Coinciding with a heatwave, the Brisbane Global Rugby Tens rolled into town. They had done a reasonable job in garnering media attention, but would that translate through to ticket sales, atmosphere and a tournament worth its place in the calendar? Teams like Toulon contributed to an element of novelty and the strong NZ contingent in Brisbane was always going to turn up to watch their teams, but would it be enough?
I must admit it, watching it took the whole Rebels v Chiefs game to transition from 7s to 10s. It wasn’t the number of players or the halves, but rather that it was less like touch rugby (7s) and a little more like 15s with more of the on field strategy.
The almost wholesale bench replacements were something else altogether – anywhere from 4 to 8 players for the same team leaving the field at the same time. And in the early part of the tournament it made sense – it was heading towards 40degrees in the centre. The sideline of the Highlanders v Hurricanes match was amusing when only 7 players were on the field for the Hurricanes and the coach was desperate to get more players on the field to make it up to 10.
There were some absolutely appalling showings (hello Reds) certainly, and I remain eternally grateful that no current All Blacks were actually allowed to play. It would have been even more of a bloodbath for the Australian teams.
But watching some fabulous moments from Digby Ioane, Rene Ranger, Israel Folau, Dan Heenan, Liam Messam it was a good showcase of rugby skills and it was fun. The play and the teams will be tighter tomorrow.
I am looking forward to some of the match ups on Day 2 – Chiefs v Wild Knights, Blues v Crusaders and Hurricanes v Toulon.
And with the 4 team pools and 3 team pools it should be interesting in the finals to see who makes it through. Technically a team on only one win can make it through to the knock out stages.
I think the tournament struggles in the limbo land of timing in the calendar year with teams not willing to throw full strength squads at it because of the start of Super Rugby season and the weekend after Sydney 7s was also always going to be a tough ask.
But with surprise success stories like the Panasonic Wild Nights dominating their first two matches, a chance for fans to see players they wouldn’t normally see and a generally positive attitude from players and fans, I like this fixture.
See you tomorrow for the final pool matches and the knockout stages.
Wildcards … some bad hands.
The Wildcard element certainly helped get media traction in the lead up to the event.
But first Queensland’s favourite son Chris Latham and then Steve Larkham incurred injuries which meant they were a no show. Tuquiri played about 30secs in the first Waratahs match. Radike Samo lasted about 30 secs as well for the Reds. If you make a big deal, they have to make a big impact.
The Wildcard element also puts the tournament in an odd space – cheap thrills for rugby. We are used to the 7s and 15s athletes being at the top of their game and if the 10s wants to own this space in the calendar it needs to have the best athletes. Australians care too much about winning to watch (or not watch as the case may be) cheap thrills.
Blast from the past
Players who didn’t really rate a wildcard mention or much press but were handy on the field included Dan Heenan (does everyone else remember when Eddie Jones brought him up too fast and broke him?!), Rene Ranger who hasn’t played in a year and Andrew Walker for the Brumbies.
Big swing … still no ding
Several players who did take the field were noticeably absent in play or built upon their reputation for the hype being bigger than the play.
Come on down, Goromaru. If Mourad Boudjellal thought Quade Cooper wasn’t much chop, I can’t understand his decision to sign Goromaru.
James O’Connor. Unless you count the hair.
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The Results: Day One
Rebels 19 def Chiefs 5
Wild Knights 15 def Waratahs 5
Reds 17 drew with Blues 17
Bulls 14 def Force 10
Highlanders 14 def Brumbies 7
Crusaders 12 def Samoa 7
Wild Knights 17 def Rebels 12
Hurricanes 19 def Force 12
Chiefs 26 def Waratahs 14
Brumbies 10 def Toulon 0
Crusaders 28 def Reds 0
Samoa 27 def Blues 14
Highlanders 13 def Hurricanes 8
Brumbies 7 def Bulls 5
Force 7 def Toulon 5
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Crowd
About 22,000 came through the gate. Sensible Queenslanders were all tucked away in the Western Stand instead of sitting in the 40degree heat in case you read some tosser’s article (who wasn’t even here) and believed that the crowd and tournament were shit.
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The Day One Verdict
Some solid wins, Samoa played brilliantly to beat the Blues, the Wild Knights look good and their play is beautiful. Day Two will sort out more of the teams and should finish with a cracker match. Would love to see Samoa and the Wild Knights in the final.
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