Beauden Barrett and the Blues have been leaving the opposition in their wake. Photo / Getty
Beauden Barrett and the Blues have been leaving the opposition in their wake. Photo / Getty
OPINION:
Phil Gifford presents his six talking points as Super Rugby Pacific heads into the semifinals.
Sorry cobber
Credit to the Brumbies for a gutsy fightback to beat the Hurricanes 35-25 in Canberra. But the TAB making the Blues hot favourites ($1.20) to beat the only Australian team left inthe competition feels like a reasoned assessment ahead of their semifinal at Eden Park on Saturday night.
It is a blow for the Blues losing captain Dalton Papalii, whose recovery from having his appendix removed would certainly have been aided by watching the Blues dispose of a battling Highlanders side 35-6. But, as dynamic as Papalii has been, the Blues of 2022 don't just depend on their star players to win the day.
Every week the attitude and energy of the team pay tribute to the abilities of Leon MacDonald and his coaching staff. As a player MacDonald was coolness personified, combining a frightening lack of fear with impeccable technique. It's fascinating to catch glimpses of him in the coaches' box now, where another aspect of his personality is revealed, a fervour so intense you worry that he might spontaneously combust.
Superstars never go amiss
The bad years for the Blues coincided with a lack of a world class first-five, a gap in the team's fabric now brilliantly filled by Beauden Barrett.
Against the Highlanders Barrett was at his supersonic best. When he's on song he can set up, or score, tries no other first-five in world rugby can. Having the speed of a test-level wing is a huge help, but it's his quickness of mind, and decisiveness once he sees an opportunity, that make him a constant threat to defenders.
There will be bruises
While it would be a massive upset if the Brumbies won, they will, as the Canes found to their dismay, scrap to the last whistle. It was just a fortnight ago that Barrett had to kick a last-second drop goal for the Blues to beat the Brumbies 21-19 in Canberra. The Brumbies halfback Nic White is a wild-eyed, scrappy, angry, talisman for his team, and you'll be able to trace his footprints around Eden Park by the scorch marks on the turf.
Pita Gus Sowakula thrives in the collision. Photo / Getty
Talking about collisions
Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch on Friday, when the Crusaders will face the Chiefs, won't be a place for the faint-hearted.
There was more common ground in the Crusaders' 37-15 win over the Reds and the Chiefs' 39-15 despatching of the Waratahs than the similarity of the quarter-final scorelines.
Common sense says the Crusaders, with so much experience in the furnace of knockout footy, will prevail next Friday, and the TAB, who have the Crusaders $1.30 to $3.30 favourites, certainly think so.
What you can absolutely take to the bank though is the Chiefs making it tough. Brodie Retallick is playing as if he hadn't missed seven rounds with a broken thumb, and No 8 Pita Gus Sowakula is born for contact.
Losing Ethan Blackadder, the man both his coaches and teammates rated the Crusaders' player of the year, with an excruciating shoulder injury in the Reds' game is a blow, but players like Sam Whitelock, Pablo Matera and George Bower thrive on confrontation.
The most jaw-dropping moment
A host of brilliant tries lifted the quarter-finals, but my play of the weekend came from Highlanders lock Josh Dickson in the 22nd minute at Eden Park. The Blues were driving towards the tryline from a lineout when Dickson reached a long left arm out, and with one hand plucked the ball away from under a Blues arm as easily as a kid picking a piece of popcorn from a bag.
Sevu Reece was one of the standouts of the round. Photo / Getty
Player of the quarters
There were many contenders, but for sheer entertainment value, it was impossible to go past Crusaders wing Sevu Reece, whose energy levels, never less than electrifying, were off the scale against the Reds. His try in the 64th minute, when he stepped past four dumbfounded tacklers, then out-paced a fifth, was a thrilling sequence.
