Aussie Super Rugby takes: Don't shame the scrum, Donaldson sends reminder

Round 8 of Super Rugby Pacific is in the books, and it didn’t go by without some drama.

The Western Force pulled a rabbit out of the hat on the Easter long weekend and thumped the Queensland Reds at Suncorp.

Then, across the Tasman, the Crusaders said goodbye to Apollo Projects Stadium with a resounding victory over the Fiji Drua, and the Chiefs delivered some hurt to the NSW Waratahs in Hamilton.

Players who had been understated stood up, regular performers further cemented their higher honours calling (Quinn Tupaea), and those who were previously so composed lost their way.

There was also some bashing of the scrum this weekend, which appears to be less about the riveting contest that is nearly two tons of big lads bashing into each other, and more about the inability to innovate in captivating audiences.

So, with another round of rugby to analyse, here are the takes on the Aussie teams after the latest round.

Waratahs fail to fire a shot in Hamilton

A little bit of footwork at the line, a slight change of angle, and a short leg drive was all it took for the Chiefs players to break the ‘Tah-tough’ defence.

The Waratahs rely on their defence to pressure oppositions, to force them away from a tight-knit game, and to cause chaos in their playbook.

The Waratahs spent the better part of 80-minutes sitting on their heels, making passive contacts, and slipping off 26 tackles altogether.

The missed tackles stat here isn’t as bad as one may think. A side that has a rush defence with a 86% completion rate is usually fine, but the devil is in the details.

The passive contacts, even when there were two Tahs players on one Chief, meant that all it took was a single Chiefs cleaner to allow their halfback to dish to the next dominant carrier.

The Waratahs defenders made the Chiefs runners look like juggernauts, and once they got rolling, it didn’t stop until the scoreboard read 42-14.

The stats elsewhere were relatively even, 56% possession and 48% territory to the Chiefs, nine linebreaks a piece and a penalty count of 7-9 in favour of the homeside.

The scrum was a weak point for the Tahs, with Dan Both getting mauled by Ollie Norris, and Josh Jacomb was having a quiet yet mistake-free night, unlike Tahs pivot Jack Debreczeni, who made several mistakes.

Despite a lacklustre performance from some crucial members, the Tahs can only look at their defence as being the issue, in an area where they rely and pride themselves on dominance, they were passive and poor.

Young duo Miles Amatosero, alongside Clem Halaholo were two of the Tahs’ best alongside experienced backrowers Charlie Gamble and Pete Samu.

Donaldson helps Force keep their finals hopes alive

The 42-19 thrashing of the Queensland Reds at Suncorp is one of the best performances and wins by a Force side for quite some time.

The men from Perth played like the bunch of desperate men that they were to keep their season alive.

Time and time again, the referee’s mic picked up “get up, on feet” from the Western Force players and sideline staff.

This was evident in their energy and determination to be the hardest-working team on the field.

This was definitely helped by a barnstorming performance from Argentinian international Franco Molina, who was replacing captain Jeremy Williams due to a concussion.

The towering Puma was unstoppable in attack, deft in his lineout steals in defence and a constant nuisance to the Reds around the ruck.

His locking partner, Wallaby Darcy Swain, was also doing his utmost to disrupt the Reds’ ruck, and it worked.

Debutant Jack Daly, a Munster man from Ireland, really stood up in place of regular starter Carlo Tizzano, who is nursing a MCL injury.

Vaiolini Ekuasi was at his ball-carrying best, and together with the front row, in short, the entire forward pack laid their best platform all season and gave front-foot ball for Ben Donaldson.

The flyhalf has been playing exceptionally well behind a beaten pack for the past seven rounds, but on Saturday night, he finally got an easier ride, and he made every morsel of momentum count.

Eight carries, two line breaks, and four defenders beaten is only the icing on top of what was a well-managed and executed game plan.

Donaldson took the line when he needed to, bided his time when he needed more from his forwards and centres, and was unselfish when he saw the space was there for others.

While Brumby, Declan Meredith, and Reds’ Carter Gordon have been rubber-stamped as the people’s choice for the Wallabies no.10 jersey, Donaldson just delivered the performance of someone who is far more experienced than they are.

It was a great win, one that the Force desperately needed, and no one must be more relieved than coach Simon Cron, who was staring down the barrel of a 1/7 win/loss ledger.

Reds’ inconsistency bodes badly for the Wallabies

The Reds started the season on a tear, beating bottom-five teams well and then dispatching the Brumbies in Canberra; however, since then, their season has had a big turn.

Conceding a total of 94 points in two losses in back-to-back weeks, one away in Wellington against the ladder-leading Hurricanes and then at home in Brisbane to the Western Force, who were second last, is a big issue.

Losing to the 10th-place side at home by 23 points after receiving a hiding to nothing the week before is not good enough from a side that has the highest number of national interest players in their squad.

