Almanac Rugby – Super Rugby AU Rd 7/ Aotearoa Rd 6

 

 

While sitting in the stands watching the Rebels get blown off the park by the Reds, I got thinking about finals and how the Rebels are still favoured to finish third. In that case they would play a semi final to decide who meets the top team in the final of SRAU. I then contrasted that with the situation across the Tasman and shook my head.

 

I have a big problem with competitions that reward more than half the participating teams with final spots, There shouldn’t be 3 finalists in a 5 team competition, particularly not when there are really only 2 contenders (Reds and Brumbies) and filler. In NZ, they do the sensible thing and have one final at the end of the home and away – 1 v 2. The irony is that all 5 times over there could still technically make the final, although the Hurricanes’ gallant loss to the Blues has probably ended their quest.

 

In MLB, 10 of the 30 teams make the postseason. Rewarding one in every three teams is the perfect fit in my opinion. Now that I have that off my chest, onto the weekend’s results.

 

Brumbies 24 Waratahs 22

 

As is so often the case after sacking a coach, the Tahs played out of their skin at the SCG on Good Friday. They were particularly resourceful late in the game, scoring a try just before fulltime. The missed conversion attempt after the siren robbed them of the chance to send the game into overtime and provide some real joy to their fans.

 

Reds 44 Rebels 19

 

If ever there was an opportunity for the status quo to be disrupted it was this game. The Reds had won five on the trot but the Rebels were showing enough to suggest an upset was in the offing.

 

Alas, the Queenslanders hit hard and hit early to snuff out that prospect. Their first foray forward produced a pushover try. Minutes later it was an intercept try. Barely halfway through my first beer, it was game over. There were glimpses late in the first half of a Rebels comeback with two tries coming off the back of nicely executed plays.

 

In the end, though, the class of the visitors was evident to all. The inevitable end of season showdown with the Brumbies is now within sight.

 

Highlanders 33 Crusaders 12

 

The Crusaders were brought crashing down to earth by an inspirational performance from the Dunedin lads. The normally unflappable men in red were forced into playing catch-up and never seemed to be up for the task.

 

This result opens up lots of permutations in coming weeks for ladder position with the Blues now a realistic prospect of finishing top.

 

Blues 27 Hurricanes 17

 

And the reason the Blues are in that position is because of their ability to close out tight games like this one against the Canes. In the dying minutes, the visitors showed a lot of enterprise and peppered the Blues defensive zone with menacing sorties.

 

The Blues’ determination to make Eden Park a fortress once again, is propelling them onto greater things.

 

I am concerned about the momentum in our comp compared with our cousins’ but then that’s not a new phenomenon. North got walloped by over 100 points on Good Friday so hey what’s the use of worrying, it never done much good. I’ll keep packing up my ol’ kit bag and try and smile, smile, smile.

 

 

 

Read more from Brian the Ruminator HERE

 

 

The Tigers (Covid) Almanac 2020 will be published in 2021. It will have all the usual features – a game by game account of the Tigers season – and will also include some of the best Almanac writing from the Covid winter.  Pre-order HERE

 

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