The first week of the second Vodacom Super 14 rugby tournament produced nine yellow cards, no bonus points for tries and six new captains, but most of all it provided the jolt of the first sight of the new four-stage scrum that sent shock waves through the game.
Welcome back to the SuperWrap at the start of yet another SuperRugby tournament and all we can say is that “this too shall pass.”
The scrum has always been the special preserve of a unique brand of men. It held deep secrets that only members of the covert society of frontrow forwards understood, it contained the Da Vinci Code of rugby, only grasped by a cult of broad men and preserved by them as the innermost core of the game.
And then came 2007 and we discovered that the temple had been raided, the scrolls altered and the most sacred area of the game reduced to ridicule.
The law makers had intended to make the scrum safer and introduced an additional step in which the frontrows are required to reach out and “touch” each other to set the distance between them before the real business of establishing physical supremacy gets underway.
It sounded odd when first announced but in practice it has turned out to be ludicrous – in the words of one grizzled denizen of the frontrow who called us “making props look like girls threatening to have a fight.”
Rugby’s heaviest and strongest men look as though they are touching a hot plate rather than getting ready to scrum the x!*t out of an opponent, but it seems we have no choice but to give it a chance. It will pass. Like kidney stones, a malady props tend to suffer from incidentally, it will pass. We hope.
In any other year the talking point of the first weekend of the Super 14 would have been about the failure of any of the teams to score four tries; hence earning a bonus point.
There were also nine yellow cards handed out, some unfairly, and overall the rugby, unsurprisingly given the February 2 kick-off, was not of a particularly high standard – making selection of the SuperWrap’s eagerly awaited teams of the week quite hard to pick.
Each week, for the next 13, the dedicated staff who work on the www-superrugby’s comprehensive coverage of the Super 14 will cast the rule of the some 300 players who take part in each weekend’s series of games and come up with a Super XV, the best XV of the week, and a Springbok Barometer, a gauge of the top South African side.
We try to name players in the positions they occupied and ignore reputation; making the teams a guide to current form.
The first week threw up some interesting choices with just three South Africans, all Cheetahs in CJ van der Linde, Juan Smith and Marius Joubert, making it into the Super XV, and two of the resurgent Reds, flyhalf Berrick Barnes and former rugby league man Clinton Schifcofske, getting a pat on the back.
The Bok Barometer bears little resemblance to the actual Springbok side and it is not intended to. It’s about current form but the one thing the esteemed selectors did struggle with, as Naas Botha pointed out when wrapping up the weekend’s telecast on Saturday night, we’re still looking for a flyhalf who can take control of and run a game.
So here goes. Welcome back to the Super 14 and, hey, scrum law or no scrum law isn’t it great to have the rugger back?
The Super XV for Week One:
1 Greg Holmes (Reds), 2 Derren Witcombe (Blues), 3 CJ van der Linde (Cheetahs), 4 Greg Rawlinson (Blues), 5 Mark Chisholm (Brumbies), 6 Phil Waugh (Waratahs), 7 Juan Smith (Cheetahs), 8 Mose Tuiali’i (Crusaders), 9 George Gregan (Brumbies), 10 Berrick Barnes (Reds), 11 Anthony Tuitavake (Blues), 12 Sam Tuitupou (Blues), 13 Marius Joubert (Cheetahs), 14 Sosene Anesi (Chiefs), 15 Clinton Schifcofske (Reds).
The Springbok Barometer for Week One:
1 Deon Carstens (Sharks), 2 John Smit (Sharks), 3 CJ van der Linde (Cheetahs), 4 Cobus Grobler (Lions), 5 Victor Matfield (Bulls), 6 Cobus Grobbelaar (Lions), 7 Juan Smith (Cheetahs), 8 Ryno van der Merwe (Cheetahs), 9 Noel Oelschig (Cheetahs), 10 Butch James (Sharks), 11 JP Pietersen (Sharks), 12 Adrian Jacobs (Sharks), 13 Marius Joubert (Cheetahs), 14 Louis Ludik (Lions), 15 Tiger Mangweni (Cheetahs).
Match of the Week: Written off and generally discounted, the long-odds Reds took on the highly-rated Hurricanes, last year’s beaten finalists, and sent them packing 25-16. On top of this the men from Brisbane overcame two yellow cards, shown to Mitchell Chapman and James Horwill, so a red-faced pat on the back to Eddie Jones who seems to have brewed a new spirit in the XXXX state.
