Darry Worthington takes a look at the five main talking points to come out of Super Rugby AU Round 3.
Image Copyright – Steve Haag Sports
Super Rugby AU delivered some great action this past weekend with the Reds seeing off a spirited Force side and the Brumbies pipping the Waratahs right at the death. Some major talking points have emerged both on and off the field in recent days. We’ll take a look at the five biggest talking points, below.
Ill-Discipline and Poor Goalkicking Hindering Waratahs
The Waratahs produced their best performance of the year this past weekend as they were narrowly beaten by a much-fancied Brumbies side.
While Rob Penney’s side did show great improvement, the man at the Waratahs helm will still be rather miffed after a late try saw his side go down 23-24 to the Brumbies.
The former Munster head coach has bemoaned a late penalty decision that saw his forward pack – who were the more dominant at scrum time – pinged for an infringement. While the decision was debatable, there’s no question that the Waratahs have discipline issues as they currently top the pops form most penalties conceded in Super Rugby AU.
Another issue for the Waratahs this past weekend was goalkicking with young pivot Will Harrison missing some rather easy shots at goal that would have handed his team victory. Harrison had actually been rather accurate up until this weekend and had a conversion success rate in excess of 80%. He will need to do better with his pressure kicks, however, as these missed shots at goal make or break teams’ seasons.
Brumbies Set-Piece Needs Work
As noted above, the Brumbies scrum had a rather hard time of it against the ‘Tahs this past weekend. Their lineout was also woeful with as they lost multiple balls on their own throw.
The Brumbies have always been set-piece specialist and it must be rather worrying for the forward coaches to see their charges struggling at the coalface.
With their scrum and lineout misfiring, the Brumbies have lost two of their major weapons when it comes to gaining front foot ball. It’s also taken away their ability to use rolling mauls as try-scoring weapons.
New Zealand Calling the Super Rugby Shots
There were some massive revelations last week with New Zealand rugby officials coming out and confirming that they are very keen to abandon South Africa and Argentina in whatever my be the new iteration of Super Rugby.
The Kiwis also want to reduce the amount of Australian teams competing in it to three as they feel the current Australian franchises are not up to standard as their playing pool is stretched.
While this hasn’t gone down well in Australia, they really don’t have any other choice as New Zealand are calling the shots here with their rugby product a lot more attractive than Australia’s.
Reds Remain Unbeaten
The Queensland Reds managed to maintain their unbeaten start to the campaign as they saw off a stiff challenge from a plucky Western Force outfit.
Queensland had a very slow start to the game shipping to early tries to the Force. They came into the show rather soon after their opponents second try with a blitz of their own that saw them go into the half-time break 21-19.
The game slowed in the second stanza with the Reds only able to score one more try and the Force bagging one of their own. The game was actually on a knife-edge until James O’Connors late drop goal that took the scoreline out of the Force’s reach.
This was the Reds second win of the campaign and comes a week after they were held to a draw by the Rebels. It has also seen them move to the top of the
James O’Connor Wallabies Fly-Half Frontrunner
With Brumbies rookie fly-half Noah Lolesio set to be sidelined for a few weeks with a calf injury, it looks like James O’Connor will cement his place as Australia’s starting pivot should international rugby go ahead this year.
While Lolesio may well recover in a few weeks time, one wouldn’t be surprised if the stand out young gun loses some of the moment he had prior to this injury.
O’Connor has played a key role in the Reds fast start to the season with the veteran Wallaby excelling with both ball-in-hand and the boot. He has shown a great maturity to his game and will be absolutely vital to the Wallabies revolution.
