Aisle Be Back: Hurricanes v Waratahs

Let’s get all the whinging out of the way quickly.

Yes, the Super format is a crock. But I have always understood New Zealand have some say in how it is organised.  Not the fans of course, that would be stupid. Of course if we can’t get what we want we could always vote Superexit. Now that would show them.

Yes, the format is protecting the endangered species formerly known as competitive South African and Australian rugby. Like any artificial protection – what they call a tariff in trade – it seems like a great idea. Except sometimes the protected species doesn’t seem to flourish that well despite the protection. It certainly isn’t about to turn the Kings or the Rebels into viable teams. Actually this may be a case of protecting the wrong things – the New Zealand model of tight player contracting is the rugby equivalent of one-party rule, and it seems to work – or at least it does when the fountain of talent shows no sign of running out.

Yes it’s nuts that New Zealand teams could end up clocking up some fearsome frequent flyer tallies. For those about to take wing, that’s tough. But hey, you should have picked up that extra bonus point in round 4, or not have suffered a first-round down trou in Canberra, or whatever it is that leaves your team second, third or fourth in the NZ conference.

Yes, the odds are very heavily against a team winning Super rugby by playing away. But  if we believe (and the results tell us) that by and large, New Zealand teams have a substantive edge this season, as in most seasons, that just makes it more challenging. Who wants to win easy.

So now that’s out of the way, let’s make sure it’s a Kiwi side that ends up holding that wonky, goofy but still strangely lovable thing called the Super Rugby title.

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I am pretty calm about the run-in and playoffs for the Canes. I’ve given up trying to work out the permutations, but I doubt the Canes will quite have enough points to go top overall or within the NZ conference.

So that means going on the road most likely – and actually, given the Canes perhaps didn’t handle the home-town run in last year that well, there probably isn’t that much to fear. Now of course it would be great to still see them playing at the stadium this year, but a few cards have to fall in very special ways for that to happen.

On the other hand, a certain defending champion side managed to win the trophy last year on the road. They seemed to enjoy doing that, so let’s do the same if it comes to that.

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I don’t normally write this, but it’s heartening to see the Blues on a bit of an upward curve. Indeed, I suspect its more affection for the great son of Wellington rugby,  Tana Umaga than for Auckland rugby. He’s sounding like he knows where he wants to go, and that he’s going to get there. That’s not something that’s been seen in a Blues coach for a very long
time.

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We can’t get our regular seats for the Bledisloe test. Apparently the ones we have are costing 133 dollars each. This is what is defined as discovering my personal pricing pressure point.

I mean, the currency of Australian rugby is taking such a battering that that looks ridiculously overpriced.

That’s probably going to buy me the privilege of watching 8 stumbling scrums, 7 meandering mauls, 6 chunky centres, and 5 Foley fumbles  – oh you know where this ends. And oops, there goes the whinging again.

Kev has followed the Hurricanes since they began. He has a season pass. Every year he predicts the Canes will win Super Rugby. He refuses to be called a long-suffering fan.