Try of the Week: As always with the Super 14 there were some gems but only one scored from 28 metres by a prop forward. CJ van der Linde’s charge through Gio Aplon, Schalk Burger and Bolla Conradie for the Cheetahs against the Stormers was not quite “Bandesque” but, hell, given what the law-makers have done to the frontrow union with their ridiculous new law we felt the “pilars”, as the Argentinians refer to them, deserved some cheer.
Newcomers of the Week: Welcome to Lions prop Brian Mujati, Reds fullback Clinton Schifcofske and Waratahs replacement flyhalf Kurtley Beale. Mujati literally made a BIG impact when he received a late call to move up from the bench to make his first start against the Waratahs. Shifcofske who, after a long and distinguished career in league is not a rookie at all, celebrated his official union debut by kicking 17 points for the Reds against the Hurricanes while Beale, who the Aussies are describing as the next Mark Ella, had the distinction of becoming the youngest Super player ever. Beale turned 18 on 6 January 2007, making him 18 years 27 days old on his debut and 203 days younger than Doug Howlett, who is still going strong and aiming to break Joe Roff’s try-scoring record this season, who was 18 years and 230 days old when he made his debut for the Highlanders on 9 May 1997.
Not half the player he used to be: That’s Schalk Burger. It took him fully three minutes to get his first yellow card of the season.
So you want to be a commentator?: Try saying Taumoepeau, Tuitavake, Tuitupou, Toeava, Tuiali’i, Tialata, Tuipulotu, Turinui and Leo’o quickly! Want to be journalist? Spell them.
A question: Were the like of Os du Randt, Ollie le Roux, Carl Hayman, Tony Woodcock, John Smit, Keven Mealamu, Brendan Cannon and Anton Oliver asked for their input when the new scrum law was decided upon? Somehow we think not.
Congratulations to: Ollie le Roux and Jeremy Paul on reaching 100 Super Rugby caps and to Luke Andrews for getting to 50 games for the Hurricanes and to Doug Howlett for scoring his 50th try for the Blues, taking his overall tally to 54 – three short of Joe Roff’s record of 57.
Heads or tails: Troy Flavell (Blues), Corey Flynn (Crusaders), Josh Blackie (Highlanders), Ernst Joubert (Lions), Conrad Smith (Hurricanes) and Luke Watson (Stormers) made their debuts as Super 14 captains. Phil Waugh (Waratahs) captained the Waratahs in two games in 2001 and has now taken over from Chris Whitaker.
Watching paint dry: The 8-7 scoreline between the Highlanders and the Western Force narrowly missed being the lowest ever; being surpassed only by the 6-5 scoreline between the Reds and the Sharks in 2004.
Are the Crusaders cracking?: Could it be that the ‘Saders have finally got something wrong? They will certainly have to do something about the illegible numbers on their new jerseys while the black hoop at the bottom of their jerseys makes the players look as though they’re wearing travel pouches. Just goes to show how little the marketing “pony-tails” know; the numbers are there for a purpose, not adornment.
Nice one Smitty: We liked John Smit’s thinking at the end of the Sharks’ victory over the Bulls. While all the other captains talked about 13 or 12 more games or weeks, Smitty was the only one to say 15 – i.e. up to the Final.
And the Oscars go to... Matt Henjak and Philip Burger who went down as if pole-axed when on the receiving end of respectively a misdirected blow from Clarke Dermody and a glancing cuff from Schalk Burger but who jumped up like spring chickens once the pair of forwards were staring at yellow.
Cruising for a bruising: JP Nel and Hilton Lobberts of the Bulls could be the next to play pick-a-card.
Bad hair of the new year: Luke McAlister and Jimmy Cowan who look as though they might have fallen asleep in a paddock somewhere and had it grazed off by sheep!
Mysteries of the Super XIV: What on earth has happened to Bryan Habana's rugby?
Sing-sing: Rugby has always been noted for its outdated songs and the next anthem could be an old classic by The Who. You know, "see me, feel me, heal me; touch me!"
Quote of the Week I: “I don’t know about this touch business, frankly.” -Hugh Bladen on the new four-stage scrum.
Quote of the Week II: “But I put him down softly.” – Jaque Fourie protesting his innocence as referee Chris Pollock was showing him the yellow-card for a dangerous tackle on Lote Tuqiri.
Quote of the Week III: “He’s got his happy pills tonight.” – New Zealand commentator John Drake on referee Paul Honiss allowing play to run for 3 minutes 55 seconds after the season’s opening kick-off in the match between the Blues and the Crusaders.
