Cam Roigard of the Hurricanes charges forward against the Highlanders. Photo / Getty Images
Cam Roigard of the Hurricanes charges forward against the Highlanders. Photo / Getty Images
OPINION
Phil Gifford runs through the talking points from the latest round of Super Rugby Pacific.
Bitter blow for brightest star
The harsh reality of a contact sport is that triumph can quickly be matched by calamity.
On the one hand the Hurricanes carved in stone their place asthe form team in Super Rugby Pacific, with a 47-12 whipping of the Highlanders in Dunedin.
On the other, the saddest sight of the weekend was seeing their brilliant halfback Cam Roigard leaving the field after 56 minutes on a medicab. If fears that he may have ruptured a patella tendon (that connects your kneecap to your shin bone) are confirmed it’s a massive blow for Roigard, the Canes, and the All Blacks.
Until his injury he was the brightest star in a team of stars, where the talent never stops, running from a potent front row to a dangerous back three, spearheaded by the power and pace of wing Kini Naholo.
And it doesn’t end there for the Canes. Their bench has real depth, from an 80-test halfback in TJ Perenara to one of the most hard-working loose forwards in the country, Du’Plessis Kirifi.
Promise being fulfilled
Canes No 8 and flanker Peter Lakai has been playing with the big boys from the time he was a 15-year-old in the First XV at St Pat’s Silverstream. He started his first provincial game for Wellington at 18, and signed for Canes when he was 19.
Now 21, he has more than a touch of the relentlessness Ardie Savea brings to broken field running, and at 110kg has the size to make tackles that bring even powerful ball carriers to a juddering halt.
Easing the pressure
People who have never lived there can have a vision of Canterbury as a place where children are born with an “I’ll Always Love The Crusaders” sign in one hand.
In fact I doubt there’s any area of the country where expectations are as brutally demanding as they are in Christchurch.
When he was a young man playing in a struggling Canterbury side, future All Blacks captain Todd Blackadder once ruefully said to me, “I can handle being booed off the field when we’ve played poorly. But they’re starting to boo us ON to Lancaster Park.”
So the easing of pressure after an impressive 37-26 win over the Chiefs in Christchurch will be an enormous relief to everyone involved with the Crusaders.
Boldness was their friend
Given they were facing the horror of a five-game losing streak, the tactics coach Rob Penney and his team embraced were, to say the least, courageous.
Tap kicks are usually the preserve of a side 30 points ahead. But incisive, daring running from halfback Noah Hotham, the almost manic energy of Sevu Reece, and the rugby smarts of Johnny McNicholl, fresh off the plane from Wales, combined to keep the Chiefs, a very good unit, constantly off balance.
And for the future, note down lock Jamie Hannah. The former Christchurch Boys’ High School First XV star was accurate in the lineout, and hugely energetic in general play. If Scott Barrett, as is hoped, recovers from a broken finger by early May, he, Quinten Strange and Hannah will make the middle row a potent core.
Hooker George Bell scored a brilliant solo try. Photo / Getty Images
Bound for glory
Crusaders hooker George Bell’s 45m sprint for a try in the 42nd minute in Christchurch was a moment for the ages.
His speed and physical presence were also reminders that the 22-year-old from a five-generation Otago farming family was, as an official stand-by player, just one training injury away from being called into last year’s All Black World Cup squad. If the Crusaders can keep their groove going as the season wends on, it’d be a surprise if Bell wasn’t in the All Blacks’ plans for 2024.
No arm wrestle
Given that Moana Pasifika were technically the home team at Eden Park, the Blues made a big statement about who owns the venerable ground, with a resounding 47-8 victory on Saturday.
When there are counter-attackers of the level the Blues can muster, people like Mark Telea and Stephen Perofeta, Moana’s tactics of hopeful high kicks, especially in the first half, felt a little like David offering his slingshot to Goliath.
Inevitably the Blues, now sitting comfortably in second place behind the Canes on the Super Rugby table, returned everything with interest.
Lean and keen
Caleb Clarke, after slipping behind Telea and Leicester Fainga’anuku in the All Blacks’ pecking order at last year’s World Cup, is back to his best on the wing for the Blues.
Clarke on song is a magnificent runner, and his 50m dash for a 31st-minute try was a reminder that he’s a world-class attacker.
Phil Gifford has twice been judged New Zealand sports writer of the year, has won nine New Zealand and two Australasian radio awards and been judged New Zealand Sports Columnist of the Year three times. In 2010, he was honoured with the Sparc lifetime achievement award for services to sports journalism.
