Yes yes, I know. I'm late again and I promised I'd try not to be. But I watched a full weekend's worth of rugby yesterday and needed some time to take it all in.
You see, along with what was probably only a couple of hundred (although they managed to sound like a couple of thousand) hardened Rebels supporters I made the trip deep behind enemy lines into New South Wales to watch the away leg of the newest local derby in Super Rugby.
I was just hoping it wouldn't be a repeat of the thrashing dished out in round one, and what do you know? The Rebels scored more points (I know, not hard when you're working from a base of 0), and the Warratahs scored less, than they had in that encounter, so it wasn't a total loss. It was a loss none-the-less, although something we've come to expect from the Rebels on the road.
Kudos to the fans though. The weather was miserable ... fully justifying my recent decision to battle common sense and Air New Zealand (re-packing my suitcases 3 times at Tauranga airport) to bring my Dr Martens (all 5kg of them) back to Melbourne - to wear in Sydney ...
But basically, between travelling to Sydney, and then getting to and from the game itself I would have missed all the others were it not for the wonder that is ... my Foxtel IQ (had I mentioned that I've missed it while I've been in NZ?) and so yesterday, while many of you were at work .... I sat on my couch and had my very own Super marathon, 5 games back-to-back. You can see why I needed to decompress.
The Highlanders struggled to get much ball against the Blues. They weren't getting the number of turnovers we've seen all season and couldn't seem to come up with another way of getting their hands on it. I know this will get me in trouble, but it seems like if they can't do it illegally, they can't do it at all. Adam Thompson was back for the Southern men, he got pinged twice in the first 8 minutes for infringing at the breakdown, and the first yellow card was also for doing bad things in this area.
Funnily enough, being a man down did good things to the Highlanders. It almost looked like they'd been in each others way before, but now had space to move. Ben Smith and Matt Saunders ran some great lines, and Robbie Robinson was the man eventually over for the try early in the second half. The Blues shut-up-shop late in the second half, and trapped the ball in the forwards for 29 phases to chew up time and claim the win.
Once again the Hurricanes started with a hiss and a roar. The Reds were the first on the scoreboard with Scott Higginbotham crashing over in the opening minutes, but the Hurricanes came back with 22 unanswered points and claimed the bonus point in the first half when a little man (Will Genia) was left trying to stop a fat man (Neemia Tialata) just a couple of meters from the line ... no chance.
The Reds staged a comeback in the second half, and there was some confusion when Dom Shipperley thought he'd claimed the mark when juggling a catch inside his 22, turned out he hadn't / couldn't in that situation and ended up being driven back over the try line by some strong hurricanes defense. Schoolboy lesson that. Always. Play. To. The. Whistle.
The visitors couldn't do enough though, and Cruden, who hadn't kicked well all night, slotted a high pressure penalty right on full time to give the Hurricanes the game by 2.
Before I get to the Bulls v Chiefs, I just want to mention something I noticed on the advertising banners during the NZ games (I am going somewhere with this, and the segway isn't as random as it seems). In both Dunedin and Wellington I noticed, for the second week in a row, advertising that was most definitely not aimed at the local audience. The RAND Show being held in Jo'burg.
While I was pondering the value of having your product seen by hundreds of thousands of people (the TV viewing audience) who wouldn't be attending in the hope of catching the eye of tens of thousands of South African viewers, I turned on the Bulls game.
Loftus, the home of the 'Blue' Bulls and seas of banners claiming 'Ons bloed is blou' (our blood is blue, for those whose Afrikaans is a little more than rusty), was swathed in ... Red! the team also playing in one-off red jersey's. No explanation given on-air other than the jersey's would be given to fans after the match. So, not for charity then.
My eagle eye then noticed that the flags and T shirts waved, and worn, by the crowd were covered with the Vodacom (Vodafone to those not living in the republic) logo. The whole thing was a sponsor's promotion. I guess it worked ... since I'm now telling all of you about it too but left a bad taste, interfering with the team's very identity.
The Crusaders came out firing in Perth. McCaw slotted in at Number 8, a testament to how well Matt Todd has played in his absence, so the anticipated head-to-head with Pocock didn't quite eventuate, but the breakdowns were hotly contested all match. The Crusaders getting the upper hand in the first half and the Force seeming to turn over a few in the second.
The Crusaders backs were everywhere in the first 20 minutes, but the Force stayed in it. The Crusaders seemed determined not to kick at all and ran the ball from everywhere. They had a fair amount of support in the stands and CA-ANterbury rang out across the sold out NIB Stadium.
The rugby gods however seemed to be smiling on the men in blue. Every bounce of the ball of 50:50 call seemed to favour the Force, and Richie spent 10 minutes in the bin (the red and greys conceding 11 points in that time). For some reason the Kiwis abandoned the running game that had worked so brilliantly and started paying safe, when they were behind! It was stressful!
The wasn't held / didn't release the ball drama refuses to go away, and popped up twice leading up to Corey Flynn's try, but the points were on the board and when Fotuali'I went over from half back (where he should be) after some sustained pick and go, it was all over 42:30.
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