If there’s any one thing that stood out to me in this Super Rugby final, it was that there are a lot of players in this Brumbies team who have clearly showed promise and have continued to cement their positions at the top of Australian rugby.
In fact, there aren’t many from the team you’d exclude from a national squad. Apart from the established internationals, Scott Sio, Scott Fardy, Nic White, Matt Toomua, Tevita Kuridrani and Jesse Mogg are all going to be there or thereabouts in the Wallaby firmament for some time.
Fardy came on the scene last season at no. six and has since moved to lock with the repositioning of Kimlin. He plays close to the ball, which all of your forwards should do and your bigger forwards especially; there’s no point being big unless you come into contact with the opposition regularly – you might as well be a midget otherwise!
Last season he led the Brumbies in turnovers, and he’s done the same at the pointy end of this season. He’s certainly hard-nosed – which you’d expect of a Warringah man.
In the case of Sio, he’s obviously incredibly strong – his body, back and leg position is terrific, as is his explosive leg power in his ball carries. He can take most defenders with him.
Full marks to the Brumbies coaching squad. Their charges demonstrate accurate technique but more importantly maintain it under pressure. This has certainly been the case in the tough end of the season.
What I particularly like about the Brumbies – and this is to give great praise to Laurie Fisher – is that their scrum, especially in the case of Ben Alexander (and to a lesser extent Stephen Moore) has improved out of sight since they’ve come back from the Wallabies. Alexander’s body position and his ability to maintain it under pressure has been excellent over the last few matches.
In contact situations the Brumbies forwards work at pace to ensure the ball carriers are driven forward and don’t just fall over in a ‘voluntary tackle’. This puts real pressure on defenders and commits them. This basic team skill can be the difference between a defence looking ‘impenetrable’ and yielding opportunity.
The accuracy of the Brumbies’ running, passing and support play in both forwards and backs has also been exemplary and Stephen Larkham deserves praise for this – just as I have praised Jim McKay over a number of years for the improvement in Queensland’s attack.
The problems came in the last 15 minutes of the match when the numbers of Brumbies in the tackle contest started to fall off. Over the last season the Brumbies have been unique in Australian rugby for the way their forwards have followed the ball and arrive quickly in numbers to get the drive going if necessary. If you’re a forward and you’re not near the ball, or at least headed in the right direction when an opportunity presents itself – it’s too late!
It looked to me that the Brumbies just tired in those final minutes. A few players noticeably fell away – Jesse Mogg particularly. They may have refused to admit jetlag, but it’s impossible that they weren’t feeling it. Some people are naturally effected more than others by jetlag and that’s probably the worst I’ve seen Mogg play (not that he played badly, but he’s better than that.)
As for the Chiefs, they were the same as they’d been all year. They can punish you from anywhere: from short range with power, or long range with acceleration and ultimate top speed.
What sealed the game was that the Chiefs had a bench that could punish a tiring opposition. The Brumbies either didn’t have such a bench, or didn’t believe they did. Aside from maybe Fotu Auelua, none of the replacements could make an impact.
It was ultimately the difference between the two teams.
I thought referee Craig Joubert gave the Brumbies as good a go as he could have, indeed they got the rub of many 50/50 decisions. However, his decision to not penalise the Chiefs scrum in front of the sticks when it wheeled away and broke the bind not only cost the Brumbies three points, it created a 10-point turn around when the Chiefs scored at the other end only a couple of plays later. Joubert’s ruling the scrum had gone through 90 degrees was a howler that had me stumped.
My reflection over all for this Australian Super Rugby season, building on the last, is that there are, have been and will continue to be a lot of really good players in Australia, we just have to spot them and give them the opportunity.
Look at the Rebels with Luke Jones, Caydern Neville, Hugh Pyle, Nick Stirzaker and Bryce Hagarty. The Force with a fantastic tighthead and Godwin in the centres. No one rated Alfie Mafi who was clearly a very good player.
Two seasons ago no one also rated Michael Hooper and now he’s known around the world. From Queensland you’ve got a great back row, not only in Liam Gill but also Jake Schatz and Ed Quirk – they’re very good players, as is Nick Frisby.
Players like Cam Crawford have come straight out of club rugby and slotted in at the Super level. We need to be spotting these players and giving them the opportunities.
Many people think that we should be developing the skill levels of these players at a younger age so that when they come through all the skills are at their disposal.
I disagree. I think we need to give younger players with intuitive, innate ability the opportunity to come through to the higher levels, at which point we can knock off the rough edges and buff up their skills.
We don’t want to impair their development with too much worry about detail. We want them to play with excitement and exuberance and worry about the detail later (if we know what we’re doing, which can be a bit of a worry). I’m very confident that we have a lot of good players.
I’ll leave you with this thought. If you disagree with me and you are concerned with Australian rugby talent, how can they be feeling in South Africa – a country in which rugby is more than a game, it’s a religion?
Their gun side, playing with the truck-load of Springboks, at home in one of the most difficult places in the world to visit, in front of the most partisan crowds in world rugby, couldn’t win.
Even if your glass is half full, it can’t look as bad as that!
