Depth of talent a thorny issue

Reuben Thorne hears the noise surrounding him and fellow Canterbury co-coach Mark Brown after a second straight defeat.

After missing the playoffs with a 5-5 record last year, he doesn’t need told their 3-3 record this season isn’t good enough for a team stacked with Super Rugby players, and one with 14 titles to their name.

Canterbury fans have been vocal regarding the team’s lacklustre performances, particularly after their 45-26 hammering at the hands of a slick Hawke’s Bay outfit in Christchurch last weekend, their first home defeat to the Magpies since 1968.

‘‘That’s what we expect of ourselves. We want to perform well, we want to win, and we want to play a good brand of rugby,’’ Thorne said.

‘‘But I don’t think it’s like it was four or five years ago, when the Super franchise-based teams are as dominant as they were. I think the talent is more evenly spread.

‘‘But that’s no excuse for us. We still expect to perform well and win, and we’ve got a squad capable of doing that. That’s on us.’’

Canterbury won nine titles in 10 years between 2008 and 2017, before losing the 2018 decider against Auckland in extra time.

After assisting former head coach Joe Maddock for two seasons, Thorne and Brown signed on as cocoaches for two years ahead of the 2020 season.

The red-and-blacks have been wildly inconsistent during their tenure, and last year flirted with relegation on their way to missing the playoffs for the first time since 2003.

‘‘It’s been a challenging couple of years for lots of different reasons. I think the level of the competition is probably more evenly competitive than it’s been for a long time. And you can see that with Hawke’s Bay and Taranaki, all of those teams are right up there.

‘‘It’s tough. We’ve had fine margins in the games right through for a while now, and if you’re not on you can get tipped up pretty quickly. That’s what our group is learning, and we’ve got to deal with that and find a way to be more consistent.’’

With games against Otago – in Dunedin tonight – Tasman and Bay of Plenty to finish, Canterbury are two points adrift of the all-important top four with three games to play.

One last defence

Hawke’s Bay will stash the Log o’ Wood for the summer should they rebuff Waikato’s challenge in Napier tomorrow night.

They’ll have to do it without long-time captain Ash Dixon, who is off to Japan and was farewelled by the team with a haka after their memorable win against Canterbury in his hometown Christchurch.

However, the premiership-leading Magpies remain favourites to extend their sixth Shield tenure, which kicked off when they raided it from Otago last year, to eight successful defences.

Waikato, last held the Shield in 2018, and snapped the Magpies’ previous tenure at 11 successful defences in 2015.

Hawke's Bay

Waikato

Wellington

Tasman

Canterbury

Bay of Plenty

Auckland

Taranaki

Manawatū

Otago

Northland

North Harbour

Southland

Counties Manukau 6 6 7 6 6 5 2 5 3 3 4 3 2 1 1 3 4 2 3 3 1 199 183 248 186 144 139 46 152 165 192 141 172 161 40 4 7 9 2 4 5 2 26 21 21 20 18 15 6