Advance Australia, fair enough?
Have the Aussies improved or have the Kiwis got worse?
That is the question to ponder ahead of another round of predominantly trans-Tasman clashes in Super Rugby Pacific this weekend.
Because, the way it stands now, twothirds of the way through the regular season, Australian teams are on track for their best rate of success in a decade against their rivals from across the ditch.
Currently, that stands at 40%, with eight wins from 20 games.
The last time they ended a season with a win rate this good against their New Zealand counterparts? The last time they had the Super Rugby trophy in their clutches, when the Waratahs triumphed, back in 2014.
Getting a read on the form of the Aussie outfits this year has not been easy − no better example being the Brumbies’ 46-7 capitulation at the hands of the Blues then being followed up last weekend with a remarkable turnaround when they became the first team this season to beat the Hurricanes.
But while that was the sole Aussie success in the five cross-ditch contests in the Anzac round, from an overall viewpoint, they have to date delivered an excellent return, in a year where the Wallabies are looking for a huge lift after their World Cup disaster and players are pushing hard to catch the eye of new coach Joe Schmidt.
The plight of the Crusaders and Highlanders, meanwhile, has also helped bend the curve.
The recent struggle for competitiveness has been well documented, with it all coming to a head in a disastrous 2017 campaign where the Australian teams went 0-26, on a stunning losing streak that extended to 40 midway across three seasons.
It was such a far cry from the first 19 years of Super Rugby (1996-2014), where the Aussies were routinely taking the spoils in trans-Tasman clashes, and managed win rates of 40%-plus in 14 of those seasons, and 50% or higher in seven seasons.
But 10 years on from that Waratahs triumph, there are again signs of life from across the ditch. After another big struggle in the Covid-enforced trans-Tasman competition of 2021, the maiden edition of Super Rugby Pacific in 2022 saw a resurgence, with the Aussies registering a 27.6% win rate against the Kiwis. Last year that dropped to 20%.
Of their eight wins from 20 so far this year, each of their five teams has contributed.
Added to that, there have been close-run things. The Reds took the Hurricanes to golden point, then conceded after the siren last weekend in going down to the Blues, while the Waratahs have twice lost by two points (to the Highlanders and Blues) and last weekend the Force were pipped by one against the Highlanders.
On the other hand, there have also been blowouts. Seven of the 12 Kiwi wins have been by 16-plus points, and five of those by 30-plus.
Still, the average losing margin for the Aussies in the trans-Tasman games this year is seven, which, again, if the season finished now, would be their best in that department since 2014 as well.
After this weekend’s four New Zealand-Australian matchups, there are two more to come a fortnight later in the thirdto-last round of the regular season (the Rebels hosting the Chiefs and the Brumbies hosting the Crusaders).
The issue that remains, of course, is the teams being competitive on this side of the ditch. Last year the Australians tasted success in just one of their 16 games in New Zealand (when the Reds tipped up the Chiefs in New Plymouth).
This year they triumphed at the first time of asking, when the Brumbies beat
Australian teams are on track for their best rate of success in a decade against their rivals from across the ditch.
the Highlanders in Dunedin, but in the five games since there has been a combined 196-44 scoreline to the Kiwi teams.
That makes home advantage a potentially crucial factor come playoff time, as the Aussies still search for their first-ever finals-game win on this side of the Tasman.