Another night of Super Rugby down under saw the heavily written-off Reds grinding out a shock win while the Blues once again pulled defeat from the jaws of victory.
Here are our three takeaways from Friday’s matches.
Reds are the dark horses in Aussie conference
It’s clear new Queensland coach Brad Thorn has got some real spirit in the new-look Reds.
The former All Blacks lock made some huge calls in jettisoning the unpredictable Quade Cooper as well as fellow Wallabies scrum-half Nick Frisby, instead opting for the youngsters and no names who he led to the NRC title with Queensland Country last year.
It’s the “no d***heads” policy that has worked very well in Australian and New Zealand rugby in the past and it’s clearly working up north.
This young Reds team will clearly run through a brick wall for Thorn – already – and as he teaches them more skills and techniques they will only get better.
Look at the improvement in a player like Taniela Tupou – the Tongan Thor – who has had potential to burn for years but it’s taken Thorn to bring it out.
The Reds no-try 18-10 win over the Brumbies was a big result for Thorn’s team and don’t be surprised if there are more Ws in the result column as the Australian Conference becomes a duel not between the favoured Tahs and Brumbies, but the upstart Reds and Rebels.
The Brumbies now head down to Melbourne and don’t be surprised to see a similar result next weekend against David Wessels’ Force-laden Rebels.
Saw a show tonight. It was called 'How many ways to lose a game', featuring the @BluesRugbyTeam and directed by Tana Umaga. Didn't enjoy it though. #BLUvCHI
— Peter Rees (@peter_rees74) March 2, 2018
The Blues are Super Rugby’s most frustrating team
Tana Umaga’s dread-locks must soon be in jeopardy, as it can’t be long before the Blues coach starts tearing them out in frustration.
The Blues had the under-strength Chiefs on the rack at Eden Park on Friday night but some blindingly stupid options by the home team saw the 2012 and 2013 premiers sneak back home to Hamilton with a win.
It was a similar story for the Blues last weekend in the highly entertaining loss to the Highlanders in Dunedin – 41-34.
The Blues have the playing personnel to be winning these matches – Rieko and Akira Ioane, Ofa Tu’ungafasi, Bryn Gatland, George Moala – even All Blacks legend Jerome Kaino on the bench.
But they just cannot win an NZ derby.
The Blues have now lost their last 13 matches against NZ teams on the bounce and after just two games they are already slipping out of contention for the New Zealand Conference.
Next week the Blues head to South Africa to take on the Lions in a match that is already shaping up as a must-win.
Jono Lance kicking a penalty – the highlight of another boring Aussie derby.
Aussies derbies are slow train to Dulls-ville
Australian Rugby has a real issue trying to promote itself in one of the most competitive sporting market places on earth – with Aussie Rules, Rugby League and now even football surpassing union in popularity and viewership.
One of Aussie rugby’s great selling points should be Super Rugby with its fast style of exciting, open play.
The only issue is that when two Aussie teams meet they are more often than not deadly dull slog-a-thons.
The latest example was the Reds and Brumbies clash at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
There was lots of courage and effort on show – as well as some desperate defence – but with the Reds not scoring a try it’s hardly going to win the code new fans.
It’s a big problem for Rugby Australia and one particular to Australian derbies.
New Zealand and South African derbies are usually up-tempo, high scoring affairs such as the Highlanders-Blues try-fest last weekend – but not so in Australia.
There are three reasons for this.
Firstly the execution of skills by Australian teams are very poor under pressure, so in tight contests the error-count sky rockets and the try-count disappears.
Secondly Aussie refs are more officious than NZ and South African refs and do not let the game flow – this is something Rugby Australia can tackle.
Thirdly, Australian teams have done so poorly in Super Rugby in recent years they are desperate to win at any costs – so it’s low-risk, tackle-anything approach that again does nothing to promote a free-flowing game.
