This week sees the Australian conference teams join last week’s African conference teams for the second week of transition as Super Rugby slowly segues to life after the June (ish) Test window. For lovers of big cats, it’s a smörgåsbord, with the Lions tour reaching a screaming climax in Auckland only moments before the Waratahs take on the Jaguares, in their first meeting anywhere, in Sydney. To the relief of sports sub-editors globally, the other Lions, Warren Whiteley’s boys, have been given the bye this week. Who says SANZAAR has no foresight?
THE TEAMS
If there is a team in world rugby that makes the French national team look like a consistent performer, it’s the Jaguares. Apart from the almost infinite pronunciation options available to commentators and pundits alike, they have proved to be a difficult team to understand. Laden with Pumas, and with a seemingly impregnable home ground advantage, they were smokies for the 2016 title in their inaugural year in the expanded competition. However, the inability to produce consistent performances week in and week out, and an itinerary that left their travel agent with RSI, suggested they would need time to adjust to the rigours of Super Rugby. Therefore, 2017 was seen as a more likely indicator of their ability. Or not. Despite having a favourable draw and not a single match against the marauding Kiwis, they have won but five matches.
The underachieving Tahs are not much better, and assessing them purely on competition points, are worse, albeit having had to play all five Kiwi teams. The Tah’s inability to focus for an entire match, every match, has been their undoing, and the price of these concentration lapses has been a leaking defence, with 58 tries scored against them, and only 48 scored by the Tahs themselves. This has resulted in Cam Blades “moving on” and, incredibly, Nathan Grey being “promoted” full time to the Wallabies. That truly has me scratching my head, but that’s another subject entirely. In some good news, the coaching review undertaken during the Test window has seen the Tahs snare Norths, Rays and Australian U20s coach Simon Cron, effective from the end of the season. It’s a sound appointment which can’t come soon enough.
GAME PLAN
The Tahs have announced a team more mobile than we’ve seen all season, for a variety of reasons. Big Willy busted his arm in club rugby, so Head Coach Gibson has moved live-wire Wallabies débutante Hanigan into lock to partner GAGR’s favourite son Dean Mumm and brought fellow Wallaby débutante Jack Dempsey into blind-side. Jake Gordon has kept his spot at nine, and Hegarty, off the back of a good tour to Japan during the break, has bumped our favourite Scrabble name to the bench. This means the Tahs will have wheels around the paddock, and a good lineout, but may be vulnerable at scrum time.
Having said that, the Jags have the worst set piece in the competition, ranking last for both scrum and line-out success, stats which no doubt will surprise many. They also have the worst penalty count (although the Tahs aren’t much better), but rank highly in carries, offloads and rucks won, all of which suggests they will use a ball in hand attack with not a lot of structure. Given the mobility of the Tah’s team, we could be in for a try fest.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Tolu Latu. Just how fit/fat (delete whichever is not applicable) is he? As a result of Cheika’s comments, does this mean he needs to play 80 minutes? How will he respond to such a public rebuke? What does it mean for Damien Fitzpatrick coming off the bench? With the Jag’s best player being their returning hooker and captain, Agustin Creevy, Latu will know where he stands soon enough. (Latu is a late scratching with Fitzpatrick taking his place and Hugh Roach coming onto the bench – Ed.)
The Wallaby debutantes. No doubt emboldened by their stint in gold, how will it translate at this level? Up against a couple of tough hombres in Leguizamon and Senatore, the golden newbies will be tested for ticker, toughness and trickery.
A Tah debutante? Promising Australian U20s lock Ryan McCauley has been named on the bench and should he make it onto the field, we will have another new Waratah. Watch this space.
Izzy. Couldn’t buy a try earlier in the season, and now they’re literally falling from the sky all over the place. Should help his confidence no end, and when Izzy performs, so too do the teams he plays for. Another brace?
The travellers and retirees. It’s the Tah’s last home game of the season, and we already know Rob Horne is headed elsewhere, and Dean Mumm is retiring. Expect some ceremony and emotion around that. But who else is playing their last Waratah match?
WHY SHOULD I BOTHER?
A fair question indeed. Both teams are out of finals contention, so this doubles as the Jaguare’s end of season tour. Between benchmarking Sydney’s finest steakhouses against their best at home, and then next week comparing Mornington’s finest pinots with the renown reds of South America, the Jags will sneak in a couple of games of footy. What could possibly go wrong? Meanwhile, the Tahs…. Who knows? Farewelling some of their warriors may lift them, and should the Lions knock over the ABs, the Wallabies within the team may feel inspired. The weather forecast is good – fine and 18, so apart from the ubiquitous, cause of all handling errors dew, perfect rugby conditions. With some wind predicted, we may even be spared the dew, in which case we might just see a match between two teams where the result doesn’t really matter, but the fun factor just might.
CURIOUS FACTS
- The Waratahs have lost their last 10 games in a row against teams from outside Australia, their longest ever drought in such fixtures.
- The Waratahs have scored seven tries after opting to take a penalty tap, three more than any other team in the competition this season.
PREDICTIONS
The bookies have the Tahs winning by a dozen, and it’s hard to argue with that logic. But this is rugby, and that same logic saw me predict the Tahs would beat the Kings by 20, and we know how that nightmare ended. This match could see anything happen….
TEAM LISTS
[one_half last=”no”]
WARATAHS
1 Tom Robertson
2 Damian Fitzpatrick
3 Sekope Kepu
4 Ned Hanigan
5 Dean Mumm
6 Jack Dempsey
7 Michael Hooper ©
8 Michael Wells
9 Jake Gordon
10 Bernard Foley
11 Cam Clark
12 David Horwitz
13 Rob Horne
14 Bryce Hegarty
15 Israel Folau
REPLACEMENTS:
16 Hugh Roach
17 Paddy Ryan
18 Angus Taavao
19 David McDuling
20 Ryan McCauley
21 Matt Lucas
22 Taqele Naiyaravoro
23 Andrew Kellaway
[/one_half]
[one_half last=”yes”]
JAGUARES
1 Nahuel Tetaz
2 Agustin Creevy
3 Enrique Pieretto
4 Guido Petti
5 Benjamin Macome
6 Pablo Matera
7 Juan Manuel Leguizamon
8 Leonardo Senatore
9 Martin Landajo
10 Nicolas Sanchez
11 Emiliano Boffelli
12 Jeronimo De La Fuente
13 Matias Orlando
14 Matias Moroni
15 Joaquin Tuculet
REPLACEMENTS:
16 Julian Montoya
17 Santiago Garcia Botta
18 Ramiro Herrera
19 Ignacio Larrague
20 Rodrigo Baez
21 Gonzalo Bertranou
22 Joaquin Diaz Bonilla
23 Santiago Cordero
[/one_half]
[one_half last=”no”]
MATCH DETAILS
Date: Saturday 8th July 2017
Venue: Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Kick-off: 7:45 pm AEST
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (NZ)
Assistant Referees:
- Angus Gardner AR1 (AUS)
- Jordan Way AR2 (AUS)
- Ian Smith TMO (AUS)
* Data used courtesy of Opta Sports
[/one_half]
[one_half last=”no”]
[/one_half]
