Problems run deep for underachievers

Six talking points from the weekend’s Super Rugby.

You’ve heard of the Bermuda Triangle; welcome to the Sandringham Rectangle

Eden Park has become a burial ground for the aspirations of coaches, and, in some cases, players. The problems with the Blues don’t lie with the current team, or their head coaches Leon McDonald and Tom Coventry. It lies with years of poor management, on the board and in executive positions.

In 2018, I wrote a column about the massively damaging disconnect between the Blues and the Auckland provincial team. I was summonsed to a meeting with then Blues chief executive Michael Redman and came away even more depressed for the Blues’ prospects.

Why, as Sir Graham Henry had often proposed, didn’t the Blues follow the Crusaders-Canterbury model which benefited both teams?

Well, was the bizarre reply, the Crusaders system was one way of doing things, but there were other ways, too.

The fact that over the past two decades, the Crusaders had been by a mile the most successful team in New Zealand was apparently not enough of a recommendation.

Times have changed. The Blues board is now filled with people who know their rugby, rather than businessmen. There’s been a shakeup in top management, and rifts between the franchise and the three rugby unions involved are being healed. The reforms have yet to work miracles on the field, but if a fish has rotted from the head for 15 years, the repair job won’t happen overnight.

Graham Mourie said it perfectly

Mourie, the captain of our first Grand Slam All Blacks side, in 1978, used to tell his players he wanted them in a state on the field where no matter how frantic they were physically, their mind was as calm as if they were “sitting in an armchair considering things”.

In the 25-8 towelling of the Blues at Eden Park by the Crusaders on Friday night, there was really only one moment, in the 35th minute when Sevu Reece swerved infield with three outside him to his left, that could really be called a tactical error. Dominating the scrums and lineouts was a terrific base for the victory, but it was clear thinking from forwards as well as backs that sealed the comfortable win.

No, they didn’t steal him

The stunning performance on Friday of loose forward Cullen Grace, just 20 years old and already bigger than Colin Meads in his prime, was a reminder how the Crusaders can not only attract out-of-towners like Braydon Ennor, but can also spot homegrown talent young.

Grace was a local hero for three years in the First XV at Timaru Boys’ High, and at 16, was in the Crusaders Junior Knights development group. He doesn’t turn 21 until December, so to say his future looks bright is an Olympic level understatement.

The Brumbies should only be on black and white TV

In their golden era 20 years ago, coached by Eddie Jones and then David Nucifora, the Brumbies brought new meaning to the word boring. They were successful but played a game so limited that if they allowed a midfielder to be involved in a rolling maul, it was considered daring. Lo and behold, in 2020 in Canberra against the Highlanders, the same tedious tactics were on full narcolepsy-inducing display, all three tries to hooker Folau Fainga’a coming from lineout drives.

Which is why the Highlanders’ winning try was so appropriate

The fact the try in the 83rd minute that won the Canberra game 23-22 for the Highlanders came from a lineout maul was a perfect touch for anyone with a taste for irony. And a special pat on the back for halfback Kayne Hammington, now in his fourth season as Aaron Smith’s back-up.

It was Hammington who screamed at his forwards to keep moving in field, until, when Te Ariki BenNicholas dived over for the try near the posts, the conversion needed to seal victory was easy pickings for Josh Ioane.

Somewhere Harry Houdini is applauding

All Blacks coach Ian Foster has fondly referred to Damian McKenzie as “a fly in a bottle” noting how much he admires the fearlessness, both physical and mental, McKenzie shows when he has the ball.

In the highly entertaining 43-17 win by the Chiefs over the Sunwolves in Tokyo, McKenzie was at his dazzling best, and pulled off the play of the round.

Half an hour minutes into the game, covered by three men, he shrugged off one, pushed off another, skipped past the third, and sent a miracle ball to Solomon Alaimalo, who crossed the line, and then, in a gesture as spontaneous as it was unshowy, pushed the ball into McKenzie’s chest so McKenzie could dot down for the try.

With McKenzie on board and on song, the Chiefs lift from not only being rounded, dynamic winners but also being hugely entertaining.