Super Rugby AU: Five Talking Points from Round 2
The Melbourne Rebels and Queensland Reds played out the first ever Super Time period in their 18-all draw
Credit: Mark Metcalfe/Getty
It was a week of firsts and second firsts in Super Rugby AU as Round 2 entered history.
The Rebels and Reds made their mark on the comp by playing out the first golden-point extra time period in their match at Brookvale Oval, but neither side could make it count as the game ended in an 18-18 draw after 90 scrappy but tense minutes.
Over at the Sydney Cricket Ground the following evening, the return of the Western Force to Super Rugby took centre stage.
However, the men from out west were unable to make it a fairytale return to the competition as they were eventually downed 23-14 by the New South Wales Waratahs.
From the continued rise of possibly the best back row in the country to the highs and lows of an old hand, here are the five biggest talking points from Round 2 of Super Rugby AU.
The rollercoaster ride of James O’Connor
It’s no secret to any Australian rugby fan of the last decade that James O’Connor brings you rocks and diamonds.
He has had a very up and down career, all told, and has flattered to deceive at times while also delivering timely reminders of the astonishing talent he possesses.
Despite this, it is hard to recall a quicker cycle through that rollercoaster based on what we saw in the latter stages of Friday’s game against the Rebels.
By the hour mark, he had already staked his case with a great try-saving tackle on Josh Kemeny and a superb try assist to Filipo Daugunu.
On 67 minutes, it looked for all money that the man they call JOC had undone his hard work and given the Rebels a potentially vital score as his pass in the middle of a midfield move was picked off by Billy Meakes, who strolled in to put his side ten points clear.
Much of the credit must be given to Meakes for the defensive read but you could almost feel the O’Connor booboys sharpening their knives.
However, didn’t he half make it up again, and with less than 90 seconds on the clock.
He started the move by taking a long kick at the back, challenging the Rebels’ defensive line and showing the awareness to stretch the defence and get his hands free to offload.
The pass put Chris Feauai-Sautia in the clear to set up Alex Mafi for the try that allowed JOC to slot the conversion after the siren to take the game into extra time.
That’s why you pay the money and that’s why you can never feel 100% safe in dismissing James O’Connor.
Reds back row turns up big for second week
Harry Wilson takes a tough carry during the Reds’ draw with the Rebels
Credit: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images
It is clear for all money that the Reds’ back row is going to take some serious handling if anyone wants to knock them off their perch.
It was Fraser McReight that took a lot of the plaudits last week - including from this parish - but his compatriots Liam Wright and Harry Wilson were the driving force behind the Queensland outfit this time around.
Wilson in particular was a threat all over the park; carrying hard, demonstrating a superb eye for an offload and backing it up with eleven tackles.
With the Wallabies still in search of a point of difference in their back row to compliment Michael Hooper, Wilson is putting forward a very convincing case.
And he is not the only one - newly-minted Reds captain Wright is proving his mettle as a genuine number 6, doing the dirty work in the manner that Scott Fardy did so brilliantly for Australia in their run to the 2015 World Cup final.
McReight again was a force to be reckoned with in the loose and looks every bit as capable of turning his dominant performances at U20 level into a similar effect on first-grade and beyond.
You get the feeling international honours are not beyond any of these three when Dave Rennie gets around the table to pick his first squad, and they could be the major point of difference in what already looks to be a very tightly-contested Super Rugby AU season.
The lineout king has work to do with Rebels
Geoff Parling (L) looks on from the Melbourne Rebels’ coaching box during the 18-18 draw against the Reds
Credit: Super Rugby/YouTube
In his heyday as an England international and one-time British and Irish Lions tourist to Australia, Rebels forwards coach Geoff Parling knew a thing or two about lineouts.
Working closely with the forward pack at the Rebels seems an ideal fit for Parling - he has spoken himself before about knowing coaching was the path he seemed set to take in rugby and how he made up for not being, in his own words, “someone with the best athletic ability” by learning the game better than most.
His primary skill was lineout organisation - it was often thought among fans that it was this ability to organise the set piece that kept various coaches coming back for more.
However, the lineout has been an area of the game that has been letting the Rebels down in their winless start.
While obviously Parling can’t be out on the pitch doing it for them, he will have looked on with some concern as the Rebels’ pack stumbled to a lineout success rate of 72% in last week’s loss to the Brumbies and 66% this time around.
The uncertainty of the set piece has already proved an issue in stopping the Rebels being able to develop and maintain genuine momentum for long spells and thus robbing them of chances to close games out, as they failed to do this week.
Parling has work to do, but no doubt he will relish doing it and drilling his knowledge into this pack.
The Force are back
Michael Hooper tackles Jack McGregor during the Waratahs’ game against the Western Force in Sydney
Credit: Peter Parks/AFP
It was the major sub-plot of this week’s round of fixtures that, after a bye in Round 1, the abandoned Western Force made their grand return to the Super Rugby stage.
Dispatched from the competition proper in 2017 as SANZAAR returned to a 15-team format, there was a general disappointment in Australia to see the team representing the west of the country given the heave-ho after the work that had been done to establish the team and its fanbase.
At least they gave us the Honey Badger before they went, some said.
But the Force were brought back in from the cold for Super Rugby AU, and in this fan’s mind it was a boost to the game to see them back out there.
The reasoning given behind the dropping of the Force from the main competition was that they had been the least successful of the Australian teams during their time in Super Rugby but what the Force always brought to what they did, and continue to do, is heart.
It would have been easy to head to Sydney, be overwhelmed by the occasion and shrink under the headlights but they stood up and pushed the Waratahs all the way.
In another world the Perth outfit could have gone into the break 14 points up, as a Byron Ralston try and three Ian Prior penalties gave them a big lead, but the Tahs’ try on the stroke of the break ultimately turned the game.
What they proved, however, is that they are not just here to make up the numbers and could have a say in the fate of this competition further down the track, even if they are not winning the thing themselves.
Waratahs win but concerns will linger
For all the credit that should rightly be given to the Force, however, it will be equally matched with concern about the Waratahs.
Having struggled in recent years to string together consistent performances, current evidence is that there is still something wrong in Tah town.
After going down to the Reds last week, the Tahs needed to put up a statement against the Force to breathe some confidence back into the outfit and while they won the game, it did not feel like that.
Finding themselves 14-0 down at home to a side that has been playing National Championship rugby for the last two years is not a good look on a side that still harbours title ambitions.
Fair is fair, they did pull themselves out of that hole with a much better second half showing, but there is still a lot of work to be done in Sydney if the Tahs are to start challenging the big boys like they were in 2014.
There are certainly pieces in place - Jack Maddocks has settled in the fullback role vacated by Israel Folau with aplomb, Michael Hooper continues to be the dominant force he has always been and there is plenty to like about young Will Harrison at flyhalf.
However, you can’t deny that a side shorn of the talents, for one reason or another, of Sekope Kepu, Kurtley Beale, Bernard Foley, Tolu Latu, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Israel Folau, Nick Phipps and Curtis Rona has got some decent shoes left to fill.
They will take heart from the performances of Lachie Swinton on the flank alongside Hooper, the re-signing of Mark Nawaqanitawase, who looks to be the latest of a stream of talented wingers out of New South Wales, and a definite stepping-up by Karmichael Hunt in the absence of Beale.
However, if the men in blue want to make a serious impression on the competition this year, they’ve got issues to fix and not a lot of time to do it.
