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Five of the best: the top performers of round seven of Super Rugby AU

By Finn Morton
Michael Hooper (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

With Super Rugby AU nearing its business end, all teams came into round seven with plenty to play for against confident opposition.

The Western Force were back in action on Friday night against the Waratahs on the Gold Coast.

Once again, the Force crossed for the first try of the match but couldn’t build on their fast start, trailing 18-6 at the break. A Jack Maddocks intercept early in the second all but sealed the win for the visitors, who kept their hosts scoreless after the break, winning 8-28.

On Saturday night, the Reds hosted the Rebels in their first meeting since their draw in round two. A win would’ve seen the Rebels go top of the table, while the Reds were looking to get their season back on track after back-to-back losses.

Even though they kicked the first points of the match through a Matt To’omua penalty goal, it was all the Reds at Suncorp who won the match on the back of some impressive defence. The Rebels had 66% of possession but were still outscored three tries to none, losing 19-3.

The Reds move back up to second on the ladder, while the Tahs sit in third and Rebels now fourth. Here are just five of the standouts from round seven.

Fraser McReight (Reds)

After two rounds on the bench, McReight was back in the Reds seven jersey and he didn’t skip a beat in his return to the starting XV.

Most impressively, the flanker was constantly a nuisance around the breakdown for the Rebels.

The Reds were on the backfoot to start the second term, with the Rebels having plenty of ball in the Reds half. Just as they were playing with all the momentum at the time, last years Junior Wallabies captain secured a pivotal turnover at the breakdown in the 45th minute to help ease the pressure. Rightly so, his teammates and the Suncorp crowd were pumped after his effort.

He finished the night with two turnovers, which was only bettered in the round by teammate Liam Wright and Force lock Jeremy Thrush.

McReight was also effective in defence, finishing as just one of two players from round seven to have made more than 20 tackles.

An honourable mention has to go to the previously noted captain and fellow backrower from the Reds, Liam Wright, who was also outstanding. He finished with 18 tackles on top of his efforts at the breakdown, and very nearly could’ve made this list on his own.

Joined by number eight Harry Wilson, it’s fair to say that the Reds backrow all appear on track for higher honours with the Wallabies whenever test match rugby returns.

Jack Maddocks (Waratahs)

Maddocks was back to his best in round seven, and was arguably the player of the round.

The fullback set up Alex Newsome’s try by running a brave and direct line off Michael Hooper, before offloading to Lalakai Foketi to create the break. He then played halfback to start the next phase, finding the try scorer with a cut out, bounce pass to the right.

After leading by eight at the break, the Waratahs crossed for the first points of the second half with Maddocks running 55 metres from an intercept off a Jono Lance pass. He thought he’d scored a second later in the half but the try was ruled out by the TMO for obstruction.

Off 14 carries, Maddocks finished the night with 114 metres run, which was the most in the round by 50 metres.

The fullback was also safe under the high ball, and his kicking display was once again impressive.

Will Harrison also very played very well, finishing with 13 points. As potential Wallaby combinations are discussed as the season draws to a close over the next month, these two are doing their albeit still outside chances of starting in gold jerseys, no harm with their form at the moment.

Matt Philip (Rebels)

For the second time in as many weeks, Matt Philip has been one of the standouts from Super Rugby AU.

The 26-year-old is arguably the hardest working player in the Australian competition, and has been the Rebels best player throughout the campaign on the back of that.

Philip had a round high 20 carries, which was three more than any other player and 13 more than the average for starting players from the round. But just like last week, what isn’t seen in stats is the amount of times Philip bounced up off the ground and onto his feet to support a teammate into a contest.

Just after half-time the second rower was stopped just a metre short of the chalk as the Rebels continued their onslaught of the try-line. He was tackled short of the line again with 14-minutes to play, when Josh Flook did enough to bring the 199cm lock to ground.

Has there been a more impressive tight five player in Super Rugby AU?

Michael Hooper (Waratahs)

The Wallabies captain became the youngest player to reach 150 Super Rugby caps against the Force on Friday night, and his performance was yet another showing of his class that’s brought him so much praise over the years.

Hooper was energetic, and has a work rate that is simply incredible and has to be admired – he doesn’t stop.

He was constantly prying around the breakdown as well. Even though he didn’t secure a turnover, the flanker created plenty of headaches for the opposition.

The 28-year-old began the break that led to Newsome’s try with a clever short ball to Jack Maddocks, before later sending the fullback through a gap with a brilliant set-piece play that would’ve led to a try had it not have been ruled out by the TMO.

Hooper finished with 13 carries, and had the most tackles for a Waratahs player with 14.

Even though there’s plenty of depth and competition within the Australian backrow stocks at the moment, there’s no doubt on who should be lining up in the seven-jersey next time the Wallabies play with Hooper’s experience and class simply unmatched.

Tate McDermott (Reds)

McDermott was back into the Reds starting XV this week after sitting on the bench for the last two rounds, and was arguably the man-of-the-match in his return.

Just after the break, Frank Lomani sent Marika Koroibete through a gap five metres out from the line, looking all but certain to cross over for what would’ve been a game changing five-pointer. But McDermott managed to get in front of the Wallaby winger, stopping him just short of the chalk.

Moments later McDermott let his defence do the talking once again, stopping Andrew Kellaway in what was scrambling defensive effort from both the Reds and the 21-year-old.

But arguably his moment of the match came with 20-minutes to play, when the Sunshine Coast product managed to tackle both Lomani and Isi Naisarani in the same phase. The double tackle was impressive on its own so close to the line, but more so with the scrumhalf also holding the powerful number eight up over the line with an impressive showing of awareness by rolling him over.

In attack, McDermott also finished with one try assist, putting winger Jordan Petaia through a gap for the opening five-pointer of the night 14-minutes in. With seven minutes to play, he again showed how dangerous he is in attack, holding the ball just long enough to create a hole for James O’Connor to send Hamish Stewart through for the match-sealer.

The Reds are simply a different beast with McDermott.

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Jon 3 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

28 Go to comments
A
Adrian 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

28 Go to comments
T
Trevor 11 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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