Super Rugby takes: Brett Cameron is McKenzie's back-up, no All Blacks No 6 apparent
Round four of Super Rugby Pacific saw the Crusaders’ winless streak continue with a loss to the Hurricanes on Friday night.
The Reds blew away the Rebels with a starring performance from Fraser McReight, the Brumbies managed to win on New Zealand soil, the Blues struggled against the Tahs and the Chiefs handled a dangerous Drua outfit in a high-scoring game.
Here’s four takeaways from the round that was from a New Zealand perspective.
Brett Cameron is currently Damian McKenzie’s back-up No 10 with the All Blacks
Looking around the landscape of the New Zealand teams, it becomes apparent that Hurricanes first five-eighth Brett Cameron is the second best option in the country right now.
He has piloted the Canes to four straight wins without overplaying his hand, accurate goal-kicking (despite an off night against the Crusaders), and good backfield management. His decision-making and execution is at a level far greater than Blues playmaker Stephen Perofeta, who has been a massive disappointment over the last fortnight.
Perofeta was outplayed by Cameron at the Caketin in the 29-24 loss but the Blues’ No 10 continued with poor mistakes against the Waratahs despite the win. Perofeta’s issue is his reliability with the basics. You can’t kick the ball dead searching for the corner from a penalty at Test level or miss regulation kicks at goal.
The 27-year-old is a natural playmaker with a gift for toying with the defence with ball-in-hand but his kicking essentially rules him out of being a viable option for Scott Robertson. It’s a massive shame as with Richie Mo’unga gone, Perofeta has the chance to challenge to be the All Blacks No 10. Right now he can’t even be picked as the back-up.
Crusaders lacking All Black starting quality
Looking through the Crusaders’ line-up 1-15 against the Hurricanes just one name is a legitimate All Black starter, right wing Sevu Reece who was again phenomenal in a losing side, which is the simple way to explain the start they have had.
They have capped All Blacks, George Bower, Fletcher Newell, David Havili, but none of those guys walk into the All Blacks starting team. The rest of the young players are toilers, grifters, and hard workers with execution issues.
The Crusaders really lost the match in the first 20 minutes. On the first exit platform of the night All Black hopeful Cullen Grace couldn’t place a ball cleanly leading to a turnover inside their own 22 on the first possession. They were lucky it didn’t cost them points. Debutant first five Riley Hohepa knuckle-pucked a regulation three points about 25 metres left of where the ball needed to go. Tom Christie had a couple of sloppy turnovers. The Hurricanes got seven points and in the conditions that was vital.
The Crusaders defence was pretty impressive, handling the Hurricanes and forcing gain line losses frequently. They nearly won, but the lack of All Black quality showed when they couldn’t close out the game. They had multiple chances to end the Hurricanes last raid but ended up conceding the game-winning try.
Highlanders new hooker looks like some prospect
The 20-year-old hooker Jack Taylor was immense against the Brumbies in his first start for the club. The Southland product was strong over the ball, winning a holding on penalty inside the first 10 minutes and had an assist on another with a cunning cleanout on the latcher off the ball.
The Highlanders had uncontested ball for the most part, making Taylor look like an experienced thrower. He had one key lineout in the redzone picked off but the Highlanders’ lineout finished with 13 of 14. He made 14 tackles in defence including a couple of dominant two-man efforts.
Yes, it was under the roof in dry conditions, but Taylor looked good. He will have to prove much more but for a 20-year-old that was a great start.
The depth at No 8 far exceeds that at blindside for the All Blacks
Even with Ardie Savea playing in Japan, the depth at No 8 for the All Blacks far exceeds that at blindside.
Hoskins Sotutu has started in MVP-like form for the Blues, Luke Jacobson has been immense for the Chiefs. Hurricane Braydon Iose is quickly becoming a star, his explosive speed gives him an edge out wide and off the back of the scrum.
Cullen Grace was the Crusaders’ best on Friday night but is not really a Test quality 8. When Ethan Blackadder returns, he will probably move positions.
But the question is who will fill the boots left by Shannon Frizell with the All Blacks and that isn’t clear with the candidates playing at No 6 every week not as strong as at No 8. Last year’s debutant Samipeni Finau of the Chiefs could be the favourite.
Cullen Grace’s best shot would be to move to blindside and play there every week, same with Iose. Playing at No 8 every week for a franchise is a disadvantage as they end up with far more carries and don’t hone the running lines required to play 6.
Anton Segner (Blues), Devan Flanders (Hurricanes), TK Howden (Hurricanes), Sean Withy (Highlanders), Tom Sanders (Highlanders), and Akira Ioane (Blues) are others that have featured there so far.
Comments on RugbyPass
One significant tell, not a single Waratahs player stopped to whinge to the ref about Finau’s tackle. They got on with playing the game. Great tackle.
8 Go to commentsWouldn’t be a bad move if Ireland pulled into SA with a young side. Particularly in Pretoria. Invaluable experience getting thumped in the bosveld.
53 Go to commentsIreland. The Princess Diana of Rugby. I never cheered so much for a team as i did for the All Blacks in that QF.
