrow loss to the Highlanders last week, the Chiefs returned to Hamilton to host the Blues. So often, the Blues have been considered the weakest of the New Zealand franchises, but they came into this game off the back of a win and scored the opening try after 15 minutes as Hoskins Sotutu was driven over the line under the posts. However, poor discipline kept the Blues on the back foot for most of the fist half and allowed the Chiefs to stay close through the boot of Damian McKenzie. However, the game started to turn after the Blues survived 10 minutes with flanker Dalton Papali’i in the bin and the Chiefs then began to be the ones giving away the penalties, allowing Otere Black and Beauden Barrett to keep building a score, before Mark Telea crossed in the corner with 8 minutes left to confirm a 12-24 victory.

On the up

Since Super Rugby’s inception in 2011, New Zealand franchises have had a stranglehold on the competition, winning the title in 7 of the 9 completed seasons. The only New Zealand franchise to have not won the Super Rugby title is the Blues, who’s last win was back in 2003 when the competition was still Super 12! The Blues finished 4ᵗʰ in the inaugural 2011 season of Super Rugby, but lost in the semifinals and since then, their best finish in a season was 9ᵗʰ back in 2017. They have only had 2 seasons f Super Rugby where they finished with a winning record. And yet when Round 2 finishes, they will be on top of the Super Rugby Aotearoa standings.

It may still be early days, but his looks like a Blues team that is finally on the up and ready to compete towards the top of the table again. In winning this game, the Blues have just set a new franchise record for the most consecutive away wins (5). I wrote last week about the strength of the Blues back line, but the bad conditions today highlighted the strength of their pack. Even with the super-impressive Tom Robinson missing, they were able to put out a super physical and talented back row in Sotutu (who even at just 21 already looks like he should be playing for the All Blacks), Papali’i and Akira Ioane. Patrick Tuipulotu looks in the form of his life and leading by example, while Josh Goodhue is also putting in strong performances beside him. James Parsons provides great experience at hooker, while the props are all coming into their prime as they reach their late 20s. This is a team built to win not just now, but for the years to come too.

What may seem incredible right now is that the Blues are 2-0 without Dan Carter even making it into the matchday 23. Personally, I think that even if he barely takes the pitch, he will have been a fantastic signing as all the backs, especially young fly halves like Otere Black and Stephen Perofeta (whose injury opened the spot for Carter) will benefit so much from training with and learning from both Carter and Barrett, under the coaching of former All Blacks Leon MacDonald and Tana Umaga.

Obviously there’s still a long way to go, with 6 more matches to play over the remaining 8 rounds, but don’t be surprised to see the Blues challenging towards the top over the next few seasons.

Playmaker plans

Sadly the conditions in Hamilton denied us the thrill of watching Beauden Barrett and Damian McKenzie face off at fullback in a running battle as the kicking game became the focus of the day. However, the continued use of both players at 15 is something to keep an eye on.

For so long, New Zealand have had superstars at fly half, which has led to the next generation coming through initially at 15 and eventually transitioning to first five-eighth. While this has led to incredibly talented attacking playmakers like Barrett and McKenzie, I do not think that they are able to control the game as well as the players that came before them and instead benefit from playing at 15, where they have more space to exploit.

By having these guys stationed at 15 for their club rugby, it is now giving the new generation of talent the chance to learn how to play at this level already at fly half. This is going to benefit so many of these players – such as Harry Plummer, Perofeta and Black (Blues), Kaleb Trask (Chiefs), Josh Ioane (Highlanders) and Jackson Garden-Bachop (Hurricanes) – as it means that they are learning under the pressure of having flankers charging at them, but then have the benefit of experienced playmakers elsewhere in the back line to help guide them.

The next couple of seasons will be interesting to watch.

Set piece struggles

Last week, the Chiefs’ success was built largely on the strength of their catch-and-drive lineouts. This week, the set piece was an absolute nightmare.

At the lineout, the Blues were willing to put a man in the air to challenge and it led to a number of inaccuracies. The Chiefs lost 3 lineouts during the match, with one 5m out from the Chiefs line potentially costing them 5-7 points an another 5m out from their own line almost proving costly if not for a knock-on by Sam Nock as he tried to collect the loose ball.

