Aussie Super Rugby takes: Tahs’ flyhalf options grow, Force rise built on defence

Round-14 has come and gone, and the finals dash for everyone except Moana Pasifika is still very much alive.

This do-or-die attitude, as many sides jostled for a spot in the finals or their preferred finals finish, is making for some great rugby.

While the Hurricanes have all but sewn up the top spot, and the Chiefs are likely to have done the same with second, the Aussie sides are desperately fighting for third, all the way down to sixth.

No one wants to play the Hurricanes in round one of the qualifying finals, and that is a smart decision.

But the Aussies may very well end up beating themselves out of the finals spots, should results fall unfavourably.

However, the rugby on the weekend meant something for players, combinations, table positions and for strategy, so without further ado, with a new batch of rugby games to analyze, here are the takes on the Aussie teams after the latest round.

Waratahs have a very interesting dilemma to solve in the no.10 jersey

If you are a Waratahs fan, you may be questioning why Dan McKellar has taken so long to back the decade-long club-halves combination of Teddy Wilson and Jack Bowen.

The pair’s performance in the Waratahs’ resounding victory over the Fiji Drua, in Fiji, was evidence enough that the combo can deal with pressure and a very hostile environment at the Super Rugby Pacific level.

While many may see the holding back of especially Bowen over the years as a waste of talent, as the Waratahs are no strangers to cooking their young playmakers too early.

The fact that the 22-year-old Bowen has had to bide his time, whether through selection under Darren Coleman or through injury, under McKellar for the most part, appears to have worked in his favour.

McKellar says Bowen is a clear ‘cut-above’ the rest of the playmakers in Sydney’s club competition, the Shute Shield, and that sort of mental edge, where you are searching for the next challenge, is exactly where you need young playmakers to be mentally.

Bowen’s connection with his halfback, Wilson, is a ready-made one since U10S.

Bowen, along with the other flyhalves at the Waratahs, is fighting for a contract extension for 2027 and beyond, and while the other options are not the future, Bowen could be, and he is proving this with the few opportunities he’s been given.

He has the best variation to his game and the best turn of pace amongst the current crop of no.10s, a set of skills needed to unlock a very stacked backline.

The Waratahs have signed the man who started at no.10 for the Western Force at the weekend, 27-year-old Max Burey.

The Norths’ product from Sydney will be a great addition to their playmaking ranks, and alongside Bowen and one other experienced option, the Waratahs could finally have the combination of talent they need at flyhalf.

Bowen has done his apprenticeship now, spending three years on the fringe of the senior squad after having started as a playmaker for the U20 Australia team. He is ready for this level, and he must be trusted now.

Western Force succeed because they are all on the same page

The Western Force are not the Aussie side that have scored the most tries or conceded the fewest, but they are the side that is playing the most consistent gameplan across their squad.

Everyone knows their role, and even introducing a complete rookie like Zac Lomax into the mix has not disrupted this flow; if anything, it has pushed them to be even better.

Defensive connection and cohesion are strong indicators that a side is singing from the same hymn sheet, and for the past five games, the Force have been defending very well.

For a high linespeed defence, most coaches will be stoked with an 85 percent completion rate or higher, and that’s at Test level, the Force have tackled at 86 percent or higher.

That 86 percent came against the Fiji Drua in Fiji five games ago. Since then, they have only improved, tackling higher than 89 percent in their win against the Reds in round-14 and a high of 95 percent in their loss against the Brumbies.

These impressive defensive numbers are matched with an average of 5 linebreaks conceded per game, which, for a side that often gets labelled as ‘rag-tag,’ is a very impressive feat.

When head coach Simon Cron was asked what the defensive success was owed to, he praised his defence coach and the buy-in from the squad.

“[The] key thing for me is, you ask the boys how confident they are (in the system)? Are they really confident? [I] think Brad Harris, our D coach, is doing a great job on clarity and accuracy, and he’s also hard-edged, which I like,” Cron said after the game.

“Even Carlo (Tizzano) at the end of the game was talking about defence, so it’s key.”

The Reds were without their best carrier in Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, and their best fetcher and regular captain, Fraser McReight, and that would have contributed to the Force’s defensive numbers; however, this is now a pattern which is consistent against good opposition.

The Force weren’t perfect, as they again failed to breach the Reds’ line on several occasions, and they won’t be happy with their option taking at times, but winning ugly, as they did, was imperative if they were to keep their finals hopes alive.

