The long weekend gave us a little piece of everything from a New Zealand Super Rugby point of view. Yet another wonderful derby match – cheers Chiefs & Highlanders; domination of the top Aussie side by the Hurricanes, the Crusaders winning a re-match of last year's Super Rugby final and a what-the-heck-was-that performance by the Blues.
Fresh from staining the back deck of Castillo-de-Yalden, Radio Sport Rugby Editor Nigel Yalden prepared the plunger, broke out the Afghans and compiled his NZ Team of the Week:
1 Chris Eves (Hurricanes) is one of the most hot or cold players in Super Rugby, but he was nice and warm on Friday night, providing 64 busy minutes in Melbourne.
2 Ash Dixon (Highlanders) was excellent in all areas as well as providing a couple of lovely pieces of skill to admire, none more so than the pick-up that led to the Sio Tomkinson try
3 Angus Ta'avao (Chiefs) just keeps on chugging away to good effect, playing 77 minutes in the NZ derby & playing those minutes to an excellent standard in all facets.
4 Jackson Hemopo (Highlanders) out Brodie Retallick-ed Brodie Retallick … that takes some doing people - Forward of the Week
5 Sam Whitelock (Crusaders) & Brodie Retallick (Chiefs) play the game in a smart & efficient manner, yet do so with the physical intensity required of a second row forward; two quality performances in Johannesburg and Hamilton highlight why they are the premier second row combination in world rugby – too hard to separate for mine.
6 Heiden Bedwell-Curtis (Crusaders) did not stop from first whistle to last in an untiring effort. He and Matt Todd worked superbly together, especially in the final twenty minutes of an excessively confrontational encounter.
7 As the game wore on, Matt Todd (Crusaders) became more and more prominent in Johannesburg. He was a constant presence in the defensive line, a persistent pest in and around the breakdown and linked well when the Crusaders attacked. NB. The standard of play by NZ opensides was quite superb with Dillon Hunt (Highlanders), Sam Cane (Chiefs) and Sam Henwood (Hurricanes) all standouts for their respective sides.
8 Gareth Evans (Hurricanes) is making every post a winner at the moment. He's gives high work rate, low error rate contributions and did that again against the Rebels, highlighted by the snaffling of five turnovers.
9 Bryn Hall (Crusaders) seems to do his best work when the game is tight and physical as it was at Ellis Park on Monday morning. He generally made the right decision in terms of ball movement, kicked very tidily from the base of the ruck and provided plenty of voice & direction defensively.
10 Beauden Barrett (Hurricanes) was only required to work 63 minutes on Friday night but in that time, he helped dictate and manipulate the game to his sides favour quite delightfully. The only downside of Barrett's stellar play is the disturbing gap that he is creating between himself & the next best first five in NZ.
11 A wingers primary job is to score tries and Ben Lam (Hurricanes) is doing that in spades at the moment. What Lam is also doing is the core tasks of the position exceeding well and has sown up that Hurricanes left wing spot for as long as this rich vein of form continues – Back of the Week
12 A typical Ryan Crotty (Crusaders) performance in a big game; reliable, accurate, incisive, smart. He also grabbed two key turnovers and provided a constant stream of officiating advice for referee Jaco Peyper throughout his time on the field – Assistant Referee of the Week
13 Anton Lienert-Brown (Chiefs) was excellent with ball in hand, great in support, tackled very well (only missed one) and generally put himself in the right place at the right time.
14 While the opposite winger was racking up tries, I really liked what Julian Savea (Hurricanes) did for the Hurricanes against Melbourne. He got the ball plenty of times, especially from kick offs & ran with real intent, making consistent metres to provide his team with go forward ball.
15 Tough call this - Solomon Alaimalo (Chiefs) provided some timely & effective contributions in his first start at fullback, however was caught out of position at least two occasions that I recall. Jordie Barrett (Hurricanes) also very busy & influential on attack Friday night, but coughed the ball up a couple of time unnecessarily.
Selection criteria: Must play for a NZ franchise but does not have to be eligible for All Blacks
NIGEL YALDEN IS RUGBY EDITOR FOR RADIO SPORT & NEWSTALK ZB