53 Go to commentsWill be great to see the Leinster first XV back in action again after their cotton wool time…
1 Go to commentsLooked up Grant Constable on google and reply was doppelgänger for Ben Smith
53 Go to commentsIt is so good that we now all get excited and debate who is best and emotionally get involved. We all back our teams which is great. Up until about 15-20 years ago, NZ was basically on its own, and then Saffa, Aussie and sometimes French and English were there. We now have at least 5-6 really top sides and another 4 who keep improving. This is so healthy. So we should not resort to rubbish comments and unhealthy debate, but rather all be chuffed that the product we watch is not competitive, exciting and often uncertain. It would be so good if World Rugger could find a way to align the rules to professional players as well as spectators. Live rugby games are SO boring as there is SO much down time as we wait for refs and TMOs and whoever else to look at every small event going back endless phases with the hope of eventually find a minute infringement to then decide cancel what was a wonderful try. This is the ultimate cork back in the bottle moment and feels like every balloon is always being popped. Come on- we must be better with the rules.
53 Go to comments“upon leaving said establishment I tripped over a stool knocking some bottles into the air and as I fell I accidently dislodged a police officer’s teaser who was passing by on an unrelated matter there by landing on said taser which caused it to discharge 50,000 watts into me. Out of shock I shouted Ireland are going to win the world cup. Upon waking up I apologised for the distress caused by my Ireland comment. The matter is closed. If you wish to pursue this matter may I remind you what I told Wayne Barnes when he sent me off. I AM A BIG ASS MAN”. Or was it “I AM A BIG ASS, MAN” or was it “I AM A BIG ASSMAN”?
1 Go to commentsThe only championship the Boks hold are: Great value for the incompetence of referees during the RWC Moaning endlessly and champions of spewing utterly ignorant 💩 at all times. Displaying the dangers of a third world education End of.
53 Go to commentsSouth Africa and Rassie do a phenomenal job of treating the 4 years in between World Cups as nothing more than a training exercise to build squad depth. The Six Nations money that keeps Irish rugby afloat is unfortunately too important to allow the same approach, and basic population size means we'll never get close to matching the depth of South Africa, England and France. That being said, Irish rugby is in a relatively good place and slowly improving inch by inch. If the other three provinces can pull the finger out and actually develop some players it'd be even better.
53 Go to commentsGood on Clarke for taking on the criticism and addressing his deficiencies, principally his laziness.
2 Go to comments“It is the people’s favourite against the actual favourite. It is the people’s champions against the actual champions. I’m joking, but it’s going to be a fantastic series.” Why did Darcy make that joke knowing it would be used as click bait? Why did RP headline it as a serious comment? Anyway, the tired comment isn’t very astute. SA players may have played more games etc. Darcy over estimated as a pundit.
53 Go to commentsNot sure Frisch will ever make the French team with Depoortère and Costes waiting in the wings to take over from Danty and Fickou.
1 Go to commentsThe Irish are tired and the Boks are old. The test series won't confirm who is best in the world, it will confirm which team needs to pursue the task of rebuilding with the most urgency.
53 Go to commentsGrant, the first time I have seen an article written by you. Maybe I have missed your previous stuff. These days all professional players effectively play a common season so all top players are equally tired, or rested. That is the job of the coaching ticket to build squad depth and juggle resources so players are ‘ fresh’ when the big games come. Possibly Ireland are less inclined to juggle squad compared to Rassie, who is prepared to take the risk to rest players as well as build depth throughout the year so come WC he has a full squad, experienced and rested enough to win 7 games. After all, to win WC you need to get through the tournament and then win the final big 3 games. Ireland should try and build a bit so come final 3 they are ready. So far only played final 1(QF). I am so looking forward to the Irish tour. Hopefully Rassie has enough time to align his guys, as he draws them from across the globe, and not from 2 sides locally( eg Leinster, Munster). No excuses, going to be exciting.
53 Go to commentsIn football, teams get fined and sometimes docked points for deliberately fielding weakened teams yet Leinster can pretty much do as they please with no comebacks. Could it be because Ireland run the URC? Could it be that Ireland run the ERC? Whichever it is, it stinks!!
6 Go to commentsIreland are only the People’s Champions in Irish eyes. The rest of the world do not care for them very much because of attitudes of people like Gordon, Ferris, Best, Jackman…I could go on!!
53 Go to commentsNot sure how Karl Dickson can ever ref a Quins game, he played for the club for 8 years as understudy to Care and is still close friends with half the team
3 Go to commentsAre bookies taking bets on how many times Vunipola's eventual statement will use the term “elders"? My money is on at least 4 times.
4 Go to commentsSo Ireland will be tired, despite having the most rested test squad in the world. They only play tests, champions cup and urc play off games ffs! Case in point; Leinster sent a B squad to SA for their last two games while their first xv rested up and trained at their leisure for the sf vs Saints at the so called ‘neutral venue’ of Croke Park. So tired? Do me a favour… And as for “people’s champions”? Seriously??? Outside of Ireland they are respected for their ability to win 6N. And of course plenty of inconsequential test friendlies without any real pressure. WC ko games when the pressure is white hot? Not so much…
53 Go to commentsSurprising how standing down or benching a player can do wonders for their motivation. Several players this week in that category.
2 Go to comments