A rugby soap opera that has us hooked
For a tournament that is meant to be struggling, past its sell by date and with an uncertain future, the Rugby Championship has made a lively start.
Excellent in parts, eccentric in others but full of interest on and off the pitch. As with the Six Nations, not every game is a classic but it's been compelling stuff played in front of raucous full houses. It feels like the tournament might just have got its mojo back.
Of course, it always helps up here in Britain and Ireland if there hasn't been a Lions tour to agonise and fulminate over for most of the summer. That usually leaves us sated rugby-wise, needing a rugby detox for a month or two and, in those years, the Rugby Championship comes and goes without a murmur frankly.
The 2022 Championship is also 15 months out from the World Cup which turns up the wick a little, especially as the Rugby Championship in World Cup years tends to be an abbreviated threeround affair.
And there is another factor coming into play here. The humongous number of South Africans and Pumas now playing club rugby in Europe means we are much more au fait and invested in some of the players. It adds that extra slice of interest when deciding whether to abandon that shady spot in the garden and to come inside and watch the rugby.
It got off to a flying start before a whistle was even blown with the apparent decline of New Zealand occupying everybody's minds. Was it real? Would it last? Could coach Ian Foster survive? Where was it all going wrong? Four defeats in their last five games, schooled by Ireland in the last two Tests of their series.
The All Blacks have dominated the Rugby Championship to an unhealthy degree, that's one of the reasons it's become a turn off for non partisans. New Zealand claimed 11 Tri-Nations titles, and seven Rugby Championships thus far. Australia and South Africa have just four apiece while the Pumas are still chasing their first silverware. South Africa may have won two World Cups during that period but the annual southern hemisphere championship has generally been a procession for the Kiwis.
So, we have had the frison of the All Blacks in apparent meltdown – well their media at least – and the spectacle of a double header against the Boks in South Africa to kick off their campaign, their first visit there since pre Covid times in 2019. Capacity crowds again and the old rivalry renewed in earnest. That at a stroke sexed the tournament up.
First up came an ominously comfortable 26-10 South Africa win, indeed their second biggest win in the history of the fixture and predictably Foster became public enemy No 1 back home, closely followed by his skipper Sam Cane. They stoically ignored all the noise and somehow conjured up a sensational win at Ellis Park last week, not just in its comeback nature but the sheer quality of their performance.
New Zealand exploded out of the blocks – which they haven't done for a while – and then, when the Boks threatened to take control in the second half, the All Blacks responded with one of the best, most concentrated multi-phased tries in many seasons, finally finished off by David Havili. There was a controlled fury in that score which bodes well for their future.
But what is great about this tournament are the subplots. What on earth were South Africa doing putting Malcolm Marx on the bench after a performance for the ages in the first Test? His replacement Joseph Dweba has been distinctly average at Bordeaux during the last three seasons. And why replace Jasper Wiese, who has been on fire, at No.8 with Duane Vermeulen who is 36 and currently operating on one leg. Strange decisions by Jacques Nienaber and/or Rassie Erasmus in the background.
As a pointer to the future the Kiwis identified a clear Achilles' heel in the world champions, if you can make them turn to their bench earlier than usual and if you can keep the tempo high they could be prone to running out of gas in the final 10 minutes or so.
Who would be Foster, incidentally? Incredibly down in New Zealand some were insisting that the historic win was really a win for the Crusaders and the game plan adopted by their coach Scott Robertson who is of course the man the New Zealand media want in charge. Eventually the NZRFU Board convened on Wednesday night and Foster's position was confirmed up to RWC2023 with Joe Schmidt taking a bigger role in the background.
And what of Australia and the Pumas? The Aussies somehow managed to cobble together 30 fit adult males to make the long journey, more in hope than expectation, and then 48 hours before kick-off in the first Test their talisman and totem pole flanker and skipper Michael Hooper decided he couldn't go to the well anymore and needed to stop. Hooper was on the next plane to Sydney and presumably won't be available again this season, his mental and physical health comes first and he owes the Wallabies nothing. Indeed, they will forever be in his debt.
In the short term you assumed his shock departure would rock the Wallabies but quite the opposite. As if not really computing the news they fronted up big time and walked off with an admirable win. Funny old game, Saint.
It was seven days later that everything fell apart. Delayed shock probably and yes there were yet more big injuries to contend not least Quade Cooper again – but as good as Argentina were Australia were miserably poor and 48-17 is a humping by any criteria.
Meanwhile a penny for the thoughts of Michael Cheika the discarded former Wallabies coach who is now in charge of the Pumas.
Like I say, unpredictable. The 2022 Rugby Championship has been a gripping soap opera of a tournament so far and the best could be yet to come. I strongly advise you to catch the next episode before we become immersed in the Premiership again.
