Beauden Barrett warming up for the Blues. Photo / Photosport
Beauden Barrett warming up for the Blues. Photo / Photosport
OPINION:
Newstalk ZB lead rugby commentator Elliott Smith analyses the biggest talking points from the world of rugby, including the All Blacks policy robbing fans, the Hurricanes' messy post-Beauden rebuild and more.
A suggestion...
Super Rugby's All Blacks rest weeks are hard to stomach as it is, but it'd bebetter if those weeks could be burned off while teams are out of market. Attracting fans is hard enough as it is, let alone when teams are missing the players that turn fans from watching on the couch to parking up at the ground. There's a method to the madness I'm sure, but Beauden Barrett, Jordie Barrett and Ardie Savea all rest up this week, robbing Auckland and Wellington fans the chance to see those key players, who entertained in Perth and Canberra last week. Injuries and travel bills can throw curveballs but making the turnstiles click across the Tasman should be less of a priority than on home soil.
What goes Love, Garden-Bachop, Love, Morgan, Garden-Bachop, Garden-Bachop, Morgan, Garden-Bachop, Morgan, Garden-Bachop and Morgan? The Hurricanes' sequence of starting first-fives this season, including this weekend's game against the Drua. I can't recall any Super Rugby team that has changed their key playmaker as much during a season, barring injury. Such chopping and changing is never going to build confidence in the two younger players, Love and Morgan. Rebuilding after Beauden Barrett was never going to be easy, but the Hurricanes have done their best to make a dog's breakfast of it.
A prediction...
The Crusaders have gone backwards this year. All dynasties come to an end, but I wouldn't be so quick to write this one off just yet. Despite losing two out of the last three I'd still put the Crusaders along with the Brumbies and Blues in the bracket of sides capable of digging deep and winning three games in a row in a knockout playoff format. All Blacks rest weeks are out of the way, but they'll need to find their discipline fast. The Crusaders have always been a side to find the line and tread along it, but too often this year they're on the wrong side of it.
Crusaders players chat during their upset loss to the Waratahs last weekend. Photo / Photosport
An explanation...
The gap is no longer what it was between us and our transtasman neighbours. After not getting close to the final last year, the Aussies have taken stock and look better than before with ball in hand, more destructive up the middle and with pace to burn on the outside. Such signs should be worrying for New Zealand but I would still back them in a crunch match more often than not.
I talk of course about the women's sevens sides.
The return to the sevens circuit confirmed three things: Michaela Blyde is box office, Portia Woodman is perhaps the greatest player in women's sevens history and Australia's revamped programme is paying dividends. All on for Birmingham.
I always thought Sam Whitelock was likely to be the last 2011 Rugby World Cup winner still plying his trade – but John Afoa seems hellbent on trying to push him all the way. Afoa – who left New Zealand rugby a decade ago – has just signed a two-year deal to leave Pat Lam-coached Bristol and join French club Vannes. That would take him to 40 years old and 19 years since he made his All Blacks debut. Whitelock and Afoa face some competition from Aaron Cruden and Colin Slade, both still trotting around in Japan, and the evergreen Ma'a Nonu and Andy Ellis (Major League Rugby in the USA) while Richard Kahui continues to go hard for the Western Force and Owen Franks is back this week for the Hurricanes.
