Alarming signs for the Wallabies at provincial level, Kieran Read proves his no Thorne in New Zealand’s side and will the South African selectors make the big call to prevent the Bulls’ slide from affecting the Springboks? Paul Cully puts the weekend’s Super Rugby action into a World Cup context.

RugbyHeaven’s World Cup-ometer

Selection perm-utation . . . Nick Cummins is giving Robbie Deans another outside back option for the Wallabies. Photo: AFP 

Australia

Of the Wallabies’ 22 that defeated New Zealand 26-24 on October 30 last year, 13 of them came from the Brumbies and Waratahs. So how do you turn an All Blacks-conquering Wallaby into a pub player within five months?

Apparently, you just send them back to their provinces.

Robbie Deans said before the Super Rugby season started that he favoured a hands-off approach when it came to dealing with the Super franchises. Given the performances of the past three weeks, some at the ARU must now be pondering the merits of a more interventionist approach.

What was most alarming about the Waratahs loss to the Cheetahs on Saturday was the ease at which Test players folded at the first sign of hardship. A spot of inclement, but hardly atrocious weather, a stubborn but limited opponent and a few wonky throw-ins from a new hooker was all it took for the wheels to fall off.

These issues are not new for Wallabies fans but the seeming inability for the players to address them is a mounting concern in a year when time is of the essence. It took Deans until the end of the Tri Nations last year to really whip the Wallabies into shape – the breakthrough win in Bloemfontein took place eight Tests and four months after the first squad gathered. Knowing no such leeway exists in World Cup years, Deans would have expected them to turn up for duty this year at a similar or advanced stage to the end of season tour, hopefully following a successful Super finals campaign for at least two Australian franchises in Test-like conditions.

At this rate he’ll be spending the first few months attending to crises in confidence of varying degrees, bruised egos and mental scars inflicted by New Zealand and South African opposition. Not to mention the growing injury list.

So it is hard to remember a Brumbies v Waratahs match with more significance than this Saturday’s match. Those with question marks against their names – and who hasn’t? – will be playing for much more than the competition points. It is not as if there aren’t alternative cases being put forward by the likes of Sam Wykes in the second row, Nick Cummins as a centre/wing and James O’Connor as a 10. Nor has Deans been afraid to dump ‘established’ players in recent history.

Happily for the Wallabies, there were signs in the Reds’ win over the Rebels that one of their key men, Quade Cooper, is playing himself back into form. Let’s not get too excited – the woeful Rebels made Mike Harris, a solid operator at ITM Cup level, look like a cross bewteen Dan Carter and Frank Bunce. But there was enough of Cooper’s trademark running to the defensive line to admire.

RugbyHeaven doesn’t buy the line that Cooper is a poor defender because he lacks courage. He shows plenty of bravery in attack.

Every time his partner Will Genia is bending over the ball at the ruck, Cooper is already moving forward towards the defence, at pace, in the knowledge that every loose forward in the competition would like to hit him so hard that his tattoos come off. It would be a lot easier – and safer – for Cooper to sit deeper, in the pocket, but he constantly stresses defences until he finds the chink, whether through his own speed or his peerless long passing.

We also think that the Reds’ decision to hide him from a five-eighth’s defensive duties does nothing for the Wallabies.

Queenslanders will howl, but let’s be honest, the Reds will not win the Super title, but the Wallabies have a real shout of winning the Cup if their No.10 has at least been given the opportunity of honing his defensive technique in the preceding months. Did not Deans issue him with an ultimatum after England last year and be rewarded with an improved effort against Italy?

 The injuries: The sight of Benn Robinson going to the sideline with a rib injury was very worrying. He will be out for three weeks with a fractured rib. The Wallabies need this guy at his best.

The wildcard: Nick Cummins. Last week he compared himself to a honey badger, he apparently perms his mullet and he smashes into contact. That’s good enough for us.

New Zealand

Two of the past three World-Cup winning sides had No.8s who were giants of that position. In 1999 it was Toutai Kefu for Australia, in 2003 it was England’s Lawrence Dallalglio. Is New Zealand’s Kieran Read going to be the 2011 version?

His display and captaincy for the Crusaders on Saturday, on the back of an outstanding 2010, suggests he is on the right path.

Written off somewhat dismissively earlier in his career as “another Rueben Thorne”, Read has made giant strides since the All Blacks coaches installed him in the No.8 jersey, even though to that point he had played largely on the blindside flank.

His showing against the Highlanders was further confirmation that the All Blacks have something that they have lacked in the past two campaigns – an explosive big man at the back of the scrum who goes over the gain line.

After a relatively quiet start to the year, Read was outstanding. Time and time against the tough Highlanders he made important metres and then when the opportunity came in the loose he displayed his athleticism with a 50m dash to the try line with Jimmy Cowan trailing in his wake. And it’s not just his work rate and lack of errors in his game that impresses. When young second-rower Sam Whitelock was sent to the sin bin in the first half, it was Read whom the Crusaders gathered around for the pep talk.

Little wonder the 25-year-old is featuring prominently in “next All Blacks captain” discussions. After an early setback to the Blues and the horrors of the Christchurch earthquake, the Crusaders have barely missed a beat without the injured Richie McCaw.

