The Tight Five with Jim Tucker: Format rumours, roadkill Reds and why you should watch Super Rugby
THE critics will always moan about what’s wrong with Super Rugby but there are plenty of things that are right about it too. Jim Tucker takes a look at the hits and misses of the week in rugby.
Jim Tucker
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JIM Tucker takes a look at the hits and misses of this week in Super Rugby in his Tight Five column
1. SUPER RUGBY FORMAT RUMOURS
The review of the Super Rugby format has been like a strangling creeper in terms of how it is choking our view of what really matters in the first month of a new season ... the rugby.
The skewed 18-team, three-conference structure was given a general four-out-of-10 rating as hopeless even as the finals were unfolding in July-August last year.
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Is it not fair to ask why Super Rugby’s brains trust waited until the new season’s opening month to poison the air with rumours of teams being chopped, potential mergers and revised formats.
Surely, all this dialogue should have been going on in December-January so the new season proceeded with gusto.
As with everything in this format debate, your view is twisted by exactly what postcode or country you live in.
The Kiwis are sitting pretty and not just because the Crusaders and Chiefs are both undefeated entering the fourth round.
None of their five teams are under threat and their SANZAAR position is related to tweaking the format to grab more home finals for their well-performed teams and fixing weak links in the competition.
The absurdity of this debate is that the club with the least to offer in the 18-team competition is probably safest in South Africa.
The Southern Kings, based out of Port Elizabeth, are box office duds everywhere except their home town but they are a noble win for affirmative action in their region.
The Australian sides have picked a wonderful time to have one of their poorest starts in recent history with the NSW Waratahs, Queensland Reds, Brumbies and the imperilled Western Force all winning just one of their first three games and the Melbourne Rebels being smashed back-to-back.
Australian rugby needs a classic Waratahs-Brumbies clash at Allianz Stadium in Sydney on Saturday night like never before to hijack the conversation from the boardroom and back to the rugby field even if just for a few days.
2. THE ROADKILL REPUTATION OF THE REDS
THERE are many measures of why the Queensland Reds have been on the nose for a few years.
One of the starkest is their 0-9 record on the road since they last won away from their cosy Suncorp Stadium home in May 2015.
It doesn’t get any easier with the dangerous Lions in Johannesburg and the Jaguares a week later in Buenos Aires on their current tour.
Shedding this roadkill reputation will be a significant step towards winning back their fan following.
The Reds only drew 17,931 fans to their recent clash against the Crusaders, traditionally one of their strongest drawing games in Brisbane.
Only three years ago, the same fixture drew 30,640 followers.
It is a major drop-off and a hit on the financial bottom line.
The disappointing part is the Reds had those 17,000 fans hooked with the riveting 20-7 first half against the Crusaders.
It was the sort of revivalist rugby that coach Nick Stiles and his team had hinted at.
There was another smashing Samu Kerevi try, a lovely low gather-and-pass from hooker Stephen Moore to get an Eto Nabuli try going and plenty of rattling hits to show the Reds meant business in defence.
Quade Cooper also produced his best minutes of the season with a controlled general’s game after winding back his running role because of a knee tweak early in the game.
Unfortunately, the killer instinct to finish off a top team takes time to learn and the Reds blew it with a 22-20 loss on the siren.
3. REASONS TO WATCH SUPER RUGBY
THE critics will always moan about what’s wrong with Super Rugby but there are plenty of things that are right about it too.
The Kiwis are always worth watching but there are Aussies really showing us their best right from the outset.
Reds centre Samu Kerevi has been superb and has put a gap on Tevita Kuridrani for the Test outside centre spot.
More unsung is his centre partner Duncan Paia’aua, who has a silky pass and some sting to his defence. The latter we know because of that rattling hit on All Black Ryan Crotty against the Crusaders.
NSW Waratahs fullback Andrew Kellaway, Western Force backs Chance Peni and Curtis Rona, the expanding afro of Brumbies winger Henry Speight have all made worthy marks.
4. GRASSROOTS RUGBY
BROTHERS gave the season a wonderful February lift-off to the club season with their impressive hosting of the Australian Club Championship clash against Sydney premiers Norths at Crosby Park.
Better still they showed how to self-fund a massive day of club footy for 3000 fans and turn it into a money-spinner to help fund the 2017 season.
In raw figures, Brothers gathered gross revenue of $130,995 and outlayed $79,810 in expenses.
That’s a net profit of around $51,000, driven in a large part by the boundless thirst of the patrons who put around $62,000 over the bar during the day.
The Premier Rugby season kicks off on Saturday with another high point to celebrate.
Wests are christening their impressive Scifleet Stadium with its state-of-the-art rugby, medical, function and cafe facility.
It’s a wonderful show of what can be achieved by a battling club with a shrewd board and supportive local council.
A Wests-University local derby is the ideal way to get things rolling for Bulldogs captain Alec Jones and his Wests teammates.
Across town, former Brisbane Bronco Caleb Timu will make his return from a knee reconstruction for Souths in another derby clash against Sunnybank at Chipsy Wood Oval.
5. MARIKA KOROIBETE
THERE are few more daunting matches for a winger than being caught in the firing line when the Hurricanes start running on their home patch in Wellington.
It certainly doesn’t help when that day happens to be your Super Rugby debut.
NRL convert Marika Koroibete was all at sea in his recent debut for the Melbourne Rebels when hesitant with his defensive positioning. He just looked like a bloke as fresh to rugby as a high school rookie.
It can only look up from here although the Chiefs will be just as stern a test in Melbourne on Friday night.
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