AS players from the northern hemisphere go on a much-needed summer break after a long season, the Super Rugby competition resumed yesterday now that the June internationals have been dealt with.
The Chiefs had the better of the Crusaders 23-13 in the first ever Super Rugby game to be played in Suva, Fiji, while the Brumbies were comfortable 43-24 winners at home against the Reds.
With this win the Chiefs leapfrog over the losers to head the New Zealand conference, with the Brumbies retaining that same position in Australia. Today sees seven more games.
After this there are only two more rounds of the regular season to be played before the knockout phase starts and culminates with the final on August 8.
The next phase of the southern international season starts with the Rugby Championship, a competition that starts on August 20 and ends on October 8.
That will be followed by more rugby, beginning with Wales taking on Australia on November 11 in the northern autumn internationals.
After their recent 3-0 historic whitewash at home by England, the Wallabies will have the chance to restore some pride when they meet England at Twickenham on December 3.
The autumn internationals provide the first opportunity for Wales and Ireland especially to show to the rugby world if indeed they have gained valuable lessons from their June Tests against the All Blacks and Springboks respectively.
Wales coach Warren Gatland spoke about the experience that would only be good for his boys. Wales started well in the first two of three Tests but got blown away in the last quarter.
With the series already decided, they looked like they were thinking more of home by the time the teams met in the dead rubber in Dunedin, similar to the feelings among some of the All Blacks when they still had to play England at Twickenham in a fourth and final Test on tour in 2012, a game England won spectacularly 38-21.
Despite also having a long season, England didn’t feel fatigue in Australia recently simply because it had won the first two Tests and was looking forward to see off the Wallabies a third time, which they did. The momentum was with England and that was the impetus the team needed. Summer can wait.
The Irish too must have felt the same way in South Africa going into the third and final Test because they were in with a chance to win the series. They didn’t but that’s a different story.
On record the Irish cannot alter the statistics but they must have been very encouraged that they came close to upsetting the Boks in the series despite not having about half of their regular starting 15 who had to stay at home due to injuries.
The way the third Test went showed that Ireland need to be more composed and clinical while also needing to improve on the skills set of the players.
They could have won the deciding Test if they had controlled the ball better.
With a deficit of six points and so little time left, the way to go for a win was to score a converted try.
Just over four minutes left and Ireland was in control of possession but at the end of 22 phases turned the ball over. They did not give up and in the last minute again made a go for the Boks goal-line, at one point only about a metre away. But just like the previous move, Ireland gave a penalty at the 17th phase and with that the last chance for victory.
If there’s one area of the game that the northern teams have difficulty coping with when playing against those in the south it’s in the pace and continuity of play. The Welsh found that out again against the All Blacks while Ireland too had difficulty coping, especially in the second Test when the Springboks launched attack after attack in the last quarter of the match.
The records show that of the five top teams in the north, only England has been able to have the better of the south more often than the others, although most of their successes in this regard have been at home.
Surely Wales, Ireland, Scotland and France would like to correct this lopsidedness.