Blood & Mud

Super 14 Video: Reds 41 - 20 Crusaders; highlights

This weekend saw the Super 14 teams completely forget that the word "defence" exists, never mind how to do it,  and rack up an aggregate points total of 1,234,452.  This game shone out like a beacon of relative sanity in the bag of monkeys of tries, mis-tackles and poor organisation.

This match was notable for two reasons; the Crusaders lost for once, and semi-mentalist and sometime burglar Quade Cooper gave a masterclass in out-half play.  Check out the Reds' opening try from 45 seconds onwards, it's an absolute blinder.

This is the first weekend I have had chance to look at the S14 and the effect of the new "tackler release" directive on the ground.  The ball is certainly coming out faster than I have seen anywhere recently, which is good; but it seems it is so quick that it is wreaking havoc in defences to such an extent that games resemble an NBA match or some overpopulated version of sevens, which is not so good.  Also, what is it with all the cross-kicks?  It's like each team's out-half is on a bonus if they do more than three in a game.

Hard to draw any conclusions after two rounds of matches obviously, but if there are many more scores like Lions 65 - 72 Chiefs, or Bulls 50 - 32 Brumbies, then the credibility of the competition will come into question. 

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Super 14 Video: Reds 41 - 20 Crusaders; highlights

This weekend saw the Super 14 teams completely forget that the word "defence" exists, never mind how to do it,  and rack up an aggregate points total of 1,234,452.  This game shone out like a beacon of relative sanity in the bag of monkeys of tries, mis-tackles and poor organisation.

This match was notable for two reasons; the Crusaders lost for once, and semi-mentalist and sometime burglar Quade Cooper gave a masterclass in out-half play.  Check out the Reds' opening try from 45 seconds onwards, it's an absolute blinder.

This is the first weekend I have had chance to look at the S14 and the effect of the new "tackler release" directive on the ground.  The ball is certainly coming out faster than I have seen anywhere recently, which is good; but it seems it is so quick that it is wreaking havoc in defences to such an extent that games resemble an NBA match or some overpopulated version of sevens, which is not so good.  Also, what is it with all the cross-kicks?  It's like each team's out-half is on a bonus if they do more than three in a game.

Hard to draw any conclusions after two rounds of matches obviously, but if there are many more scores like Lions 65 - 72 Chiefs, or Bulls 50 - 32 Brumbies, then the credibility of the competition will come into question.