An inquiry is being considered after a flight to Auckland lost altitude and King Charles releases his first video address since cancer diagnosis in the latest NZ Herald headlines.
Video / NZ Herald / AP
From the Wallabies’ World Cup horror show to the Eddie Jones saga and the bankrupt Melbourne Rebels, Australian rugby and positive headlines have been in short supply.
Finally, though, after recent years of largely playing the role of Super Rugby’s ball and chain, Australia is threatening to break those shackles to grasp elusive competitiveness against their traditionally dominant Kiwi rivals.
The Wallabies slipping to 10th in the world rankings – thanks to Italy claiming their first home Six Nations win against Scotland in 11 years – signals the low ebb the Australian game is attempting to rebuild from following their World Cup pool stage exit.
Last year Australia’s five Super Rugby teams managed six victories from 30 cross-over games against New Zealand opposition.
While it’s a small sample size, and too early to confirm a definitive shift, two notable wins from the Waratahs over the 0-3 Crusaders and the Reds trumping the competition-favourite Chiefs last weekend have regained respect.
As the Blues, following their first loss of the season to the unbeaten Hurricanes in Wellington, prepare to travel to Sydney to confront the Waratahs on Saturday night, assistant coach Paul Tito echoed the thoughts of New Zealand rugby fans who are welcoming Australia’s potential revival.
But for a missed penalty kick from playmaker Tane Edmed after the siren against the Highlanders last weekend, the Waratahs could have claimed successive Kiwi scalps.
Waratahs players celebrate after beating the Crusaders. Photo / Photosport
“They’re playing much better rugby and it’s good for the competition,” Tito said. “They’re having a real crack at the Kiwi teams where in the past maybe they’ve been a bit hesitant and not backing themselves. It’s good to see. It’s putting Kiwi teams on notice that we’re going to need to be at our best to go there and get some wins.
“It was a given the last couple of years what would happen. Now we’re seeing two Aussie teams have good wins in the weekend; the Force going to Canberra and nearly winning. There’s a bit happening, a bit going on, which is good for the competition.”
The Fijian Drua’s 10-point success against the Crusaders was the largest winning margin across the six games last weekend which speaks to the early surge in competitiveness.
Part of that can be attributed to the Crusaders’ decline – after their outflux of post-World Cup playing and coaching personnel – and a shift of the tide where the Reds appear to have stolen the mantle as the best Australian team from the Brumbies.
This weekend the Brumbies, who face the Highlanders in Dunedin on Saturday, and Waratahs have the chance to continue Australia’s momentum.
A cynic could suggest the early improvement from Australia points to an overall dip in quality but Tito believes it could be a reaction to their World Cup failure.
Blues assistant coach Paul Tito. Photo / Photosport
“They’ve started pretty low, to be fair, after the World Cup. With Joe [Schmidt] sitting in the stands everyone is keen to impress. They’re coming together and we’ve seen an increased performance.
“It’s good for the mindset you can’t loosen off. We’ve got to be physical at the breakdown. We’ve got to be better than last weekend, otherwise you go to Sydney and come back with nothing.”
The Blues will be without prop Jordan Lay for the remainder of the season after he fractured his ankle early in the second half against the Hurricanes. Winger AJ Lam is also expected to remain at home this week due to a head knock but the Blues are more hopeful with fullback Zarn Sullivan’s prognosis and Caleb Clarke is in line to return to the left edge after attending a family wedding.
The Blues were exposed – and forced to play halfback Taufa Funaki on the wing – after Lam and Sullivan’s departures shone a spotlight on the decision to employ a 6-2 bench split against the Hurricanes.
“It’s something we’ll take on the chin, move forward and learn from,” Tito said. “We were disappointed in our performance. We had plenty of entries to the 22 and for some reason we lost the ball when we got in there. We need to be better. We’ve trained that today. I don’t think it’s a mindset it’s treasuring the ball a little bit more and getting on the same page.”
All Blacks halfback Finlay Christie cited the 18 turnovers against the Hurricanes as a focus but the onus has clearly been put on the Blues forward pack after young loose forwards Brayden Iose and Peter Lakai outplayed their counterparts.
“Watching that game you’d see we lost the physical battle up front. That’s not something we take lightly so we’ve had a good look at ourselves the last couple of days and made a few fixes. We know what we need to do,” Christie said.
“It’s good for us to see how we respond coming off an early season loss.”
