This turned out to be a pretty good week for visiting teams and those in the Championship section, but a couple in the Premiership won’t be feeling quite so chipper about life.
At the end of hostilities the top five in the lower division are separated by only three points and, in most cases, have not yet started playing amongst each other.
Manawatu opened the weekend with a big win at Wellington; it was only their second ever over Wellington a in the capital and deserved on the run of play, since the Turbos didn’t squander their chances and Wellington did.
Sky Sports
The Lions should probably have been up by about 20 points in the first quarter but blew two gift-wrapped try-scoring chances – one of which was brought back for a penalty in front of the sticks but really, if your winger gets across the line with the ball securely in his possession, how much more advantage can you possibly have? – and the teams turned at 6-6.
Manawatu got away in the third quarter with two well-taken tries before Wellington came back a bit, but it was too far to recover and too hard for them to get the win. Wellington has started 0-3 for the first time in NPC rugby and with Auckland, Canterbury and Tasman next up it could get a whole lot worse yet.
Hawke’s Bay won by an identical score to Manawatu but did it the other way round, getting off to a fast start before getting run down (they actually trailed by 20-21 midway through the second spell) and then recovering to post the winning try.
The Steelers had been a good Shield holder, since the players tended to lift for these games, but now Hawke’s Bay has another crack with the Log and this time they don’t have to face a difficult challenge within the first week.
Otago should also feel happy with their work, since beating Southland at Invercargill won’t be easy this year but the Dark Blues managed the job. They played well in what was an entertaining game, creating more chances and being good enough to make them pay. Hayden Parker took the points in the battle of Highlanders first-fives, but the Otago win was very much a team effort.
The North Harbour v Waikato match was always going to be something of a slog after Auckland’s weather turned sour, and it was decided by Damian McKenzie’s accurate kicking. He had more chances at goal than Matt McGahan and only missed once, while the teams shared the two tries. As a spectacle it wasn’t much, but as a fillip for Waikato after two pretty hefty defeats it was worth plenty.
Taranaki made no race of the early Sunday match, deciding the contest in a brutal 11-minute burst that saw four tries go on the board and from then on it was only a case of ‘how much’.
As it turned out, it wasn’t as bad as it may have been since Taranaki only added seven second-half points to the 34 it had by halftime. Taranaki has suddenly found its mojo again and has played some really good rugby in the last week or so, while Bay of Plenty’s struggles are clearly far from being at an end.
The final match was one that I was looking forward to, but I would have preferred a dry day.
Auckland, reinforced by a couple of All Blacks, started as favourite but they were chasing the game for at least an hour before nudging ahead, only for Tasman to have the final say and share the points.
While a draw is never a particularly satisfying result there is always one side slightly happier than the other and in this case it was probably the visitors, who had a poor record at Eden Park previously and they were facing a beefed-up home side.
After the dust/dew settled, I was still left with the feeling that these two sides may well face each other again later in the season, and I do hope it is on a dry track if it actually happens.
With the test match against Argentina coming up there’s more early-round action (two Friday games) and by this time next week we might already see a few teams starting to skip clear of the chasing packs.
And finally…
Now we’re three weeks into the ITM Cup, a lot of the young blokes who came into the competition virtually straight from big college careers are suffering from what may well be the first harsh reality check of their rugby careers.
Some will struggle initially and overcome the problem, some will deal with it quite quickly and there will inevitably be plenty who cannot get their minds around what’s required and who will therefore pass relatively quickly out of the game as unfulfilled talents.
In all professional sport, the wastage rate between the lowest levels of contracted player and the top echelon of the game is massive. Try 95-98% in most codes. Therefore maybe one guy in 50 who signs a professional contract, of whatever value, makes it into the big time for even one game. And then he has to become a good player, and move on if possible from there.
A very small percentage will cut through the grades quickly, and even then they’ll need at least one good year at each level before being ready to progress.
For a forward, it’s all about learning that there are far more times when you have to get your nose bashed in than occasions when you can run rampant up the field in the ITM Cup as happened in school rugby.
For young backs, it’s about working in ever-decreasing time-frames and working against defenders who don’t miss a lot of tackles. And it all happens in a game that moves a great deal faster than even the best First XV match.
Since the face of club rugby, especially in the metros, has changed out of all recognition in the last 20 years, these kids don’t have to do a year in third grade before getting a run in the seniors, and they don’t often have to prove themselves against experienced rep players in club footy since the best are away with their Super rugby teams throughout the club season.
So the step from college to senior club is relatively small now, but the next one, to ITM Cup play, is probably the biggest they’ll have to make in their entire career.
For many, it will be the first time they’ve run into ngarly forwards with five or six years at this level behind them. It will never change; those blokes don’t let kids run roughshod over them. Never have, never will. There’s always a price to pay, and it normally hurts a lot. Sorting the men from the boys has seldom been a greater truism in New Zealand rugby than it is now, at this time of the year.
The toughest will survive, of course. Not physically tough, although that never hurts. Mental toughness is what is required now; when you’re at the bottom of the ladder you don’t get very many free passes.
I think some have to learn that. And some – there are about ten I’ve seen so far – already understand how things are, and they’re looking pretty good. Two or three might be knocking on the All Black door in a year or so, and the others may take a little longer. Some will likely max out at Super rugby level, but that says you’re still a very good player.
And some, who have far more natural talent, won’t be sighted at those rarefied levels. No matter how much you think the level of ITM Cup has fallen, it is still a competition that serves a very valuable purpose in our game.
I think the current All Blacks are a testament to that.