The streak is dead and now maybe Super Rugby can start to become Super again

Alex Broun 19:59 19/05/2018
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  • The NSW Waratahs have finally put an end to the streak.

    The streak is dead. Long live the streak.

    It has been an ever-festering wound in the side of Australian Rugby for 722 long days – but finally it is over.

    The NSW Waratahs – the last team to beat a New Zealand Super Rugby team almost two years ago – at last put an end to the losing run of 40 games by Australian teams against their NZ brethren as they dispatched a 14-man Highlanders 41-12 in Sydney.

    Waratahs captain Michael Hooper immediately said post match the streak had never entered his or his team’s thoughts and they were just glad for what could be a crucial win leading up to the playoffs.

    But no doubt deep down the young NSW and Australian skipper would have been relieved to take a rather large monkey off his and his nation’s back.

    NSW had gone close in the weeks beforehand – a three-point loss to the Blues at Brookvale a fortnight ago and a controversial 31-29 reverse at the hands of the Crusaders last weekend, after leading 29-0.

    But this time they were not to be denied.

    True, NSW were assisted by an undermanned opponent – Highlanders winger Tevita Nabura was sent off on just 18 minutes for a flying kung-fu kick to the chin of Waratahs wing Cam Clark and scrum-half Aaron Smith received a yellow card for a “deliberate” knockdown.

    However even with the full complement it’s likely the fired-up sky blues would still have prevailed.

    The win now puts NSW six-points clear at the top of the Australian conference, but the result was significant on a number of other levels.

    Firstly, it broke one of the longest losing runs in professional sporting history.

    Secondly, it hopefully begins to return some credibility to an under-fire competition that even Rugby Australia CEO Raelene Castle admitted recently was becoming predictable because of the superiority of New Zealand teams.

    But with the Tahs 19-point win and the Sharks getting the better of an under-strength Chiefs in Durban a few hours later, it means three NZ teams had their colours lowered over the weekend – the Blues also suffering defeat at the hands of the table-topping Crusaders.

    As Castle pointed out, if you want a competition that when you sit down to watch a game you believe your team can win and cryptically – apart from the NZ-Australia anomaly – Super Rugby has shown some promising signs of equalising out this season.

    Argentina’s Jaguares have been the big improvers. After two highly forgettable seasons, they have won six of their 11 matches this term – including back-to-back victories in New Zealand over the Blues and Chiefs. They look a certainty for the finals.

    Japan’s Sunwolves, so long the whipping boys of the tournament, have won back-to-back games for the first time in their history.

    The second coming through a drop goal after the siren to fly-half Hayden Parker, which sent the excitable crowd in Hong Kong into dream world.

    Even the New Zealand teams, apart from when they are playing teams from their nearest neighbours, have been far from invincible.

    Only the Crusaders this season are unbeaten by non-NZ teams.

    The Blues have lost three matches, beaten by the Stormers, Sharks and Jaguares. The Chiefs have also lost to the Jaguares and Sharks, the Highlanders have lost to the Sharks and Waratahs and even the mighty Hurricanes were beaten by the reviving Bulls.

    The Sharks seem to have developed NZ kryptonite with a trifecta of victories over New Zealand sides – comfortably accounting for the Blues, Chiefs and Highlanders.

    So perhaps all is not as grim as thought in Super Rugby, a tournament that is still the envy of many sporting contests in the world for its reach over four continents – Oceania, Asia, Africa and the Americas.

    And now the New Zealand-Australia curse has been broken, maybe, just maybe, Super Rugby might become Super again.

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