The warm glow that New Zealand rugby fans hold as they reflect on their status as World Champions will mean that there will be high hopes that the most successful country in the history of Super Rugby will add to their ten titles.
Already the World Cup winning All Blacks have arrived back at their respective franchises, and it is with some irony, or perhaps a simple case of the high level of expectation that comes with Kiwis and their rugby – that will mean that relief of breaking a 20-year Webb Ellis Cup winless run will only heighten demand that the Super Rugby trophy be added to the cabinet.
Especially considering that New Zealand sides are in the midst of another ‘record drought’, having not won the Super Rugby title since 2008 (between 1996 and that year the longest period a New Zealand franchise had gone without the crown was precisely 12 months).
Despite this as a collective the New Zealand teams were the strongest in Super Rugby last year, with their five teams finishing in the top ten.
Crusaders (NZ Conf. winners, beaten Super Rugby Finalists)
“Oh what could have been” would have been uttered by Crusaders supporters as the seven-time champions defied an earthquake, no home games and a 100,000km plane ticket to reach the Super Rugby Final, and were it not for another ‘overcoming disaster’ team in the Reds (the Queensland Floods) could have conquered more adversity that perhaps any other sporting side in history.
The Blues and Highlanders played their part as title contenders throughout the season, while the Chiefs and Hurricanes faithful will want to leave 2011 behind them, although both teams were still able to display signs, however brief, of their potential.
There were numerous glimpses of the Crusaders looking typically unbeatable as not only did they deal with the above factors, but they laughed in the face of injuries – with twin pillars Richie McCaw and Dan Carter missing for long periods of the season.
Across the park they showed strength, boasting the strongest scrum in the competition, a mix of brawn and brains at tackle area and ruck, a monstrous midfield and speed to burn out wide.
This combined with more All Blacks than any other team.
Yet much of the Crusaders success over the years has been the smooth and continued function of an elite rugby machine irrespective of its parts (players), and even when McCaw and Carter were not available, two breeds of red and black players stood up.
Matt Todd, who appears to be yet another soon to be Crusader cum All Black in waiting, stepped into the massive breach left by the nation’s captain. While Matt Berquist, a workmanlike and unspectacular first five-eighth, filled the void left by Super Rugby’s all-time leading point’s scorer to guide the Crusaders ship with a steady hand.
In theory one suspects the Crusaders will be even stronger this season, able to bask in the comforts of home while building to break what is now a record three-season patch without the Super Rugby title.
They will not be without their challenges though, having lost Brad Thorn, Sonny Bill Williams, Chris Jack, Kahn Fotuali’i and Berquist.
Equally they will be mindful of winning the tactical game, irrespective of all of the weapons in their arsenal.
The Reds two victories over the Crusaders this season actually extended their winning record over the Kiwi team to five straight matches (two pre-season matches, two regular season fixtures, one final), where they have carefully avoided the strength of the seven-time champions.
The Reds avoided scrum confrontation where possible, courageously tackled the Williams and Robbie Fruean midfield into submission, flooded the ruck and held onto possession to prevent classical Crusaders counter-attack, while playing the game at extreme pace, against the steady and patient control the New Zealanders like to maintain.
While those tactics proved the coaching nous of Ewen McKenzie, his counterpart in Todd Blackadder, preparing for his fourth ‘Crusade’, will be better schooled and well equipped to bring the trophy back to a region affectionately called “title town”.
Blues (2nd NZ Conf. beaten Super Rugby semi-finalists)
At one point it seemed they were going to claim their fourth Super Rugby championship when sitting on a seven-match win streak while losing just one of their opening 11 games.
Ridding their game of inconsistency suffered in past seasons, the Blues looked well poised before four straight losses on the eve of the Super Rugby Finals Series took critical momentum away from their charge.
It wasn’t a case of the wheels falling off, with each of those four reverses still earning a losing bonus point, but it clearly robbed the three-time champions of precious confidence, something that was not lacking in their semi-final vanquishers the Reds.
The Reds strategy to blitzkrieg the Blues was used during the regular season and their knock out match, with the eventual champions engineering 24-0 (after 30 min) and 15-0 (after 34 min) leads to sucker punch the Auckland based franchise out of those respective contests.
Still the Blues looked strong; showcasing what has become a trademark bully-boy defensive style, power up front befitting an All Blacks tight five while lashed with their typical venom in the three quarter line.
