Super Rugby Pacific Round 1 is in the books for 2023 and rugby fans were treated to a bumper opening round. As always, this is a look at how the Aussie teams went and it was a real mixed bag.
Waratahs vs ACT Brumbies
The Waratahs had a lot of hype around them with opening round 1 at the refurbished Allianz Stadium. Coach Darren Coleman is certainly a hype man and had challenged his side to become ‘the Chicago Bulls of Super Rugby.’
80 minutes later they had their hype balloon popped by the ACT Brumbies in a 31-25 loss so it remains to be seen if Coleman meant the Jordan period or that bit in between his first and second stints with the Bulls.
Opening games can be sluggish affairs at times with players easing back in after little or no trial game minutes but the match was highly entertaining for a number of reasons. The application of new and existing laws around hurrying up the game seemed to work well but will obviously need refining as the season goes on.
There were two players who announced themselves on the Super Rugby stage in emphatic fashion as the much heralded Max Jorgensen scored two tries on his Super Rugby debut. Despite being on the losing side, you can see he has a long future and even showed seasoned Wallabies players Allan Alaalatoa and Rob Valteni they need to be on their toes as he shrugged off their tackle attempt to score.
For the Brumbies, Corey Toole showed his transition to the 15 a side part of the game was seamless as his electric pace proved too much for the right side defence of the Waratahs. Toole scored one and was denied by the TMO for an alleged stud on the line to rule out Rob Valetini’s try.
There was some bad news out of this game as Angus Bell suffered a recurrence of his toe injury that kept him out of the back half of the 2022 Test season and is now expected to miss 4-6 months as he undergoes surgery to repair the injury.
Queensland Reds vs Hurricanes
Meanwhile, the Queensland Reds got off to a disastrous start as they received an absolute towelling from the Hurricanes in the heat and humidity of Townsville. The game marked the debut of Tom Lynagh and the Reds were in it at half time before poor discipline and a rampaging Asafo Aumua took them apart in the second half.
The most carded side in 2022, the Reds continued that theme as Ryan Smith and Seru Uru saw yellow for lazy play that won’t endear themselves to Brad Thorn, who might be feeling the heat. Granted the Reds have a stack of injuries to some big names combined with the noise about Taniela Tupou’s defection to the Rebels, makes Thorn’s position a little uncomfortable with his contract up at the end of 2023.
Reds fans have lamented the lack of representation at National level but there were few who pushed their claims under the watchful eye of Eddie Jones who made the trek north to Townsville. There were some nice displays but they were few and far between as others were probably lucky there are a stack of injuries or they’d be holding the tackle bags at training this week.
Western Force vs Melbourne Rebels
The last game of the round saw the annual grudge match between the Force and Rebels. For those unaware, both sides were on the chopping block back in 2017 when one Australian side was for the chop and it ended up being the Western Force.
Under new coach Simon Cron, the Force managed to fightback from 14 points down and take out a 34-27 win with the combination of Bryce Hegarty and Hamish Stewart in the 10/12 working nicely. Alarmingly for the Rebels and Kevin Foote, they only managed 3 points in the second half after they came out of the blocks quickly on the back of early tries and a dominant dispaly from Richard Hardwick.
The Force had to call on the services of the recently retired Jeremy Thrush after another foot injury to Izack Rodda ruled him out long-term and it looks like he might have to shoulder the burden as other injuries are dealt with.
