War of attrition a stark reminder of yesteryear
THERE was the weird sensation of travelling down a rugby time tunnel last night in the grinding quarterfinal win for the Crusaders over the Highlanders.
Conditions turned what would usually be an attacking feast from two teams with terrific backlines into the sort of war of attrition we’ve almost forgotten about in Super Rugby.
Better draining and turf culture has meant mud has become a rarity on our major grounds. But last night in chilling rain and wind, on a greasy pitch, the spirit of Canterbury giants of the past, men like Grizz Wyllie, Andy Earl and John Ashworth, was revived. This was survival of the strongest and toughest, and ultimately it was a one-sided contest.
The Highlanders got the tactical jump on the Crusaders with the kickoff that began the game, Lima Sopoaga skidding it along the slippery surface.
But from then on it was almost all one-way traffic, the arm wrestle at the breakdowns wildly skewed to the Crusaders, who also dominated the lineouts, and had the edge in the scrums too.
Every Crusader forward was grimly relentless, none more so than captain Sam Whitelock.
We’ve become used to All Black locks having one main set of skills, either athleticism and spring in the lineouts or tough, hard-nosed ruggedness.
Where Whitelock, like his All Black partner Brodie Retallick, is unusual, is that he has terrific speed and expertise when running or passing, but he can also be a brutal force when it’s needed.
Like his talented brothers, George and Luke, Sam was brought up in the Manawatu, but the Whitelocks all have a huge connection to Canterbury rugby.
Maternal grandfather Nelson Dalzell was an All Blacks lock in 1953-54, a man so strong it was said he could lift a full 44 gallon drum of oil onto the tray of a farm truck single-handed, and so tough his career followed after World War II shrapnel damaged one of his legs so badly it was touch and go whether it would be amputated.
From the time the storm stopped the Highlanders’ scheduled flight out of Dunedin on Friday there was the feeling this wasn’t going to be anything like business as usual, and so it proved.
What was more orthodox was the Crusaders playing with the confidence they had before it must have taken a knock in the loss to the Lions.
It’s a measure of the near insanity of the current super conference set-up that the Crusaders will possibly now be playing a semifinal next weekend against the Chiefs, who will have had to fly back from Cape Town to Christchurch.
Why would that be nuts? Because the Chiefs in pool play scored 57 competition points, the Stormers 43. And while it’s true the Chiefs lost 34-26 to the Stormers in Cape Town in April, when the Stormers came here later that month the Crusaders beat them 57-24, the Highlanders 57-14, and the Hurricanes 41-22.
And if that’s bizarre, the strange-o-meter would have been completely off the scale if the Brumbies, who, if the competition was run on results, not geography, had beaten the Hurricanes in Canberra.
A stranger watching the first 40 minutes wouldn’t have thought the Brumbies were the stumbling mess they’ve been most of the season, or that the Hurricanes were loaded with so much talent.
Eventually reality took a hold, and if there was one sight to raise spirits for the Canes, it was Dane Coles, whose dart, dummy and lovely offload to TJ Perenara for a try was a reminder of why, as well as Codie Taylor played for the All Blacks against the British and Irish Lions, Coles is the best hooker in world rugby.
The mental hurdles he’s had to overcome to come back would have been huge, and his statement, ‘‘it’s always nice to get your hands on the pill’’, is a frontrunner for footy’s understatement of the year.
It wasn’t a terrific start to the knockout series for the Canes, but it was a win, and a reminder that if they’re heading to Johannesburg today to take on the dynamic looking, but largely untested Lions, next weekend, sudden death games are rarely a walkover.