The Waratahs will be underdone. The Reds’ tour of Europe – and a useful 38-31 win against Ulster at the weekend – left the Waratahs without anyone to play against, which means they will be a wee bit undercooked for their season-opener against the Highlanders on Friday.
Logic dictates that the Waratahs will be better by round seven than round one, so any win will do on Friday: one point is enough. The Highlanders wrapped up their preseason with a 29-24 win against the Crusaders on Thursday, and while the result is irrelevant Dan McKellar and co would have noted that the game involved some decent contact and a lot of ball movement – the sort of thing you can’t replicate in training. But he would have also seen how the Highlanders’ scrum got a bit of a touch up in the first half and how their lineout fell apart in the second spell when changes were made in the loose forwards and at hooker.
Schmidt announcement piles pressure on Super coaches
If I were running a Super Rugby club, I’d be quietly miffed at the timing of the announcement that Joe Schmidt is leaving the Wallabies after the Rugby Championship. On the eve of Super Rugby, it puts a lot of pressure on the four coaches because all of them are being linked to the Wallabies gig to one degree or another. They’re going to be peppered with questions about the Wallabies job, to which there is no correct answer, and their early Super Rugby results are going to be viewed through the same lens. It’s a distraction that could have been avoided. Rugby Australia has done a lot of good things in the past 12-18 months but my strong sense is that the Schmidt issue ran on for too long.
Joe Schmidt will leave his role after the Rugby Championship.Credit: Rugby Australia
Why Jack Mesley won’t take on PVL
Don’t expect the new Super Rugby Pacific chief executive Jack Mesley to engage in any public exchanges with Peter V’Landys: he knows he’s got to look after his own backyard first. “I think we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Mesley told me. “So I’d rather not be thinking about what ‘PVL’ is saying about rugby. Our commitment is to focus on the competition, get the competition growing. We’ve got a lot of work to do to continue off that growth from last year. There’s so much that we can be doing to fuel interest in our comp. Once we think we’ve squeezed the lemon and we’re where we want to be, then maybe that’ll change.”
Here come the Irish and British Lions
Ireland’s comprehensive victory against Scotland in Edinburgh overnight on Monday confirmed that the Lions squad will be dominated by the men in green. Scotland lost Finn Russell and Darcy Graham in the first half after a sickening collision, but the tone had already been well and truly set inside the first 20 minutes. The Scots were blown away by Ireland’s intensity in that period and could have been 20-0 down if not for some desperate interventions on their own goal-line. It would be no surprise to see as many as 10 Irishmen start the first Test against the Wallabies, and the chance of young No 10 Sam Prendergast being part of the touring squad grew exponentially at the weekend after his excellent display. Either Prendergast or England No 10 Fin Smith, 21 and 22 respectively, will tour Australia. Smith was the picture of composure in his first start for England as they upset the French at Twickenham.
Lions Team of the Week
Paul Cully will select the best players in the Six Nations each week in the lead up to the naming of the British & Irish Lions squad to tour Australia.
- Andrew Porter (Ireland)
- Ronan Kelleher (Ireland)
- Will Stuart (England)
- James Ryan (Ireland)
- Tadhg Beirne (Ireland)
- Tom Curry (England)
- Josh van der Flier (Ireland)
- Caelan Doris (Ireland)
- Jamison Gibson-Park (Ireland)
- Sam Prendergast (Ireland)
- James Lowe (Ireland)
- Bundee Aki (Ireland)
- Ollie Lawrence (England)
- Tommy Freeman (England)
- Hugo Keenan (Ireland)
Dupont is the GFOAT
France’s implosion in their 26-25 loss to England – a Test they should have won three times over – again puts the spotlight on their record.
Les Bleus have won just one Six Nations in the past 10 years, and haven’t made it past the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals over the same period. Halfback Antoine Dupont, rated by some up north as rugby’s GOAT, was poor by his standards against England – dropping the ball, slipping off tackles and failing to marshal his team. Of course, you can still be a great player in a team that wins nothing, but the greatest rugby player of all time? That’s not how it works. At the moment, the 28-year-old looks more like the GFOAT, the greatest French player of all time, and his absence from France’s midyear tour of New Zealand won’t help him take the next step.
