And then there were four
No surprises there, then.
Maybe a margin or two was unexpected, but the results of the weekend’s Super Rugby quarterfinals shouldn’t have come as a shock to anyone.
The four games featured one good team playing a mediocre one and the good teams won.
The closeness of Friday’s Highlanders-brumbies game made it watchable, but the conditions were arguably the winner. Having seen the home side off, 15-9, you’d expect the Highlanders to go to Johannesburg and join the Lions in running up cricket scores.
With the pace and endeavour those sides play with, it could be 52-47 at fulltime. The Highlanders are a magnificent defensive side but they’ll be doing well to have much in the tank come the last 20 minutes of that semifinal, given the travel they’ve done lately.
The Lions’ 42-25 quarterfinal win over the Crusaders was entirely predictable. The Crusaders are an efficient side but they lack brilliance and have done for a couple of seasons.
Their forwards win enough ball to win the game, but little is achieved with it. In that respect the change in coaching staff for next year is appropriate.
The other games involving New Zealand and South African sides were even more emphatically won, with the Hurricanes embarrassing the Sharks 41-0 and the Chiefs beating the Stormers 60-21.
At times it appeared as if the New Zealand teams were playing a different sport. They certainly approach games differently, according to Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd, who was once an assistant at the Sharks.
Many observers might have expected the Sharks to play a more expansive game, as the Hurricanes pulled further ahead. Instead they bunted the ball up one-off the ruck, in much the same way as they had since kickoff.
Boyd doesn’t subscribe to the theory that South African teams can’t play or don’t have elite athletes, more that they’re wedded to a particular style.
‘‘One of the things I learnt when I was in South Africa [was that] when you come under pressure or you’re chasing the game, from a South African point of view, they just try and do what they do better, whereas a Kiwi side will always look for plan B, C, D, E and F,’’ Boyd said.
‘‘You’ll notice [that] even five minutes from the end they’re still playing the way they play and that’s the mentality of their sides.’’
It didn’t work for the Sharks at Westpac Stadium and now it’s the Chiefs’ turn to try to blow the Hurricanes over. They completely overran the Stormers in the end and will present a massive challenge for the Canes.
In that respect the right New Zealand teams are in the semifinals. The Chiefs and Highlanders have impressed all season, while the Hurricanes have gone to another, almost unexpected, level since the June break.
All three have decent set pieces, play the game at a high tempo and appear able to coax good performances out of unheralded players.
Culture has become a dirty word in sport but it’s no worse than atmosphere or environment. The fact the Highlanders, Chiefs and Hurricanes can maintain their overall performance, despite injury robbing them of first-choice players, speaks volumes for their cultures.
IN CANBERRA: IN WELLINGTON: IN JOHANNESBURG: IN CAPE TOWN: SEMIFINALS