By Nick Mulvenney
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Finally freed of the COVID travel restrictions that sounded the death knell to the intercontinental edition and fragmented and disrupted the rump competition, Super Rugby returns in its full new normality on Friday.
The days when the competition ranged from Buenos Aires, through South Africa’s highveld and up into the northern hemisphere in Tokyo are long gone and until 2030 it will be very much an Australasian-Pacific affair.
The second season of Super Rugby Pacific will be played with a host of law variations aimed at making the game more attractive to fans but one aspect of the competition is highly unlikely to change — New Zealand supremacy.
The Canterbury Crusaders dominated Super Rugby in the years pre-pandemic and have proved just as hard to beat with or without fans in the stadiums, through lockdowns, biosecurity protocols and in competition hubs.
Scott Robertson has won a title of some description in every one of his six seasons in charge and his players will be keen to send him on his way with another when, as looks likely, he becomes the All Blacks coach after the World Cup.
Despite optimistic noises coming from across the Tasman Sea in Australia, the biggest challenge to the Crusaders is likely to come from the North Island of New Zealand.
The Auckland Blues beat the Crusaders in their Christchurch fortress last season during a 15-match winning streak but were unable to reprise the feat in front of their own fans at Eden Park in the title-decider.
The Waikato Chiefs also beat the Crusaders on the road last year and will have livewire Damian McKenzie back from Japan and playing flyhalf when they return to Christchurch Stadium for Friday’s season-opener.
All Blacks loose forward Ardie Savea was the best player in the world in many eyes last years and he captains the Wellington Hurricanes, who open their campaign on Saturday against the Queensland Reds.
The ACT Brumbies were again Australia’s best last season with a run to the semi-finals, but a resurgent New South Wales Waratahs have a chance to make a big statement in Friday’s other match.
HORROR SEASON
The Waratahs went winless in a horror 2021 season but rebounded in impressive style under new coach Darren Coleman last year to make the quarter-finals.
With a squad packed full of exciting young talent, the Waratahs will be desperate to impress what they hope will be a big crowd at their rebuilt home stadium and reignite Sydney’s love affair with the team.
That new Wallabies coach Eddie Jones is likely to be in the crowd at the Sydney Football Stadium is a reminder that in a World Cup year, there is more on the line than just Super Rugby points for the players.
Nothing annoys Queenslanders more than New South Wales hogging the limelight and Brad Thorn’s Reds have enough quality to vie for Australian bragging rights as well as upset a few New Zealand sides.
The forgiving and sometimes derided playoff system that offers knockout rugby to eight of the 12 teams will give hope to all but the most hapless outfits.
Last year’s debutants, Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika, won two games apiece and showed enough to suggest that they will be increasingly competitive as they gain more experience.
The lifting of COVID travel restrictions also means the full flavour of the Pacific element of the competition can at last be enjoyed with Drua playing their home matches in Fiji and Pasifika taking a fixture to the Samoa capital of Apia.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Christian Radnedge)
