The Growden Report
Was 2014 just a crazy dream?
Greg Growden
February 16, 2015
Waratahs 13-25 Force (Australia only)

Did the 2014 Super Rugby final actually happen? Or was it some crazy dream?

How can the two finalists - the Crusaders and the Waratahs- lose the plot so quickly? In close to the most unusual opening round in Super Rugby history - two teams which were involved in one of the most spectacular and high-quality of finals have just six months later been made to look so inept by lowly ranked opponents.

Never have the Crusaders looked so out of sorts than in Christchurch on Friday night, when they fumbled and bumbled their way and suffered the consequences of losing to a diligent Rebels outfit that played it tight and refused to lower their intensity.

But this strange evening was nothing compared with the farce on offer in Sydney on Sunday afternoon, when the Waratahs made a mockery of pundits who have been carrying on about how NSW rugby was about to create some sort of 'dynasty of success' at Moore Park.

A dynasty? Hardly. More like a debacle.

Crusaders 10-20 Melbourne Rebels (Australia only)
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It was back to the old habits of the Waratahs, with an overwhelming sense of laziness that had been their trademark during most of the other 18 unsuccessful seasons of Super Rugby re-emerging. They were again complacent, disorganised, slow even, performing like "fat cats" who still wanted to backslap and bask in all of the glory of 2014. Making it even more distressing was that the team on show was not that far off the line-up that won the title last year.

Adding to the shame was the fact that their opponents did not even have their most threatening player on the field. Instead, Matt Hodgson was sitting injured alongside Force coach Michael Foley in the official's box, reveling in watching a supposedly champion team losing all of its bearings and performing like chumps.

Michael Foley said Ben McCalman led the Force "by example" © Getty Images
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The Force produced simple but clever tactics. They know the Waratahs rely on high-intensity and rapid-fire play; the faster the encounter, the better for the Waratahs. So to thwart that, the Force slowed everything down. They took an eternity to set a scrum. You could have easily walked to the corner shops and back during any scrum and still not have missed anything. And you could have done that eight or nine times during this long, tedious encounter. The go-slow had the desired effect of seeing the Waratahs, along with everyone else, nod off.

The Force also didn't do anything silly in attack, minimising the chance of the Waratahs winning the breakdown in open space where counter defence could have been stretched. And when they did have the ball, most times the Force just tried to grind away up front with rolling mauls; it was dry, minimalist football, and it worked.

Even with the Waratahs doing an impressive impersonation of Bozo the Clown, the zaniest solo performance of the opening round still goes to former Wallabies captain James Horwill, who did nothing for his Rugby World Cup aspirations when sent off for endless infringements playing for Queensland Reds against the Brumbies.

In a season when Wallabies coach Michael Cheika (after he applies the cattle prodder to the Waratahs) will demand strict discipline from all his forwards, and will be brutal on those who are constantly penalised at the breakdown, it will take a long time for him to forget the sight of a demoralised Horwill leaving the field late in the Brumbies-Reds match.

Earlier in the second half, Horwill had been sent to the sin-bin by referee Angus Gardner after deliberately slowing the ball down at the breakdown. But on his return, Horwill did not take the hint; he was obstructive on several more occasions, giving Gardner no option but to hand him s second yellow card, and hence the red, for repeated infringements. It was the right call, as after all it was the sixth time Horwill had been pinged during the game.

Brumbies 47-3 Reds (Australia Only)
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Adding to the bizarre nature of the moment, and reinforcing the fact that the Reds are desperately short in experience and nous, Gardner went over to tell the team leader that Horwill had to go. The team leader? James Slipper? Will Genia? No, by the 75th minute they were both off the field. So the Reds' on-field leader was someone playing his first game of Super Rugby. Karmichael Hunt was informed that Australia's captain at the last World Cup tournament had to go. No wonder Hunt looked befuddled, as this was not exactly what you would expect in your first big rugby match.

Whether Horwill will be part of another Wallabies World Cup campaign is now highly debatable, and you can understand why the Reds lock has hooked himself up to play for the London club, Harlequins, later this year.

As for Hunt, we are no clearer as to whether the rugby league/AFL convert will make it as a No.10. Even Mark Ella, Stephen Larkham, Michael Lynagh would have struggled to do anything fruitful behind such a disheveled Reds pack.


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Reds fly-half Karmichael Hunt faced a tough night in Canberra © Getty Images
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