Queensland Reds are getting used to having two playmakers playing two very different styles

“It (playing with Carter Gordon’s style) takes time to get used to, but every time he’s played for us, he’s performed this year, the more time he’s been in the hot seat, the more we get used to him,” stand-in Reds captain Harry Wilson said post-match.

“He definitely is a very different player to our other no.10s.”

No one in Aussie rugby can rip a ball like Gordon, either at home or abroad, and few flyhalves defend as hard as him in the line, but that also has its drawbacks.

Harry McLaughlin-Phillips has been the main starting no.10 for the Queenslanders, with injuries to both Gordon and Tom Lynagh, as well as veteran Ben Volavola, and he has done a good job for the club.

Last week in this column, it was written that the one-two punch of HMP starting and Gordon finishing was a masterstroke of coaching and tactical play; this week, it did not work out that way.

The success last week was down to the fact that HMP started the game going direct, as is his playstyle and a game that suits his skillset.

The compact and nippy playmaker tends to stutter-step and take contact much more often than throwing a cut-out ball. This takes heat off his direct ball runners in the centres, as it means defences have three players to watch instead of two.

Gordon tends to run the Johnny ‘Sexton’ line, around the back of a pod or a Hunter Paisami, as he looks to put wider defenders in two minds before he launches a long ball wide.

The issue is that when defences are bringing line speed, and are expecting the pass to be thrown, the skillset of the no.10 throwing the cut-out ball is put under immense pressure, and the winger receiving the ball is often covered.

The Reds’ attack is one of the best in the comp, and their ability to generate line breaks is among the top-4 in the comp, but last night, they lacked that direct element to condense the Western Force.

This was, of course, hampered by not having their wrecking ball in Salakaia-Loto; the fact is that they are a very different team without him.

Coach Les Kiss says he had full confidence in the side that played on Saturday night, going as far as saying he would make the same ‘regeneration changes’ again if faced with the choice again, after resting some key players.

“We did it for the right reasons, and I’d do it again because I believe this team was definitely going to win it,” Kiss said.

The truth is, with changes in the halves, up front with Massimo De Lutiis making his first start of the year, as well as a swathe of other changes, it’s not who was subbed in, but rather the raw number across the matchday-23 that was the issue.

No Aussie side can survive making a handful of changes, even if they are bringing back Wallabies

As a supporter, you should be concerned about your side’s chance of victory if you see several changes on the teamsheet from week to week.

The brevity of the season, the importance of every game, and the relatively high standard of most sides mean that there are no ‘gimme’ games.

This isn’t a nine-month competition like the ones in the Northern Hemisphere; Super Rugby is a sprint, and coaches need to get their combinations locked down quickly.

To pick and stick requires a strong sense of one’s squad, and trust that one’s wallaby cohort will come good in the backend of the season.

The lack of a preseason for many Wallabies, who are rested after the Spring Tour, often means they take several games to rediscover their Test form.

This is why the Reds, and to a certain extent the Force, have taken such a long time to get into gear this season.

The Waratahs and the Brumbies still have their Wallaby cohorts, but their non-Wallaby contingent is considerable, and it means that combinations and connections can be built and trusted in the early rounds.

For the Brumbies especially, the reintroduction of Wallabies like Nick Frost, Allan Alaalatoa, and Tom Wright has been anything but seamless.

Wright was rushed into fullback when he was deemed fit over a well-performing Andy Muirhead, and Frost was brought in for bigger minutes than perhaps planned due to some injury in the squad.

Despite having been long-time Brumbies and elite Wallabies, they appeared off the pace and far from their own lofty standards.

This saw the team struggle as well, and with other Wallaby rest necessary elsewhere, coupled with fatigue in newer parts of the squad, the mid block of the season has been a proper rollercoaster of performance and a significant drop in results.

At the weekend, the Reds made a swathe of changes, and it saw a determined Force side punish them.

As coach Kiss has mentioned, he rested many key stars for the right reasons, but that doesn’t change the fact that his side can’t cope with so many changes week to week if it is a pivot from trusted combinations.

The Waratahs only got away with their radical reshuffle due to the Fiji Drua beating themselves for 40 minutes in Suva.

The Force had some changes, but far from the amount the Reds and the Tahs put up, and the Brumbies will want to consolidate their refreshed squad, ensuring they get back to their early round rosters as soon as possible.

This is all to say, the brevity of the Super season means coaches must really know their side in the preseason to be sure of selection in-season, to ensure when rotation inevitably is needed, that it is done marginally, and with purpose.