Damian McKenzie celebrates the Chiefs' win over the Hurricanes. Photosport
Damian McKenzie celebrates the Chiefs' win over the Hurricanes. Photosport
Look, I'm the biggest Damian McKenzie fan out.
The little bloke deserves all the accolades he gets, after kicking another match winning goal for the Chiefs in Sky Super Rugby Aotearoa.
He's a gem, although his true range of attacking gifts appear stifled by modern rugby's defensive blanket,leaving him as the plucky, undersized kick receiver.
But what about the real star of the Chiefs gripping win over the Hurricanes - the player who created the penalty?
All that effort, all those trainings, all those scrums, all the sleepless nights working out how to do what to who, all the injuries…and you win the game for your team and you barely rate a mention. He should have been centre stage.
Maybe it was Nathan Harris, Oliver Norris or Sione Mafileo...just to throw a few actual names out there.
It sucks man. This is what drives me crazy about watching rugby in this country, or any country.
The analysis has inched forward, definitely, but it hasn't really moved on a lot since the 1970s.
The Chiefs scrum had been marching the Hurricanes all over the place.
There was no apparent reason for this, looking at the lineups. The Hurricanes had a couple of All Blacks in their front row, including one of the most capped hookers ever in Dane Coles. The Chiefs locks have barely got their drivers licences.
Why, why, why? That's all I ask.
Rugby is a game which involves a lot of pushing and shoving, yet in watching it for 50 years, I can't recall a commentator ever revealing who is actually good at pushing and shoving and why. You'll see a game involving an epic forward battle, and five minutes before full time a bloke will turn on the Tannoy and announce that a first five-eighth is the man of the match.
If this was American sport, there would have been a camera on the Chiefs scrum coach Nic White (hope it's okay to mention his name) with some info on what he's all about. The man-on-man duel in the front row would have been centre stage in Hamilton.
The unheralded Chiefs scrum won that game for them.
Kane Hames has joined the Sky commentary team and he shows a lot of promise. I really like what he is attempting to do. But the former Chiefs and All Black prop missed a great chance to reveal some stuff on the inside with this one.
But that's rugby. The public needs to keep its nose out of matters which don't concern them.
Rugby is so good at hiding its front rowers that the 1990s Wallaby and Queensland prop Dan Crowley was able to operate as an undercover policeman throughout his long rugby career.
It's an incredible story, and a revealing one.
In the interests of something half interesting about the front row, I'll empty the tank and tell you the only inside front row scrum story I know.
Olo Brown was one of the great All Black props, without a doubt. But someone with impeccable connections told me that his front row comrade, the All Black legend Sean Fitzpatrick, could get a tad frustrated with Brown because he didn't attack enough in the scrums.
In rugby, this probably counts as nasty gossip. Sorry.
Will Roger Tuivasa-Sheck bounce back…to league
A weekend highlight: Watching Benji Marshall turning on the magic for South Sydney against the Titans in the NRL.
It's not possible to say Marshall is in career best form. At his most amazingly magical best, when the West Tigers won the title in 2005, Bouncing Benji was the best player I've seen, the most entertaining player to watch, in any football code before or since.
Benji Marshall of the Rabbitohs makes a break to score a try against the Titans. Photo / Getty
But at the age of 36, he is rocking it for Wayne Bennett's team, and there was one pass to set up a try against the Titans, a lobbed reverse-flick, which did carry hallmarks of the incredible, young Benji Marshall.
Marshall had a crack at rugby, and through some ups and downs on his return to league appears to be flourishing at a ripe old age. Maybe departing Warriors captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck will do the same if he realises that he will never rise to his league heights in union.