It shows two things very clearly: first, it shows a lack of respect for the Force; secondly, it shows there is something mentally off in the group.

It’s not like the Reds didn’t have anything to lose, win that game with a bonus point, and they jump into third ahead of a tough series of games.

The Reds had the carrot of a significant move on the ladder and the motivation of avenging a thrashing the week before, but what the Reds delivered, and head coach Les Kiss admitted, was a low-energy performance.

Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Seru Uru, Filipo Daugunu, and Tim Ryan were the best performers by some margin.

LSL led from the front, 11 carries, 14 tackles, two of them being dominant, and a bunch of maul destruction work meant the Wallaby lock was in a league of his own on the night for the Reds.

Away from the stats, the Reds didn’t go direct nearly enough, loop plays by Carter Gordon just allowed the Force to push off and drift in defence, when in reality, their defence has struggled to hold teams out when they have been challenged in tight.

It was obvious early on, and the most worrying part was that neither Gordon, Kalani Thomas at no.9, nor captain Fraser McReight made a concerted effort to tighten up their game.

This final point brings us to leadership. McReight looks annoyed and uninterested almost every time he speaks to a referee or media official.

He may not be; he may just be very laid back, but he has so far failed to cultivate any sort of rapport with match officials in any game.

If he is to have better luck at the breakdown and his side is to improve its fortunes, McReight must work on his poker face.

The Brumbies are still in a prime position and are still way out in front

Sometimes doing less is more, and for the Brumbies, a weekend off on a bye has likely done them wonders.

After the Reds failed to win in Brisbane, the men from the bush capital remain on top of the Aussie sides, sitting just one point above the Crusaders, who got a bonus point win this round, and two points shy of the Chiefs on 22 points in third place.

On a weekend where they could’ve dropped to fifth, the Brumbies head into their second block with an easier schedule than their last block.

Highlanders, Drua, Hurricanes, Reds, Force get the Brums to their next bye in round 14.

Realistically, the Brumbies could head into their bye with 5/5 wins. The more likely scenario is that they win 4/5 and lose to the Hurricanes at Super Round on neutral turf in round 11.

Nevertheless, all the other top six sides have some tough matches coming up that the Brums have already played

After this stint, the Brums will have played all the New Zealand sides bar Moana Pasifika.

They beat the Chiefs, Blues, Crusaders, and as was written in this column a few weeks back, winning the trans-Tasman derbies matters more than dropping one of the local ones, both for confidence and on the ladder.

Coach Stephen Larkham and his lads will know that their season becomes a lot harder should they walk away with any less than three wins from this next block.

The shaming of the scrum must stop; it won’t attract NRL fans

The scrum is an integral part of rugby union, and how props pitch, pivot, drive, and twist are all factors that help to dictate the outcome of the 16 biggest lads on the field going to war for a few seconds.

As was proven in the World Cup 2023 by the Springboks, and more recently by the South Africans in Eden Park against the All Blacks in 2025, the scrum matters a lot.

If you can’t scrum, you can’t win, as the old adage goes. The Waratahs found out the hard way in Hamilton.

However, in the Reds v Force game, Stan Sports commentating team decided to complain about how long the scrums were taking to set.

On one occasion, they mentioned that “Ben O’Keefe once again has got to get these (scrum) resets quicker, he’s got to take control.”

Now, this is not about an individual’s take; it’s about the general lack of appreciation and respect for such an interesting and tactical part of the game.

One of the commentating team asked, “There’s a bit of a conference going on behind the Reds’ scrum… what are they cooking up?”

Now here’s when a commentating team could talk about the scrum tactics, the match-ups, which way the Reds would need the scrum to wheel in order to execute a move that the Reds, based on their position, could be “cooking up.”

But instead, there was criticism thrown at an official and a crucial part of the game.

In English Prem, they have a sideline commentator who walks around the ground and is in shot when a scrum comes close to their sideline and talks about the tactics, players, and the desired outcomes from both sides.

David Flatman played 182 games of Prem rugby, and in the post above, you can see the passion he has for the scrum and the insights he gives.

Anyone would rather listen to that than hear complaints about a part of the game that is integral to our game and a vital part of what makes rugby so diverse.

Stan Sports coverage is some of the best in the world when it comes to rugby, and although they have ramped up their advertisements considerably and hiked their prices, they are still widely respected.

Hence, there is no reason why they couldn’t pull a learned prop, who are often the smartest blokes on the pitch anyway, from their long list of contacts to serve in a role as Flatman does.

Critiquing the scrum is not an option for those who act as the voice of rugby; stadiums around the competition are trialling ways to get crowds excited about scrums, such as chants, specific songs and unique lighting settings. They shouldn’t have to work against the broadcaster.

If there is a discussion to be had about scrums, then a midweek show is the place to house that chat, not live on air with several key Wallaby props going toe-to-toe with Wallaby locks and two current captains setting for a scrum.

There is so much to talk about.