Super stars: Season preview
Richard Knowler runs his eye over the Kiwi Super Rugby clubs ahead of the new season
Imagine if your boss slapped you on the shoulder, and demanded you tell him and his wife who will win the Super Rugby title.
By the way, they are investing their life savings on this. No, don’t whine. Just get on with it, thanks very much.
Take a deep breath and don’t panic. Assess the 15 teams, swish through the pages of the form book and make an informed decision. Too easy, right?
Given New Zealand teams have won the competition 16 times since it began in 1996, do the due diligence on the home front first. That’s a success rate of almost 70 per cent for the Kiwi clubs.
Here is an assessment of the five NZ teams. History, and logic, suggests the winner of the 2019 title lies somewhere between Dunedin and Auckland.
BLUES
1 ROOKIE TO WATCH: Tasman midfielder Levi Aumua follows his
provincial coach Leon MacDonald to the big smoke of Auckland.
2 TRACK THIS MAN: Openside flanker Dalton Papalii was a surprise selection for the All Blacks late last year. His big physique and speed have already won him some merit points. More of the same, please.
3 SOMETHING TO PROVE: Ma’a Nonu. In 2015, his final season for the All Blacks, Nonu was outstanding in the midfield. Time doesn’t stand still, and that could be telling. Nonu, who has returned from France, turns 37 in May.
4 CONTROVERSY CORNER: Sonny Bill Williams needs to stay in one piece, and on the field to justify selection for the All Blacks’ World Cup campaign. Enough said.
5 BIGGEST LOSS FROM 2018: The old warrior Jerome Kaino has left for France.
6 POTENTIAL DISTRACTION: If their No 10s don’t do the job, wait for the fur to fly on social media. The jackals will be sniffing the breeze. 7 A REASON TO BE OPTIMISTIC: New head coach MacDonald. New ideas, a different voice and a proven coach at provincial level.
8 PLACING: 7th
CHIEFS
1 ROOKIE TO WATCH: Wing Etene Nanai-Seturo can spin his wheels. A national sevens representative, he elected to play the 15-man code after NZ Rugby settled a dispute with the Warriors last year.
2 TRACK THIS MAN: Ataata Moeakiola comes from Japan, having represented the Sunwolves in 2017. The gargantuan midfielder-wing played for the Tokai University club last year.
3 SOMETHING TO PROVE: Damian McKenzie. Is first five-eighth really his best position? The All Blacks’ selectors played him at fullback in the big tests against England and Ireland last year. Yes, no, what?
4 CONTROVERSY CORNER: Sam Cane has been listed as co-captain alongside Brodie Retallick. All Blacks No 7 Cane, who is recovering from a serious neck injury, will only play a limited role in this campaign. If at all.
5 BIGGEST LOSS FROM 2018: Respected back rower Liam Messam has left for France.
6 POTENTIAL DISTRACTION: The halfback debate. Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi is tagged for the World Cup – if the All Blacks’ selectors want three No 9s. But will he get more starts than Brad Weber?
7 A REASON TO BE OPTIMISTIC: Last year this team refused to buckle, despite a horrendous injury count. Never say they lack grit. 8 PLACING: Fifth
HURRICANES
1 ROOKIE TO WATCH: Wing Salesi Rayasi shifts down from Auckland.
Maybe, just maybe, the Blues have turned the corner. If you were looking for a positive indicator, the words and actions of the beleaguered franchise’s best player this week might have provided a decent nudge of optimism for long-suffering fans.
It wasn’t that star All Blacks wing Rieko Ioane had anything especially notable to say about prospects for a long overdue Super Rugby revival in the big city when he sat down with the Sunday Star-Times to discuss prospects for this season. He didn’t. And that was the point.
Further to that, Ioane was squeezed for time. He had somewhere he needed to be, and the clock was ticking.
Turns out that across town his Blues were holding their weekly agenda-setting team meeting, and he did not want to miss it. Even though he was on NZ Rugby duty, and his absence would have been excused.
It’s early days, and with the Blues nobody is jumping to any conclusions without overwhelming evidence. But it just could be that things are different at the serial Super Rugby underachievers this year; that the Leon MacDonald era might indeed have some substance to it.
The fact that the franchise’s poster boy is committed enough to blow off the back end of a NZR launch just to attend a team meeting indicates things are being taken seriously at Alexandra Park in 2019. And that the players are all-in on the new way of doing things.
An even better sign was Ioane’s lack of puffery when it came to the challenge ahead for the Blues as they seek to lift themselves off the bottom rung of the New Zealand conference for the first time in six years.
It has been eight years since the franchise last participated in this competition’s post-season and 16 since they lifted the silverware. The last decade has been spent almost entirely wallowing in ignominy.
But every year there have been promises that this would be the season, that change had been made, that mindsets had been steeled, and that the good times were about to come rolling back.
And every year those words have been as hollow as an over-priced Easter egg.
So, it was encouraging to hear Ioane sheepishly admit this was no time to talk anything up, and that actions would speak louder than any words possibly could.
‘‘It does feel like a fresh start,’’ Ioane says. ‘‘But it’s a cliche´ now that the Blues are feeling good and positive. We’ve just got to be real. We can train as hard as we want, have as good a pre-season as we want, feel as confident as we want, but this has all happened before.’’
You ask this gifted 21-year-old, who has already ticked up 22 tries in 24 tests for the All Blacks, if indeed it is time to shut up and put up.
‘‘Exactly,’’ he shoots back. ‘‘We looked the goods in pre-season last year and fell off. The proof will be in the pudding. There are positive vibes around training, we’ve got new leaders, born and bred Aucklanders, and with Leon’s new flavour, that southern style, it’s a good mix.’’
The wheels of change are spinning with gusto at the Blues. The board has had an extreme NZ Rugby-led makeover, and philosophies and relationships have come under the microscope. The coaching group has also been shaken up, with Tana Umaga demoted and MacDonald and Tom Coventry coming in to oversee a more pragmatic approach.
Ioane and his older brother Akira are committed to being part of this revival. When they re-signed with NZ Rugby last year they also resisted overtures to step into a less challenging Super Rugby environment. They’re in this thing for the long haul.
‘‘We have to get the ball rolling with a couple of wins and then things will hopefully fall into place,’’ Ioane says of the key to any turnaround. ‘‘Once we get that camaraderie or buzz that comes with winning, or winning those tough matches, then things will be all right.
‘‘We’re focused on the process. We recognise we’re a young team but everyone’s willingness and want to succeed is huge. They’re small steps at the moment. We’re just trying to find our feet and get our combinations sorted. But it looks promising.’’
Ioane hopes to be available for the Blues’ competition opener against the Crusaders at Eden Park next Saturday, despite sitting out the pre-season under All Blacks protocols.