Kiwi Super Rugby dominance is both pleasure and pain
Absorbing series against British Lions would be a timely tonic.
It’s a fine line between pleasure and pain, the song goes, and right now New Zealand followers of Super Rugby might be straddling it.
Dominance is one thing. Predictability is another. And though it never gets boring when your teams are winning, a little bit of competition is surely the essence of sport.
It’s hard to say we’re seeing that right now in Super Rugby where New Zealand teams are cutting themselves quite a swathe. Four of the five Kiwi conference sides appear finals bound, even at this mid-point of the season, and in a more even-minded competition we might even be talking about all five making the promised land.
Good for Kiwi rugby. Downright embarrassing for the rest.
In fact it’s hard to say whose alarm bells should be ringing louder, with South Africa and Australia running a pretty close race in their duel for rugby ineptitude.
And for us in New Zealand it might just have reached a point where self-satisfaction and pride should be replaced by concern and apprehension. Yes, it might just be possible to have too much of a good thing.
It has been bad enough to witness the decline of the Aussies in Super Rugby to the point where the leading side in their conference went into this round with the same amount of points as the bottom team in the Kiwi group. Bad. Just bad.
Every single trans-Tasman clash so far has been won by the New Zealand side, home and away, and it has reached the point where if the Brumbies don’t roll the Blues in Canberra today there must be major doubts whether the Aussies will win one the entire season.
But now we have the South Africans joining the fray. Three weeks ago the Stormers were flying high after knocking off the Chiefs at home (that lone dent in the Kiwi record book) to run up a sixth straight victory to open the season.
Since then they’ve lost at home to the Lions and then been torn a new one in New Zealand with consecutive defeats to the Crusaders (57-24) and Highlanders (57-14) that have been embarrassing in their one-sided nature.
This is supposedly one of the best sides in the republic, packed full of internationals, and in two matches in New Zealand they have shipped 114 points and 17 tries. In no-one’s book can this be remotely good for rugby.
As of last night New Zealand teams had won 23 of their 24 matches against offshore opposition in Super Rugby. I should feel really happy about that. But instead it makes me a little sad.
Yes, it reflects a mightily strong New Zealand domestic game that feeds a hugely dominant All Blacks machine that, under Steve Hansen, loses less often on an annual basis than Santa comes to visit.
But – and this is where the concern arises – it also mirrors an alarming decline in Australian and South African rugby.
It’s why this upcoming British and Irish Lions tour is so, so important. Rugby needs a stirring, close, riveting, absorbing contest to remind us all what the essence of this great game is all about. Especially in this part of the world.
But speaking to as fine a rugby mind as Sir Graham Henry this week, he also reminded me that the Lions themselves need to remind the watching world of their own relevance in the scheme of things.
‘‘It’s one of the biggest brands in world rugby, probably the second biggest after the All Blacks,’’ Sir Ted told me. ‘‘The All Blacks are a big brand because they’ve been so hugely successful and they’re known all around the world and are respected all round the world.
‘‘England are starting to show up again, and they’ve had a very good period under Eddie [Jones], and the Irish have been good under Joe [Schmidt]. We need the Lions to be a competitive rugby team,’’ added the man who coached them (in 2001) before going on to take the reins of the All Blacks.
‘‘At the moment we have some challenges in the game, and the challenge in the game is the southern hemisphere is not as strong as it used to be. The All Blacks are obviously very good but Australia and South Africa have fallen away pretty badly, and that’s bad for the game.
‘‘We need the Lions to be strong and competitive and have a great series.’’
As usual Sir Graham is on the money. Just like we could do with the Aussies and South Africans rediscovering their rugby mojo, we also need the Lions to give the All Blacks an anxious moment or two.
Winning is fun. But it’s so much more satisfying when it’s achieved against an opponent worthy of the name. Rugby isn’t broken, but some things need fixing fast.