4. Watching the Aussie teams
Fans of the Reds and the Waratahs haven’t had a lot of joy from their team lately but they would be getting some from watching the Brumbies and Force play, and the occasional Rebels’ encounter has been full of merit.
This Waratahs’ fan had to fast-forward his recording of the Tahs v. Blues game on Friday, so irritating were their handling blunders (yet again).
Life was too short to do otherwise, but I enjoyed the Brumbies taking the Chiefs apart in the next match, by not letting them play their game and taking most of their own chances well. They made the Chief’s look like scrubbers except when they cleared their bench with the game already won.
Joe Tomane scores for the Brumbies against the Chiefs
The Brumbies are carrying on their Jack White legacy but under the Larkham/Fisher regime they are chancing their arm a bit more. Their players may not all be Wallabies’ candidates but the Brumbies have more players playing in a successful test match style of rugby than the other Aussie teams have.
That will win Super Rugby games.
On Saturday the Reds were nearly as bad as the Tahs were in parts of their match, but the following contest between the Force and the Bulls had a fascinating tension.
It was always going to be a kickathon in the wet conditions and it was watching a soccer match: getting down to the other end to kick at goal.
It had a tally of five successful penalties to three, which sounds boring, but the ability of Aussie players (plus one South African who was handy) to survive a game like that in conditions hateful to our breed, was compelling as the clock ticked down.
