Hey fellow G&GRs, I’m stepping in for Yowie today so sorry you’ve got the Kiwi dirtbag for two weeks in a row. I’ve kept the Yowie flavour by using his team in the main picture. And to be fair the Reds are my favourite Australian team, so it is fitting.
What a great week of rugby for the start of the competition! I must admit seeing the Tahs and Force dig deep to pull out the wins at home – even against poor opposition – was great to see. In previous years they both would’ve folded and it’s good for the game here to see them dig so deep and come through. Mind you after watching the Brumbies, Chiefs and Crusaders win their games they both need to step up quite a few steps when they play any of the those teams.
Referee Corner
I must admit I was pretty happy with the refereeing in the weekend. I thought at times the Drua got some rough calls and I also think Damon Murphy looked a bit out of his depth. But what was great was to not have to go through endless TMO reviews and have them come in when they weren’t wanted. I think the way they’ve defined what the TMOs dos and don’t do is working, and long may it continue.
It was interesting seeing the referees apply the time restrictions and, while I liked it, there was a fair bit of inconsistency and I can see that at some stage in the season this may get people upset because the inconsistency will have a negative effect on their team. I think the referees need to have a bit of a chat on this and work out how these are going to be applied and do it more consistently.
The only “issue” I had in the weekend was in the Blues v Chiefs game where I was asked why the Blues player got sent off but the Chiefs player who took Clarke out in the air only got a penalty. The laws around this are pretty clear Law 9.9.17; A player must not tackle, charge, pull, push or grasp an opponent whose feet are off the ground. Sanction Penalty. Whether the penalty is upgraded or not depends entirely on the result of the tackle and how dangerous this is. If a player lands on his back or side then it warrants a yellow card; if the player lands on his head or back then it’s a red. For me Clarke landed on his feet then fell to the ground so leaving it as a penalty only was absolutely the correct call.
Super Rugby Player of the Year
This year the captains and coaches of each team are required to score the opposition with a 3, 2, 1 grading of the top three. These scores will be added up and at the end of the season the player with the highest score will be crowned as the “Super Pacific Rugby Player of the Year”.
The thing I like about this is that, unlike some of the awards which to me are just a popularity contest, like the John Eales Medal, this is actually the coaches and captains rating the performance of the opposition and for me has a lot more meaning. Listed here in Super Rugby the first week’s scores are:
6: Fatafehi Fineanganofo [HUR], Kyle Preston [CRU], Luke Reimer [BRU], Ben Donaldson [FOR], Ardie Savea [MOA]
5: Caleb Tangitau [HIG], Vuate Karawalevu [DRU],
4: Timoci Tavatavanawai [HIG], Du’Plessis Kirifi [HUR], Sevu Reece [CRU], Naitoa Ah Kuoi [CHI], Jeremy Williams [FOR], Sione Havili Talitui [MOA]
3: Jake Gordon [WAR], Siosifa Amone [WAR], Simione Kuruvoli [DRU], Tom Hooper [BRU], Luke Jacobson [CHI], Kaylum Boshier [CHI], Dalton Papali’I [BLU], AJ Lam [BLU],
2: David Porecki [WAR], Charlie Gamble [WAR], Sean Withy [HIG], Elia Canakaivatai [DRU], Ryan Lonergan [BRU], Damian McKenzie [CHI], Beauden Barrett [BLU], Anton Segner [BLU], Nic Dolly [FOR], Jackson Garden-Bachop [MOA]
1: Fabian Holland [HIG], Langi Gleeson [WAR], David Havili [CRU], Tane Edmed [WAR], Will Jordan [CRU], Mesake Vocevoce [DRU], Tevita Ikanivere [DRU], Andy Muirhead [BRU], Mark Telea [BLU], Marcel Renata [BLU]
It’s an interesting list and when you put this against the TotW we saw in RALF’s great post yesterday there’re a lot of the same names (except of course no Kiwis in his TotW). I think it’ll be very interesting to see this ladder change as the season goes on and for me it has a lot more to it than so many other “Player of the Year” awards. I especially like that it gets players from some of the lower teams still mentioned as at times I think some of our selections are biased due to the game result and this takes that out of the equation.
Force nab Leon MacDonald to help their coaching
Reported in a number of places but here in Planet Rugby, Leon MacDonald has landed a gig as Director of Rugby alongside Simon Cron at the Force. This is after receiving a substantial payout from the NZRFU after he split with Razor. The official reason was “differing views” why he left, and to be fair when you look at how both he and Razor approach the coaching role this makes a lot of sense. I think MacDonald wasn’t happy with some of the selections Razor was making, especially the demotion of Christie and Akira but for me they are just two completely different coaches with different ways and I also think MacDonald struggled with the move from head coach to assistant.
MacDonald previously worked alongside Chris Goodman, the Force’s general manager, during their respective stints with the Crusaders and Tasman academies. There’s also some speculation that RA has approached him to assist Schmidt in the Wallaby setup, but that this was never really seriously considered. I do think that with Joe leaving after the RC and options for the job being open it will be interesting to see how this develops. Leon MacDonald was a fantastic player with the ability to create space and then close it out with some really clever passing and kicking. He has been coaching for a while and did well with Auckland taking the Blues to the 2022 final with Joe Schmidt as part of his team. Whether he goes on to assist at the Wallabies or not I think he will certainly be an asset for the Force and help them with the development of their coaching staff.
