Red and black flame dims in southern slump
FOR ALMOST two decades the Crusaders have set the standard for New Zealand teams in Super Rugby. Now, thanks to some sub-par performances and potent form from the Hurricanes, Chiefs and the Highlanders, the horror of being out of the playoffs for the first time in 14 years looms for the team from Christchurch.
Will the season of 2015 signal the end of one of the great eras in the game?
Has the red and black flame burned itself out? Not quite, but after last night’s loss it is just flickering.
The Hurricanes are a truly scary team to play. You can dominate them by commanding nearly 70 per cent of possession in the first half, as the Crusaders did, and still only go to the break at 17-all.
The Canes’ attacking genius is never better expressed than in the person of Beauden Barrett. ‘‘Speed,’’ the only unbeaten All Black coach, Sir Fred Allen, would often say, ‘‘you can’t beat it.’’
Barrett is that rare, gifted beast for a first-five, with not only a catapulting burst off the mark, but also the sustained gliding ease in the open of a top-flight winger.
You can work out the best defence systems, apply them with fierce intensity, but when you’re hot on attack and a Crusaders pass bounces into Barrett’s hands, all that’s left to do is to trudge back while he lines up the conversion of his own try.
There’s everything to be admired in the fact that the Canes – who so often provided the entertainment, but too rarely the results – lead the way this year playing with the same high-octane razzle-dazzle of the wild and crazy years.
One of the fierce controversies in Super Rugby now is whether Todd Blackadder is the coach the Crusaders need.
Let me immediately note, I worked with Blackadder on his biography, and he’s a friend, so it’s fair if you see bias.
But it’s a fact, not just my opinion, that after the final with the Waratahs last year, referee Craig Joubert phoned Blackadder and apologised for incorrectly awarding a penalty against Richie McCaw three minutes from the end. Bernard Foley’s kick won the game, and the title, for the Tahs, 33-32.
Would there now be any controversy over Blackadder if the Crusaders had been the 2014 champions?
Peter Thorburn, a former All Black selector and one of the most astute judges of talent in the sport, believes Aaron Smith is the best New Zealand halfback he’s seen.
Against the Sharks, Smith proved the point. For the Highlanders this season Smith has largely limited himself to firing heat-seeking passes and making accurate, astute kicks.
In Dunedin on Friday night he unleashed his third great gift, his running game, a searing scuttle that combines blistering speed with a squat, muscular elusiveness that makes him fiendishly difficult to tackle.
Certainly it was miles beyond the ponderous Sharks, whose season has fallen to bits since their humiliation at home by the Crusaders.
On the other hand the Highlanders, even if it’s decided to not risk Ben Smith after his concussion scare, look ready to take on anything their trip to South Africa and Perth can throw at them.
The confidence, power and skill Patrick Osborne and Waisake Naholo bring to the wings provides a constant incentive to keep the ball alive, and, with bone dry fields likely in Johannesburg and Bloemfontein, there’s no reason to believe the excitement the Highlanders are generating now will fade.