AISLE BE BACK, 5 April 2016

Opinion: Amid the alphabet soup of the new Super 18, I am kind of warming to one aspect - the bonus point for three tries.

The intent seems to be to not only reward attack, but defence, since your try tally needs to stay two or more ahead of the opposition.

Quite how that plays out and whether it affects the way teams play isn’t clear. But what is clear is that of course, you now only need three tries to get a bonus point – provided you can defend as well.

In the long run, the best all-round sides are those still in the mix at playoff time, and where defence wins games more than ever.

That said, no doubt the Crusaders and Lions feel miffed to have staged a tryfest in the latest round that saw no-one came out with a try BP.

*****

It’s the 21st party for the Hurricanes this Saturday, and if you were having a birthday, then the Jaguares are the sort of interesting guests you’d want to have along. I mean, honestly, what if you invited the Rebels and they actually turned up.

The Jaguares will bring a taste of the different. And they will no doubt have some rousing expat support at the Cake Tin. A dozen fans will probably be enough to drown out the home crowd. I still can’t forget the 2011 rugby world cup quarter final where their fans stood in a very drenching rain and kept up a cacophony of noise. 

They are always tricky these bye weeks. You watch the Chiefs and the Highlanders and the Saders cutting loose impressively and you start to get a bit antsy. It’s not helped by the 2-zip start to the season. 

On the other hand the Canes are tracking well in the overall performance stats - if you put faith in those. But it really would settle things nicely to have a good all-round performance this weekend. 

****

Apparently according to a survey, walking has now overtaken rugby in popularity. Now walking is my favourite exercise, but I can’t see Sky TV setting up a Walking Channel anytime soon. 

I suspect the only time walking in reality will overtake rugby in popularity is during the zombie apocalypse and strictly speaking, that would be sideways shuffling.

Then again, we have already suffered the zombie apocalypse in rugby. Wave after wave of Brumbies endlessly recycling the ball during their title heyday. You can never shake some nightmares.