Five of the best: Top performers from round four of Super Rugby AU
Round four of Super Rugby AU saw two relatively one-sided affairs, as both the Melbourne Rebels and ACT Brumbies climbed the ladder with convincing victories.
The Rebels recorded their first season double over the New South Wales Waratahs, and their first win in Super Rugby AU to move up to third on the ladder.
Matt Toomua was immense for the visitors, kicking his side to victory with two conversions and five penalties. It was an error riddled match, with the Rebels taking their opportunities when they got the chance.
The Waratahs one try was scored by Alex Newsome, which was an intercept from a Reece Hodge pass.
But the other match was even more one sided, with two tries after six minutes setting the tone for what proved to be a frustrating night for the Western Force against the Brumbies.
Tom Wright and Irae Simone both finished attacks from deep inside their own half, for which the Force had no answer – becoming the first team to be held scoreless in the new competition.
The Brumbies move to first which sets up a mouth-watering clash against the Queensland Reds in Canberra next weekend. Let’s see who stood out as the five players of week four.
Matt Philip (Rebels)
Rebels head coach Dave Wessels praised his youthful forward pack following the 19-point victory over the Waratahs, highlighting players such as Trevor Hosea, Pone Fa’amausili and Josh Kemeny for matching the experienced Waratahs pack. But the standout player from the Rebels forward pack, and possibly even the round, was 26-year-old Matt Philip.
Philip impressed at the lineout as the primary option for the Rebels, but made his mark around the field with an elite work rate.
In the minute before half-time, the lock got his hands on the ball twice and supported Pone Fa’amausili into another breakdown. He was also back on his feet ready to run the ball again, and likely would’ve if the clock had another 10 seconds to run.
Later in the match, Philip once again brought his passion, determination and skill to the fore with his hunger to get involved. With 20 minutes to play, the 199cm lock ran the ball three times in the space of five plays – his last effort falling just a metre short of the chalk.
Almost unsurprisingly, he finished the match with the most carries of any player in round four of Super Rugby AU with 16.
But a lot of what Philip did can’t be measured by stats; his seemingly never-ending supply of energy that saw him constantly bounce up from a ruck to support his teammates or get his hands on the ball. The Wallabies need some locks to bolster their ranks, if he can play like this consistency, Dave Rennie could do a lot worse than Matt Philip.
Matt Toomua (Rebels)
Matt Toomua all but ended the Wallabies flyhalf debate with a classy display against the Waratahs on Friday.
Coming up against a potential rival for the golden 10 jersey in Will Harrison, Toomua shone from minute one with his first kick clearing his side from danger, going into touch around halfway. It was a sign of what was to come.
The Super Rugby centurion continued to show his class just seconds later, with a line break setting the platform for the first points of the night. Toomua ran past Lachlan Swinton, for a burst that finished 50 metres from where it started.
The 30-year-old finished the match with 19-points to his name, in what was generally a very good performance. He stood up as a leader, and looked dangerous as a playmaker. Toomua was arguably the player of the round with his boot guiding his side to a much-needed win.
Pete Samu (Brumbies)
The Super Rugby winner was near his best on Saturday night, looking more than threatening whenever he got the chance to get involved in the match.
Especially early on, Samu made an impact with ball-in-hand, contributing to both of the Brumbies two tries in the first six minutes.
The number eight showed great composure in an offload to Joe Powell that started the initial break for Tom Wright’s try, before an impressive 20 metre burst that laid the platform for the teams second five-pointer just four minutes later.
But every time he got the ball in space, his offloading, footwork and brute strength made him a handful for the Force defence.
His physicality is the backbone of his game, and that was clear again last weekend.
Ryan Louwrens (Rebels)
One thing is for sure: the Wallabies have plenty of depth at the halfback position. While Ryan Louwrens is still probably an outside chance of making the squad, he showed last Friday night that he’d be more than ready if called upon down the track.
All good scrumhalf’s have to be able to snipe around the ruck, but it was his vision and confidence that really made Louwrens standout.
The 29-year-old opted to run down the short side a couple of times in the match, which ended with mixed results. The first time, Andrew Kellaway fell centimetres short of the try line before the Rebels had a try disallowed.
Later, Louwrens might have made something happen from nothing, if Alex Newsome hadn’t intercepted a Reece Hodge pass to score for the Waratahs.
Louwrens crossed over for a five-pointer of his own just before half-time, showing plenty of strength to score his fourth try in Super Rugby.
He controlled the game very well for the Rebels, and also did his job with the boot.
Another halfback who impressed was Joe Powell, who will likely be in the mix for selection if the Wallabies play later this year. Powell will face increasing pressure to hold his place with Wallaby Nic White returning to the Brumbies last week, but all the 26-year-old can do is keep playing as he did in round four.
Tom Wright (Brumbies)
It seems like every week that another winger stands up and impresses in Super Rugby AU, in what is becoming a good headache for Dave Rennie to have.
Wright got off to the perfect start against the Force, finishing off an 80-metre burst by the Brumbies to cross over for what turned out to be the match winner in just the second minute.
But the 23-year-old showed his class just four minutes later. When the Brumbies broke out again from deep inside their own half, Wright may have been tempted to take on Force winger Brad Lacey who stood between him and his second, but instead made the right decision in passing to Joe Powell in support.
Wright ran the most metres of anyone in round four of Super Rugby AU, topping the charts with 131 metres which was 56 more than second-placed Marika Koroibete from the Rebels.
He also showed that he’s more than just a good finisher, setting up Will Miller three minutes after the break by drawing in two Force players to make the flankers life just a little bit easier.
Comments on RugbyPass
Will rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
2 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
2 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
3 Go to comments