The weather is starting to change in the Northern Hemisphere and you can almost smell Test rugby in your nostrils s Nations Championship and the Cup of Nations just a few weeks away, but first there is a glut of top-class domestic rugby and these are some of the vignettes I’ve noticed over the past few weeks…
Cameron Hanekom is becoming a problem… for the opposition
There are plenty of players in rugby who, over the course of a season, seem to have mastered the game. But then there are players who rise even above that high bar and make the game look almost effortless – Cameron Hanekom is one of them. He is a back row striker whose yards should be measured in kilometers, not meters. After breaking through the first line of defense with the strength of a test-level number eight, he accelerates with the speed of a test-level center. His line breaks against Lions was impressive enough, but it was his nonchalant hand on Lions wing Richard Kriel that made you realize Hanekom was moving to a different level of play. Kriel is 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs the bulk of 100 pounds – Hanekom dismissed him as an early Halloween cobweb.
Attacking rugby is back and beautiful
Rugby is once again an attacking sport and this is great news for attacking coaches. Long gone are the days when offensive coaches had to sit in the back of team briefings, heads bowed, hands shaking and eyebrows quivering, only to look up at overconfident, chest-heaving defensive coaches. We’ve seen an increase in tries across all major leagues in the Northern Hemisphere this season: the Premiership is up by 0.9 tries per match, Top 14 by 0.8 and URC by 0.6. You won’t see a better example than Northampton Saints v Bath. It was an all-out attack in a way not seen since ‘Little Nicky’ Scarfo took over the Philadelphia mob in 1981. Northampton won 71-48 in a 19-try match that was as close to Super Rugby as the English Premiership has ever been. The result is a game that is faster, looser and less predictable. Some old-school supporters are not fans of this new style, often referred to as ‘rugby basketball’.
Their criticism is that rugby has become a failure and is being fought against. But there is a big difference between a missed match and a loss. Rugby didn’t suddenly stop fighting, and professional players didn’t suddenly fear contact. The reality is that the removal of ‘accompanied catch’ has made contested shots truly contested. More than that, they often favor the attacking team because their jumpers go forward. Let’s also not forget that the reduction in tackle height, and the resulting increase in offloading opportunities above the tackle, has created more chaos in the broken pitch – just what rugby needs. Five seasons ago, much of the discussion around rugby focused on how defensive and unattractive the game had become. That has now been fixed. Add in a desire for corner kicks, driven by the efficiency of line-out mauls, and you have a game that rewards tries scored over tries made, which is as it should be. Well played, rugby.
Prendergast himself got involved
Sam Prendergast seems to have lifted more tin this summer than the Cornish miner did in 1870. On his return to Leinster he looked noticeably different and the effect on his performance was noticeable. He’s always had the arms, pace and vision to play elite rugby, but now he’s got the arms and legs for a pair. His neck also seems to have grown to a stubby magic marker from people comparing the pencils rather cruelly to before. Against Cardiff, you could see that Prendergast now has the size to hold onto the ball and delay the pass longer without being hit by a defender.
The same can be said about his attack, which looked far more confident. That physical confidence should also give his playmakers more options around him. Prendergast’s added size will not only make him more dangerous with and without the ball, but will allow him to compete in matches for longer. Playing rugby underweight is tiring, and now, hopefully, Sam P can use that extra mass to unsettle the opposition instead of letting his lack of mass limit his incredible skill set. Well dressed, Sam.
The rise of Taine Basham in Cardiff
Taine Basham was always a good ball carrier. You can’t have a framework like that and not be good at pushing things through. If you’ve never seen one up close, it’s built like a Belgian blue bull standing upright on its two hind legs. But this season, and probably since his move to Cardiff, his carrying capacity has gone up a notch. Basham is now Cardiff’s main ball carrier, and it’s not even close. There are other very solid carriers in the Cardiff pack: the impeccable Josh McNally and Teddy Williams require two strikers to stop them. Basham, however, is one of those players who occasionally needs three defenders to bring him to the ground properly. That consistency has made him increasingly important to Cardiff’s progress. His performances for Cardiff so far this season have been extremely impressive, and they are remembered Wales composition is not a matter of if, but when.
Freddie Steward, stepper
From one player, Sam Prendergast, who appears to have put on a few pounds, to a player who appears to have lost a few. Freddie Steward looks like a completely different beast this season. Steward has always been an excellent full-back, and the change to the flanking rule means that the ability to kick, catch and clear as a back-three player is now more important than ever – but he is also an attacking threat from the 15.
With broken ground defenses now the norm rather than the exception, having a fullback who can gain yards in space has become crucial; reputation for establishing meter contact is no longer sufficient. Seeing him make 10 meter breaks and slide around a defender has been a joy so far this season, and long may it continue. Well played, Freddie.