John Drake: New format, same old sparks

It's close to halftime in the new, improved, bigger and better Super series so let's review how the competition has shaped up with particular emphasis on the old favourites: the Blues' blues, referees, Aussie egos and the vagaries of South African rugby.

There's an old saying that the best referees are those never mentioned or talked about - in other words, the guys who just let the game flow.

Unfortunately this is pretty rare these days with referees, TMOs and the Sanzar rule-makers getting just about more press than some of the teams and players.

Some of the officials on show are not up to standard, and the structure of the competition makes dropping poor-performing refs too hard.

A whole bunch of new guys are being introduced. Some have made the grade while others have struggled.

Of greater concern is the continued perseverance with a few old hacks who have never been up to standard. Thankfully there are no New Zealand refs in this group. Major areas of concern have been the scrums and ruck/maul area.

It seems Sanzar's top brass, coaches and refs got together before the season and decided it would be fairer for all if no one team had the advantage of getting the initial hit at the scrum.

So we have seen endless delays, resets and penalties at the scrum. I can only imagine this initiative came from the Aussies, who seem paranoid about any physical confrontation at scrum time.

No red-blooded South African would ever agree to what is effectively a de-powering of the scrum. Modern New Zealand teams have improved the technique and power to such an extent that the victory last year against England was built on Carl Hayman outsmarting Andy Sheridan by cramping him for space and getting a powerful hit in early.

If the officials are trying to even up the scrums by negating the advantage of technique and skill of timing the hit, they may as well also stop lineout jumpers getting in front of the competing jumper as it's not fair.

Both techniques require great skill and are developed over many years of training. We should reward superior technique and ability, not try to protect the weak and incompetent.

The ruck/maul area is organised chaos, and I pity the poor referees trying to figure out who's right and who's wrong.

The rules are so precise and yet open to wild variation of interpretation. The likes of Richie McCaw and George Smith seem to get preferential treatment in Super 14.

It's always interesting to compare how these two are treated by officials at test matches compared with Super 14 games.

Last year McCaw was penalised off the park in early tests and had to change his ways or be eliminated as a consistent cheat.

Again the Blues have struggled to produce past results, and a variety of theories have been bouncing around as to why.

For me the team's performance is linked to their failure to win quality lineout and scrum ball, inaccuracy in basic skills, and a lack of real depth at openside flanker, No 8 and halfback.

Apart from these small problems they are playing well. To those with conspiracy theories over too many Polynesians etc, start looking at how the team are doing the basics and not the shades of colour of skin.

The Aussie are a clever bunch. They go full out to get an extra Super 14 team to show their rugby depth and strength and then plunder the resources of the Queensland Reds etc.

Meanwhile, the Waratahs look to recruit more backs from league while their scrum remains as fragile as a place in Helen Clark's Cabinet.

Surely the ARU would be better building up the playing numbers in Queensland and New South Wales at junior levels rather than the quick fix of recruiting from other codes.

I wonder how serious the South Africans are about really competing in the competition. Maybe the Currie Cup is still the big deal for the administrators, and the Super 14 just provides some helpful cash to fund other areas of their game.

Don't get me wrong, I think the players and coaches are giving it 100 per cent. Considering the travel and time away, some of their teams go all right but seem hindered by inept administration, bickering between neighbouring unions, and bizarre commands and decisions from above.

At the moment their bottom-placed side will be relegated from next year's competition.

It looks like the Johannesburg-based Cats are for the cut, which would be the equivalent of New Zealand dropping the Blues for, say, Taranaki. Watch this space for another U-turn from the South Africans on this issue soon.

One thing about Super 14. It's never boring. Sometimes we even talk about how the team/players are performing.

* John Drake is a former World Cup-winning All Black.