Patience was on display too, as was previously unseen comfort in adapting their blueprint as conditions or rivals dictated.
This was somewhat compromised as the principal executioner of match strategies – the first five-eighth – was swapped between Luke McAlister and Stephen Brett who both started equal matches throughout the season.
That selection conundrum won’t occur this season as both playmakers have departed, alongside All Blacks John Afoa and Joe Rokocoko, as well as reliable utilities such as Jared Payne and Kurtis Haiu.
The arrival of two of last year’s IRB nominees for World Player of the Year, in World Cup winners Ma’a Nonu and Piri Weepu cushions the long exodus list, while Rudi Wulf, Michael Hobbs and Gareth Anscombe continue the arrivals – the latter two who will cover the playmaking void created by Brett (Toyota in Japan) and McAlister’s (Toulouse in France) absence.
Highlanders (3rd NZ Conf. 8th overall)
They were, the championship winning Reds aside, the fairy-tale of the season, especially in the first half when they won a franchise record seven of their first nine matches.
Not only was the influence of new coach Jamie Joseph evident, but the growing presence of Southland via their recent Ranfurly Shield heroics gave the Highlanders a strong province within their catchment area to build upon.
Traditional hallmarks of Southern New Zealand play, such as a refusal to yield up front, was palpable but there was added influence via their back division.
Ben Smith, Kade Poki and Lima Sopoaga were menacing throughout the season, with the latter proving the Highlanders had depth as they coped with the near all-season long loss of marquee general Colin Slade.
However unlike teams like the Crusaders and the Blues that can call on heavily populated rugby ranks, the resources for the Highlanders eventually caught them out, as injuries and the toll of a physical game led to six losses in their last seven matches.
The signing of All Blacks Andrew Hore and Hosea Gear, English international James Haskell and veteran utility back Tamati Ellison will give the Highlanders high hopes for 2012 – with expectation high around the streets of Dunedin after a good last season and the thought of new home (the 30,700 seat fully enclosed Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza).
Hurricanes (4th NZ Conf. 9th overall)
At season’s beginning they would have been bullish thinking that former Crusaders assistant Mark Hammett would install the same principles to complement the firebrand like methodology of the regular Super Rugby Final series team – with five appearances in the sudden death stages since 2003.
However a narrow loss to the Highlanders, the earthquake called off Crusaders fixture and a tight win over the Chiefs couldn’t prepare the team for a painful slide that began with their biggest loss to the Blues since 2002, and was followed with by becoming the first New Zealand team to lose to the Melbourne Rebels.
The announcement that Nonu and Hore would not be wanted at the team this season didn’t help matters, and eventually this triggered an exodus that saw Gear, Cruden, Weepu, Neemia Tialata, Rodney So’oialo and Jacob Ellison leave.
Still, what was considered a write-off season by partisan Hurricanes supporters had some bright moments, namely an entertaining 50-47 point’s fest against the Cheetahs, while they upset the table topping Reds in Wellington.
This season the least experienced Hurricanes team in nearly a decade will take the field, but will still have the services of All Blacks Conrad Smith (their new captain), Cory Jane and Victor Vito.
The canny recruitment of Samoan international Tusi Pisi, and a heavy representation of the Ranfurly Shield winning Taranaki team completes an honest looking roster, one that is clearly being built from the ground up by former hooker Hammett.
Chiefs (5th NZ Conf. 10th overall)
Lower table finishes in recent seasons would have been disappointing considering the zenith experienced in ending the 2009 campaign as runners up.
Less than ideal traits displayed over their proud history resurfaced, such as failure to win close games (seven of their nine losses in 2011 were by less than ten points) and that always relevant cliché that it all begins up front, with the Chiefs wielding one of the weaker tight fives in the competition.
Still, even that soft underbelly was subjugated at times, with the Chiefs outmuscling no less than the Sharks and Stormers throughout last season, but their ever dangerous backline couldn’t run riot when their forwards couldn’t gain parity with stronger packs.
The departure of Mils Muliaina, Sitiveni Sivivatu and Tana Umaga headlines the biggest departure list of any New Zealand team, with 16 players leaving Hamilton.
However the arrival of new coaches Dave Rennie and World Cup winning All Blacks assistant Wayne Smith will boost the side, as will the arrival of Sonny Bill Williams, Aaron Cruden and a couple of Samoan internationals in Kane Thompson and Mahonri Schwalger.