Super 12 round up
February 26, 2001

This round-up comes with a health warning : reading too much into first round results can seriously damage your credibility as an armchair rugby critic.

Yes, the Australians in general, the Brumbies in particular, got off to a magnificent flying start, the form of the New Zealanders was distinctly ordinary and the South Africans hardly set the world alight either, but this was the first serious rugby of the year.

As Scrum columnist Josh Kronfeld reminded us in last week, it will take about four rounds for things to assume any sort of meaningful pattern, when all the sides have had a chance to show us how they perform home and away.

In the build-up to the opening weekend's action, much was made of the intention of the referees to respond to the IRB's directive instructing them to adhere strictly to the laws of the game , particularly at the breakdown when a player has been tackled. This duly occurred as players , coached in the old ways, fell to the ground to form a bridge in support of their tackled colleague.

The refs duly blew up and we were treated to the spectacle of the attacking side , often in very promising attacking positions , being penalized even when they delivered quick phase ball from which to carry on the attack. Pedantic or what ? On the other hand, from a New Zealand perspective, haven't the IRB done the Kiwis a potential favour by making it possible again to practise the art of the ruck. Get to the breakdown, stay on your feet and drive over man and ball to deliver quick , clean possession.

Unfortunately, there is a nagging suspicion that coaches and players in New Zealand have lost the knack, although I find it difficult to believe that the likes of messrs Mitchell, Mourie and Oliver won't have cottoned on to this.

I think the referees are to be applauded for their insistence on the scrum half putting the ball into the scrum more or less straight. It's not that difficult to do and I would prefer a few weeks supposed pedantry if it means rugby union avoids going down the same hideous path as league, where scrums are a complete waste of time, the scrum feed ensuring that the scrum is an alternative means of restarting the game, not a contest for possession.

Otherwise, the Brumbies carried on more or less where they left off last season , and Robbie Deans' post-match comment that he believed the final would again take place in Canberra was sincerely intended. Their ability to set up relentless and unbeatable pressure through multi-phased passages of play did not seem to have been hindered by the new refereeing regime, they have simply been smarter than the others in adapting and adjusting.

But smartness is a word I would apply to all three of the Aussie sides. The Waratahs looked well drilled and well coached, the quality of their play a couple of notches up on anything we have seen them produce in recent seasons. Take a bow, Bob Dwyer.

Worrying news has leaked out of Brisbane over the weekend regarding player satisfaction with new coach Mark McBain. Not only has this not been denied, it has actually been confirmed, but I wonder if the winning start against the Hurricanes will help to ease the fears that John Eales , Michael Foley and the rest harbour .

In New Zealand , criticism of all five franchises, bar the Highlanders, has probably been muted as a consequence of the success of the New Zealand cricket side over Pakistan in an ODI in Christchurch, and the encouraging win and form of the New Zealand Warriors in their latest NRL outing in Australia.

Robbie Deans got his Crusaders side back to a deliberately late pre-season start, in the interests of avoiding player burn out later on, so it came as no surprise to see them so underdone. But a thrashing of the magnitude delivered in Canberra on Friday evening would not have pleased Deans.

There are genuine concerns within the Crusaders camp about the fitness of Andrew Mehrtens , and it looks as if the side is going to have to do without him for a while yet. Expect a huge improvement against the Blues in Auckland this coming Friday.I believe the Blues have real problems.

If the Super 12 were decided on the number of All Black greats in your management team, then all the other sides might as well have packed up and gone home before the competition started. But yesterday's playing heroes don't necessarily become today's coaching successes and John Kirwan for one is coming under early pressure to demonstrate that he can coach cohesion and cutting edge into his side's back play. Scrum half Mark Robinson was the only Blue to enhance his reputation and the front row appears already to require major surgery.

Post-Hewitt the Hurricanes worryingly demonstrated the same old tendency to self-destruct, but also the same old endearing ability to score the best tries in the competition. They will be frustrated that they were denied a bonus point right at the end, but they must really go away and concentrate on consistency of possession and the need to play for the whole 80 minutes with 15 men - it does make quite a difference.

The scoreline suggests the Chiefs were well-beaten by the Waratahs, but at times it was possible to see the effects of John Mitchell's coaching, the cohesion of the forward drive, the pace and cutting edge of their backs, the spirit in the side which enabled them to claw back a significant early deficit. Their coming clash with the Reds in Rotorua will be instructive.

The Highlanders will be pleased that they again got their season off to a winning start. Their All Black props Meeuws and Hoeft looked revitalized, new no8 Vahafolau had a storming match and the whole of the backline looked well-coached and focused.

The Sharks and Bulls offered mediocre fare and will have to work extremely hard not to languish in the basement again this year. The Bulls, in particular, with no history of success play like a side with absolutely no expectation of being able to reverse the trend. Their season could now fall apart as they embark upon a four-week Australasian adventure which sees them face up to the Hurricanes, Waratahs, Brumbies and Highlanders on successive weekends. Ouch !

The Stormers and Cats played out a spiteful drama and there has been much offstage rancour since Saturday evening. Japie Mulder may find himself cited for the injury sustained by fellow Springbok De Wet Barry and Stormers' coach Alan Solomons publicly launched in to the attitude of Laurie Mains' side. If that is what they are doing to each other what can the Australians and New Zealanders expect in the coming weeks? The Cats were the weekend's only away winners, a priceless way to get things going and to establish early season momentum.

But, that's all it is at this stage. There is so much travel, so much physical and mental attrition ahead of all the squads in the next three months that nothing definitive can be interpreted into the form and fortunes of any of the sides. Except, perhaps, for the Bulls !

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