Rugby: Testing times for Super 14

Kieran Read came of age as a test player against France. Photo / Getty Images

If 2009 confirmed one thing, it was the growing divergence between test football and Super 14.

The latter has always had to field accusations of being pyjama rugby. The Poms know it is an easy wind-up, a comeback to the grief they field as a result of their chronic failings with the ball in hand.

It used to be easy enough to brush off those accusations about Super 14 - but not now.

As All Black assistant coach Wayne Smith said last week, Super 14 this year was Mars and test rugby was Venus.

What became apparent, too late for the All Blacks' Tri Nations hopes, was that test rugby is impossible now without a firm handle on the basics.

The set-piece has to be good; the collisions have to be hit and the territory gained. Without all that - forget it.

But this is the antithesis of the typical Super 14 game plan we have seen in the last few years. The firm grounds have encouraged teams to play wider earlier and to view the set piece more as a restart than a contest.

The mentality is to keep the ball alive, to keep the tempo up and to take risks

There is also, most at odds with test football, a bonus point mentality in Super 14.

It's a devil of a thing - ingrains bad habits in the players to take risks in the dying stages in pursuit of four tries; it creates a mentality where players don't determine the game in the basic terms of defeat and victory - there is glory to be found in the latter.

After the first test of the year, where the All Blacks had been blown away by France, assistant coach Steve Hansen made comments about Super 14 being a hindrance when it came to preparing players for tests.

He was ridiculed for those remarks but there is some truth to them - a truth that became more apparent as the test season progressed and the extent of how the game had changed became apparent.

The challenge now for the professional game in New Zealand is to figure a way of making sure next year's Super 14 doesn't set back the All Blacks.

It took the national side most of the Tri Nations to get to grips with the landscape and understand what the current game is all about.

By the year's final test, the players were in control of the game plan and the demands of the environment. They realised it was a territorial game.

That the back three had to be kickers and catchers first, counterattackers second. And the whole team had to learn to be patient - to not fling the ball wide early and see what happened.

Given the nature of the contracting model in New Zealand, there is opportunity for the All Black coaches to debrief the Super 14 coaches and offer some insight into the types of players and tactics they think are appropriate for the current landscape.

There is an opportunity for the five franchise coaches to be made aware of the need to focus on the set piece and to keep the collision in mind.

And most important is the need for the scrummaging to be improved across the board. This is now an area of weakness in New Zealand rugby and while most sides can get away with a shaky scrum in Super 14, the individuals will be exposed at the higher end of the game.

Mike Cron needs to be billeted around the country during Super 14 to work on the collective and individual technique of the leading front fives.

There are a few other questions regarding individuals. Kieran Read is the most obvious example. He came of age in the test in Marseilles and looks a natural No 8. The Crusaders have used him mainly at blindside as they have Thomas Waldrom.

Coach Todd Blackadder said he had thought of using Read at No 8 in a couple of games last year but injuries to others never made that possible. He will try again this year, but sees Waldrom as his starting No 8.

"There are a lot of similarities between the two," says Blackadder of six and No 8.

"There are times when there are technical differences such as getting the ball out of the boot of the scrum."

There are positional issues for the Chiefs to consider, too. Stephen Donald has been told by the All Blacks to concentrate more on second five.

The Chiefs, though, have Callum Bruce who is a useful and underrated operator in that role. However, if they don't use Donald at 12, they will have to make a choice each week between him and Mike Delany.

It's always a difficult balance between the All Blacks' needs and the needs and desires of the Super 14 coaches. They don't like the interference but there are times when it is necessary - especially next year.