Super Rugby Aotearoa team grades: Crusaders are still the benchmark
You’d have to call Super Rugby Aotearoa a runaway success.
Sure, a few players voiced reservations about the intensity of the rugby, but it’s hard to see how those views are even remotely relevant.
Life’s different for a lot of us now. Work’s scarce and many people in fulltime employment are still only on a percentage of their pre-COVID-19 wages. Entire industries remain under threat and some people are back in lockdown.
New Zealand Rugby and Sky did a phenomenal job to get Super Rugby staged this year and – most importantly – keep the players on 100 percent pay. Rather than quibble about the relevant difficulty of the work, you’d think these blokes would be grateful to be paid at all.
Oh well, never mind. The rest of us are happy with the product.
Not to mention in continued-awe of the Crusaders and their ability to rise to the challenge almost every week. Whether you call it a fourth Super Rugby title in a row – or just a maiden Aotearoa one – there’s no doubting that they were 2020’s outstanding team.
Not surprisingly it’s them we’ll start with, in this assessment of the Super Rugby Aotearoa season.
Crusaders
Played: 7
Won: 6
Lost: 1
Grade: A
It’s not easy being the benchmark. To be the team that – week-in, week-out – every opponent lifts for and trains and prepares better for. And yet, almost every time, the Crusaders absorb whatever’s thrown at them and then strike back on the counter.
Take the 32-22 win over the Highlanders, which clinched the Crusaders the title.
Like so many teams before them, the Highlanders came to Christchurch and performed very well. In actual fact they dominated much of the match.
Come fulltime, though, it had all been for nought, as the Crusaders kicked away to win by 10.
Overall, Sam Whitelock – who had every reason to be disinterested this season – was terrific again, while other forwards such as Tom Christie, Tom Sanders, Cullen Grace and Michael Alaalatoa enhanced their reputations.
It’s a shame injury hampered David Havili, but Will Jordan was excellent. Richie Mo’unga remains a joy to watch and everyone else more than does their job.
You can’t give coach Scott Robertson enough credit for the way he enthuses these players week after week, year after year. It really is a remarkable achievement.
Highlanders
Played: 8
Won: 3
Lost: 5
Grade: B+
Not every good team is a champion one. Some, like these Highlanders, aren’t even a winning one.
That’s because success isn’t always measured in results. Sometimes it’s about people simply playing to their potential and a coaching staff getting the most out of a group that they can.
The Highlanders, on paper at least, were by far the weakest New Zealand team. The end of the last Rugby World Cup cycle hit no-one harder than them, as a host of proven performers opted for contracts offshore.
The fact that halfback Aaron Smith wasn’t among them, proved a huge help. He truly is a modern-day great and the quality of his play, and sheer competitiveness, helped keep the Highlanders in plenty of contests.
Around him, forwards such as Pari Pari Parkinson and Marino Mikaele-Tu’u showed promise.
Josh Ioane’s case was a curious one, though. Coaches always know best, but it was hard to understand why the Highlanders’ brainstrust didn’t give Ioane sole use of the No.10 jumper.
Mitch Hunt is a fine player, but Ioane is special. Or at least could be.
Blues
Played: 7
Won: 5
Lost: 2
Grade: B
Tempting to give them a slightly higher grade, but the truth is a 5-2 season is what the Blues should be churning out all the time. In fact, in terms of sheer ability, 7-0 shouldn’t have been out of the question.
They’ve threatened to be a good team for some years now, with a bit of direction and accuracy from first five-eighth all that was missing. At one point it appeared as if Beauden Barrett – or even Daniel Carter – might provide it, but in the end it came from Otere Black.
How sustainable Black’s form is remains to be seen. The Hurricanes happily gave up on him a couple of years back but, at 25, he suddenly looked the assured player he’d occasionally threatened to be.
The Blues have talent everywhere else so, if Black can keep being this good, they should be a serious threat for the title in 2021.
Hurricanes
Played: 8
Won: 5
Lost: 3
Grade: B-
Still a team that seems to lack real identity and who rely on the deeds of certain individuals.
Star players such as Jordie Barrett, TJ Perenara, Ardie Savea, Ngani Laumape and Dane Coles lead a supporting cast that remains only promising.
Asafo Aumua, Tyrel Lomax, Xavier Numia, Alex Fidow, Isaia Walker-Leawere, Du’Plessis Kirifi, Jackson Garden-Bachop, Billy Proctor, Peter Umaga-Jensen, Vince Aso and Wes Goosen are all among a group of Hurricanes we can see have ability, but who never seem to get a whole lot better.
How would some of these blokes go at the Crusaders, for instance? Would they make the leap from useful to outstanding?
One player who doesn’t appear as if he’ll kick on anytime soon is Vaea Fifita. He might be supremely talented, but it seems the Hurricanes now favour more reliable types than the 12-test All Black.
Is that his fault or further evidence of an environment that doesn’t often improve players?
Either way, you feel the Hurricanes could’ve got more out of themselves this year.
Chiefs
Played: 8
Won: 0
Lost: 8
Grade: D-
You can mount whatever defence for the Chiefs that you like. Injuries, luck and referees didn’t appear to favour them, but 0-8 is unacceptable and that’s all there is to it.
The situation isn’t helped by Warren Gatland’s other coaching gig.
He’s due to take the British & Irish Lions to South Africa next year, with Clayton McMillan stepping in as interim coach. We still don’t know what Super Rugby will look like then either but, for argument’s sake at least, let’s assume the Chiefs go well under McMillan and the debate about Gatland’s suitability only intensifies.
The Chiefs weren’t miles off the pace this year, but this is a results business and they didn’t win a game. That they had the talent too, despite injuries in the tight five, suggests that coaching could’ve been an issue.
Ideally, 2021 would be an opportunity for Gatland to answer his critics. Instead it looms as an extended job interview for McMillan.
Comments on RugbyPass
The Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to comments