In fact, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to shake the feeling that the All Blacks’ World Cup fortunes are inextricably linked to the Crusaders. One-eyed Cantabrians will be lobbying for the inclusion of up to 11 Crusaders in New Zealand’s starting XV and while that might be optimistic, there is no doubt the core of the All Blacks is being forged in Christchurch.

McCaw, Read, Whitelock, Brad Thorn and Owen Franks are well clear of their competitors in the pack, while Sonny Bill Williams, Israel Dagg, Robbie Fruean and a rejuvenated Andy Ellis are staking their claims to be included alongside Dan Carter in the backs.

The benefits of familiarity were starkly clear on Saturday as the scrum destroyed a depleted Highlanders unit and Williams yet again displayed his amazing knack of keeping the ball alive after contact. On three second-half occasions he found runners on his shoulders with a variety of offloads and the big No.12 even won a turnover with some previously unseen technique at the breakdown.

Given Read’s performance, it was timely that further north on Saturday night Hurricanes No.8 Victor Vito was producing the sort of display his potential had long hinted at. Vito was everywhere in a game where the 41-17 scoreline unfairly maligned the Hurricanes, showing venom on defence and attack to complement his strong lineout work.

While the drums are beating for Adam Thomson, Vito has the attraction of being a genuine option at No.8 as well at No.6, and he has thrown his name into the loose-forward mix.

For the Chiefs, Sitiveni Sivivatu continued his steady improvement against the Sharks, throwing himself into the line and repeatedly showing that ability for turning up at second receiver to ask questions of the defence. Richard Kahui must also have been delighted with a strong return from shoulder woes, particularly his considerable shot on Louis Ludik that sent the Sharks No.15 sprawling across the turf.

The injuries: Stephen Donald is gone for a month with a back fracture. By the time he returns will Colin Slade have mounted a compelling case to be Carter’s deputy?

The wildcard: Jared Payne. Conrad Smith isn’t the only intelligent No.13 in New Zealand who runs clever lines to benefit the pace outside him. Growing with every game.

South Africa

Something astonishing happened in the Bulls v Stormers game at the weekend. After years of terrorising opposition lineouts in their Pretoria citadel, sending various hooker-second row combinations into meltdown, Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha didn’t trust themselves.

First, Matfield called a risky throw to the tail in difficult, slippery conditions. Not straight. Then they went to prop Gurthro Steenkamp from a short throw-in. Third, they went to Botha at the front and the ball was turned over. It wasn’t until their fourth lineout – to blindside Dewald Potgeiter – that the Bulls got it right.

The reason was pretty hard to miss – the giant, 208-centimetre figure of Andries Bekker. It felt as close to a passing of the Springboks baton as you are ever likely to get. But the question is: do the Springboks dare pick a World Cup side that breaks up their talismanic locking duo? And is the Bulls’ demise a predictor of what is in stored for the Springboks?

It wasn’t just in the set-piece that Matfield and Botha were outpointed. All over the park, Bekker and his young second-row cohort Rynhardt Elstadt were displaying the sort of athleticism so vital to the modern game, while Matfield and Botha tried in vain to stem the tide of the Stormers’ physicality.

Again, Bulls No.8 Pierre Spies was virtually anonymous from the action, a worrying sign for South African selectors with Ryan Kankowski equally subdued in the Sharks’ arm wrestle against the Chiefs. Fourie du Preez cut a frustrated figure at No.9, and Morne Steyn’s most obvious weapon – the up and under – has largely been negated by the long overdue and welcome decision by the officials to correctly police the chasers.

But while the Bulls might be giving Springboks fans plenty of reasons to fret, the Stormers are doing the opposite. Their lack of tries has been well documented, but it’s hard to feel anything but admiration for the toughness of their approach. Francois Louw is having a huge season at openside and Duane Vermuelen is a bullocking presence at No.8. The five-pointers will come, especially with the exceptional Jaque Fourie back at No.13 to restore his midfield partnership with Jean de Villiers.

Bryan Habana, too, took a huge step in the right direction with a workaholic display on the wing that was rewarded with a classic poacher’s try to seal the game. While this amount of pace and hunger remain intact, Habana will continue to be a matchwinner at Test level.

The most significant individual South African performance of the weekend however, happened before the Stormers confirmed the Bulls’ fading powers. At the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday night, Heinrich Brussow sent a message to the world that he is back.

Remarkably, after just a touch over half of football the week before, Brussow gave the Waratahs a lesson at the breakdown, winning several turnovers and penalties and stopping what little momentum the Tahs generated stone dead. Brussow has that sense of timing that marks all great opensides, the ability to hover at the breakdown before pouncing. When he came from the field after 69 minutes, the Cheetahs’ bench practically formed a queue to pat his back.

If there were any doubts that he could transform the Boks this year, Saturday night answered some of them.

The injuries: A rare clean bill of health, apart from a minor hand injury to Sharks No.10 Pat Lambie.

The wildcard: Dewaldt Duvenage. Where is this smart, uncapped little No.9 in the national pecking order? On the evidence of his fine game against du Preez, not high enough.