It wasn’t even just the lineout that had issues, though, as the Chiefs lost 2 of the 6 scrums on their own feed. Tat already doesn’t sound good, but it’s even worse when you look back at the scrums and see them physically pushed off their own ball!

Mitchell Brown’s injury last week has left them with a talented by inexperienced pair at lock in Naitoa Ah Kuoi and Tupou Vaa’i, but this cannot be used as an excuse. The pack needs to improve the set piece soon, because if they can’t provide clean ball for their backs, it doesn’t matter how talented the players out there are.

Six Nations 2020: Italy v Scotland

The Six Nations returned after a week off with our first trip to Rome in 2020. Scotland and Italy have generally shared the Wooden Spoon between them most years since the tournament took its current form, and the first 2 rounds made that likely to be the case again this year.

In a tight affair, Stuart Hogg put Scotland ahead with a wonderful solo attack on 23 minutes for the only points of the first half. The game continued in much the same way in the second half: Scotland and Italy both fighting hard for possession and territory with limited success in each other’s 22, though Chris Harris did manage to power himself over for a try 7 minutes after halftime. Then in the dying minute, a final attack from Italy was turned over and Adam Hastings was able to sneak away down the blind side to score and convert a try for an eventual 0-17 victory.

Italy

It’s never nice to see a player give the shepherd’s crook early in a game, but sometimes a player’s performance will be so bad, there is no way they can be kept on the pitch. Sadly, that was the case today for young Italian tighthead Giosuè Zilocchi. He may be great in the loose, but the Zebre prop put in one of the worst scrummaging performances I have seen in professional rugby. Every scrum saw him set up with his legs so far back that his body was almost perfectly aligned from head to toe – not a good scrummaging position at all as it left him unable to keep the scrum up the moment it began to move on his side. By the time that he had been replaced at the half-hour mark, he had already given away 3 penalties.

I can understand why the coaching staff want him involved, as he showed his abilities in the loose when an injury to his replacement Marco Riccioni forced him back on for the final 25 minutes (which were thankfully light on scrums), but with the scrum such a vital part of the game, play like that made him a liability.

This performance from Zilocchi has left me with some big questions. Has he been scrummaging like this in training or did this suddenly happen in the match? If this has happened out of nowhere in the match, why has this happened? If this has been happening in training, why was he selected if the coaches had not been able to get him scrummaging properly? The coaching team have had limited time with the squad, but this was something that would be obvious to an observer.

Hopefully Zilocchi can improve his technique over the coming fortnight.

Scotland

What has happened to this Scotland side? Even though they have struggled to win games at times over the last few years, one of their big positives has been the tries they score. Now they are seriously struggling to cross the line. Their 3 tries in this game were their first in the tournament… and even 2 of these were from counterattacks rather than structured attacking play – Stuart Hogg exploiting a mismatch when running back a kick and Adam Hastings sneaking away down the blind side following a turnover.

I’ve talked about how Scotland needed to get more of a balance to the squad between hard runners and flair players – which they now have – and supporting better around the park, but despite this, they could still barely break down the Italian defence. For me, some big changes need making over these final 2 rounds: Rory Hutchinson needs to be given a starting spot and Darcy Graham needs to return to the wing if he is fit.

Ideally as well would be the return of Finn Russell, but it doesn’t look like that will be happening while Gregor Townsend remains in charge. Right now, that could sound the death knell for Townsend’s time as head coach.

My standout players

Such was the disappointment in Scotland’s performance, the only players who really stood out to me for them were flankers Hamish Watson (who was named Man of the Match) and Jamie Ritchie, who made the breakdown a nightmare for the Italians with a number of turnovers, while they also played key roles in one of Scotland’s more promising attacks.

For Italy, the back three of Matteo Minozzi, Jayden Hayward and Mattia Bellini were limited in their chances to attack, but took them well when they arose, looking far more exciting than their opposite numbers. Bellini especially showed a set of hips that Shakira would be proud of on one first half break. Jake Polledri continued to stand out with his strong carrying and tireless tackling as well as a couple of big turnovers, while replacement back row Giovanni Licata also contributed well tot he defensive effort and made some big carries late in the game, so much so that I would love to see him start in the back row with Polledri and Braam Steyn in Round 4.

Eyes on the Ball

Thoughts from the world of sport and the Schmoedown

Tag: Scrums