Will Jordan of the Crusaders eludes Liam Wright and Alex Hodgman of the Reds during the Crusaders vs Reds Super Rugby Pacific match at Apollo Projects Stadium in Christchurch on March 9. Photo/ Photosport
Will Jordan of the Crusaders eludes Liam Wright and Alex Hodgman of the Reds during the Crusaders vs Reds Super Rugby Pacific match at Apollo Projects Stadium in Christchurch on March 9. Photo/ Photosport
The increased pace is causing fatigue, leading to more attacking opportunities and defensive mistakes.
Players like Will Jordan are exploiting fatigued defenders, resulting in more running rugby.
Ask any top-level rugby coach and they’ll explain how the key to winning titles is defence.
Last season the Blues built a drought-ending campaign around it, conceding an average of just 15.5 points per game.
The emphasis on playing without the ball has ramped upin recent years to a point where shifting the ball wide was largely seen as too dangerous by attacking teams. That’s when the rugby-watching public knew the game was broken.
The result, ultimately, was fewer bums on seats, fewer eyeballs on broadcasts – and fewer numbers on broadcast deals. That’s when the rugby ruling officials knew the game was broken.
The fix, in Super Rugby Pacific 2025 at least, is to speed the game up at every opportunity. Strict shot clocks for goal kickers, fewer scrum resets – and faster feeds, less time for orchestrating yawn-inducing box kicks and generally encouraging the whistle-blowers to referee as though they have a plane to catch.
‘S***, I’m buggered!'
All Black captain and Crusaders lock Scott Barrett says the extra attention to potential time-wasting has been noticeable.
“Keeping teams moving, injured players - if they’re not in the way, they’re keen to keep the game going - which I guess is a good thing. That’s what the crowds want. They want a flowing game,” says Barrett.
Scott Barrett of the Crusaders says he agrees with speeding up the game and making fatigue more of a factor. Photo / Photosport
The result is an increase in “ball-in-play” minutes – with the naturally stop-start game being more start than stop so far.
“It is that much faster. Ball in play is consistently higher,” says Crusaders head coach Rob Penney.
How much higher? Well, official numbers are hard to come by – Super Rugby Pacific isn’t releasing them just yet. But franchises are keeping their own tally among a myriad of other data. Anecdotally, the Crusaders’ own numbers show ball in play is regularly over 40 minutes.
“The fatigue factor is really massive, you know? Listening to the All Blacks in particular, coming back in, and they’re all commenting on it - how tough it is,” says Penney.
Scott Barrett isn’t sure if it is quicker, or if his tireless lungs are just another year older.
“I just put it down to getting used to being back into footy. It probably is [quicker]. I’m trying not to personally look at that as ‘s***, I’m buggered’ haha, you know?
“You want to embrace those moments when you’re under fatigue. I love that area,” says Barrett.
The sped-up 2025 version of Super Rugby Pacific is definitely having an impact on results.
“I guess the outcome has been what people in the hierarchy have wanted. It’s causing fatigue, which causes more opportunities for attack,” says Penney.
Rob Penney with new recruit James O'Connor. Photo / Photosport
“If the ball is in play for longer - later in the game, there is going to be fatigue. It’s where the good teams really challenge,” says Barrett.
The defences that had proven so hard to breach in previous seasons are cracking under the relentless pressure of pace – resulting in the mistakes every fan wants to see ... just not from their team. Mistakes like missed tackles. In the most recent round, the Crusaders missed 30 tackles against the Reds out of 214.
“The missed tackles, I would say 50% of them were fatigue-related and 50% of them were probably our errors,” says Penney
By the numbers
The “missed tackles” statistics tell an interesting tale, as well as a few bald-faced lies.
The NSW Waratahs have missed the fewest tackles this season (they’ve also had a bye) and have the lowest average of 19.6 missed tackles per game. It’ll come as no surprise, then, to learn they have conceded the fewest points – in total and on average. They sit second on the table and are the only unbeaten side after four rounds.
The table-topping Chiefs aren’t far off, with an average of 20.75 missed tackles per game. They’re also second in points-against. There’s a trend here.
Miss fewer tackles, concede fewer points. Right? Not quite.
