Kiwis will be Super again
OPINION: Can you ever get too much of a good thing? Unlimited Pavlova. The key to your favourite craft brewery. A night out on the tiles with Eugenie Bouchard ... New Zealand fans might be asking themselves this very question as Super Rugby’s 2017 editions rolls around, looking eerily similar to the 2016 instalment.
#SuperBoomBoom is how they’re marketing the southern hemisphere franchise competition this year, but #SuperSameSame might be more appropriate. As in more of the same. As in New Zealand teams continuing to set a standard that those from Australia, South Africa, Argentina and Japan are going to struggle to live up to.
Boring? Only if you’re a diehard from South Africa or Australia who doesn’t care for high-quality rugby played at a breakneck speed with lashings of skill. Counter-productive? Hardly. The New Zealand teams have shown they thrive on the challenge of playing within and emerging out of the tight, combative Kiwi conference; and for the rest the bar has been set and it’s up to them to try soar over it.
Predictable? Well, that’s a different kettle of cold-blooded aquatic vertebrates. Sport is at its best when there is doubt about the final result; and that certainly couldn’t be said when Kiwi sides battled foreign foe in last year’s Super Rugby competition.
Of the 44 matches between New Zealand and non-Kiwi sides in 2016, the men from Aotearoa won 36, with seven defeats and a draw. If your calculator isn’t handy, that’s an 82 per cent success rate.
Anyway, that was then, and this is now. But by the looks of things ‘‘then’’ could be pretty damn similar to ‘‘now’’ in 2017.
It’s hard to see too much changing this year. Two years in to the new World Cup cycle, personnel has been stable around the five Kiwi franchises, and they again look well equipped to play at a level that should leave the majority of their rivals in their dust.
Last year just three competition points separated the top four New Zealand sides who all qualified for the quarterfinals. It took until the final, dramatic round of the regular season to rank the Hurricanes (53pts) just ahead of the Highlanders (52), Chiefs (51) and Crusaders (50). Remarkably, they all won 11 of their 15 matches.
Even tail-end-charlies the Blues won eight, drew one and lost six, and were hardly competition whipping boys.
It was a beautifully brutal and exacting conference that demanded rugby of the highest quality to keep pace in the upper echelons. Four of the five teams met that gold standard, and one wasn’t a million miles short.
So what of 2017? Well, champs the Hurricanes look well equipped to defend their title, with glue guy James Marshall, loose forward Vic Vito and jinky midfielder Willis Halaholo the key defections, and the return of Nehe Milner-Skudder and the doubling of the Barrett quota the main additions.
Once again they’ll lean heavily on the game-breaking ability of Dane Coles, Beauden Barrett and TJ Perenara, and it will be interesting to see if Julian Savea learns the lessons from his 2016 fall from grace. They’ll take some stopping.
The Highlanders will also start with lots of continuity, even more back-three strikepower with Tevita Li coming south, a halfback (Aaron Smith) with a point to prove, and a new head coach (Tony Brown) who could be a difference-maker. They should be there or thereabouts again.
Of the rest, the Crusaders might be just a little better, with a fresh wave of young talent to back up their experienced core; the Chiefs will do well to maintain their levels with the losses of Charlie Ngatai (concussion), Brad Weber (leg fracture) and Seta Tamanivalu (to the Crusaders); and the Blues will look to take the step up after adding Sonny Bill Williams (due in around week 6), Gus Pulu and Jimmy Tupou to their lineup of talent, both wellestablished and on-the-rise.
Don’t expect a single-season Aussie turnaround. The Waratahs will start favourites and there are a few whispers about a Queensland resurgence, but it will be a conference more artisan than artiste.
Same in Africa. The Lions look a class apart, while the Stormers, Sharks, Bulls and Jaguares will attempt to rise to their standard.
Adding to the intrigue around the Kiwi teams is the looming Lions tour. Every All Black hopeful will understand the need to work into form as June approaches. They will be motivated as never before.
In 2017 it really is all about the Lions. But a by-product of the push for success there could well be more of the #SuperSameSame.