This is where the lies start. The Blues have the third-stingiest defence in the competition, conceding 104 points across four rounds. They’ve all but matched the Chiefs in that facet. Yet they are among the worst offenders when it comes to missing tackles, dropping off just over 25 per game.
The Blues might be serial offenders in the missed tackle charts – but they also hold the record for this season’s lowest count in a match (nine).
Beauden Barrett gets a pass away against the Brumbies. Photo / Photosport
You can’t lose a game with only nine missed tackles, right? Not quite.
That stat was achieved last weekend against the Brumbies at Eden Park, a match that the boys from the Australian capital won 21-20. For the record, the Brumbies missed almost three times as many tackles. They also kicked twice as many goals – hence the result.
It’s a similar tale in reverse.
Moana Pasifika are second in tackle efficiency, slipping off 19.75 tackles per game. Only the Waratahs are better – and only just. However, despite that glowing endorsement of their defensive qualities, Moana Pasifika have conceded the most points in the competition: 163 in just four games at an average of just over 40.
How can this be? Well, you can’t miss a tackle that you’re not in position to attempt. That’s a “clean break”, and those stats tell a tale of their own.
Not that they fully explain Moana Pasifika’s defensive record. They’ve conceded an average of roughly seven clean breaks per game, which is on the high side but far from the worst in the competition.
Moana Pasifika's Kyren Taumoefolau makes a break during his side's Super Rugby Pacific match against the Hurricanes at North Harbour Stadium on Saturday, March 8. Photo / Michael Thomas / action press
That unwanted title goes to the Crusaders who are conceding just over nine clean breaks per game – twice as many as the Reds and Highlanders.
Penney says clean line breaks are both a result and a cause of fatigue – but it’s fixable.
“If your systems are more efficient, you’re not having to work quite so hard,” says Penney.
“The Reds made some lovely line breaks against us, so we’re tracking back 30-40m, which adds a lot to the fatigue. If we don’t have those misses initially, that’ll prevent misses later on. Often one miss will lead to three,” says Penney.
The Reds and Highlanders defensive lines have the fewest clean breaks against them.
‘It’s beautiful watching him run and play'
It’s worth remembering that the Crusaders won comfortably against the Reds. Their attack was far superior on a perfect day for running rugby. The home side won the fatigue battle.
“A lot of our tries came from broken play situations or counterattack as opposed to set piece. Brad Mooar’s doing a wonderful job there for us,” says Penney.
The former All Black assistant coach is the architect of the Crusaders' counterattack, and his main strike weapon is Will Jordan. The silky fullback has a radar for tired defenders.
“It’s beautiful, watching him run and play, isn’t it? He’s in some good form,” says Mooar.
Will Jordan bursting through the tackles of Tate McDermott and Filipo Daugunu during the Crusaders vs Reds match at Apollo Projects Stadium in Christchurch on March 9. Photo / Photosport
Exposing fatigue in the opposition is crucial – especially late in the game. Defenders will fail physically, but more often it’s likely to be mentally, says Scott Barrett.
“Cognitive function when you’re really heaving - your decision-making, your skillset execution, that’s under the blowtorch when you are really fatigued,” says Barrett.
And that’s what Jordan’s radar locks on to.
“It’s the ability to spot one person to make a decision that’s wrong, we can exploit that,” says Mooar.
After that it’s about executing the plan – and letting players play.
“Give them the confidence to try to play the game, to make passes, to create offloads, to keep the ball alive, to kick. And accepting that there will be times when errors happen,” says Mooar.
Former All Blacks assistant coach Brad Mooar, now back with the Crusaders. Photo / Photosport
It all adds up to a dynamic that Super Rugby Pacific and its broadcasters can be proud of.
“It’s an awesome spectacle, I think. Super Rugby Pacific’s been wonderful,” says Penney.
As for the good, the bad and the data, Brad Mooar offers some perspective.
“As a human race, there’s data coming out of our ears. We can use whatever steps we want to tell a story,” says Mooar.
There’s only one statistical table that really matters.
“The points table,” he says with his trademark grin.
Mike Thorpe is a senior multimedia journalist for the Herald, based in Christchurch. He has been a broadcast journalist across television and radio for 20 years and joined the Herald in August 2024.
