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The South African flavour to the opening rounds of Super Rugby Pacific

The Highlanders playing the Blues in Queenstown. (Photo by Michael Thomas/Photosport)

This weekend, the six New Zealand-based Super Rugby squads will head to Queenstown as a means of ensuring the opening rounds of the inaugural Pacific season can go ahead as planned.

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It’s a disruption that’s become almost expected under the shadow of Covid-19, which coaches, players, fans and tournament organisers have become accustomed to over the last two years, it’s still an unwanted turn of events.

Instead of games being played in front of packed home stadiums, the bulk of the opening matches will take place with artificial noise pumped over the speakers to try and maintain the atmosphere of a proper live match.

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What’s the massive void in South African rugby right now?

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      What’s the massive void in South African rugby right now?

      It also means players will again be required to operate at the height of their abilities despite not being able to see friends and family for a not inconsiderable period of time – a repeat of what the All Blacks had to endure last season (though hopefully not for anywhere near as long a period of time), as well as Waikato during the second half of the NPC.

      That’s going to make the first few weeks hardgoing for some players – but it could also prove beneficial in the long run.

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      “We’ve spoken a lot about it,” said Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan last week. “Everybody would prefer to be living in a world where we had crowds and we were able to play at home in front of our loyal fans but unfortunately that’s not how the world rolls at the moment. You’ve just got to be adaptable and you’ve just got to do what’s necessary to get rugby played.

      “Most of our guys are excited about the opportunity. A lot of them have talked about tours to South Africa in years gone by when you get away early and it’s a great bonding opportunity and that can potentially set you up for the rest of the season. That’s our sort of mindset.”

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      While trips to the Republic were once a rite of passage for youngsters, South Africa’s departure from Super Rugby means the closest things most players will get to any sort of tour moving forward is spending a couple of weeks in Australia in a row, but even that seems unlikely – the only instance of that originally scheduled for this year was when NZ teams played in Australia either side of the ‘Super Round’ in Melbourne, but there’s no guarantee that teams wouldn’t have returned home to NZ mid-week regardless.

      As such, the trip to Queenstown will provide a similar sort of “bonding opportunity” for all involved – even if it doesn’t boast the same kind of excitement as overseas travel.

      It’s something the Chiefs have already experienced after they were forced to spend their last three games of last season in Australia due to Covid.

      “It’s amazing what a little bit of travel across the ditch can do just to reinvirograte you, add a little injection of enthusiasm,” McMillan told RugbyPass at the end of the campaign. “When you travel away, it gives you the opportunity to do things a little bit different. You can’t often keep the same routines as what you do at home so just that change in itself was quite re-invigorating.

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      “To get away on tour, be living in each other’s pockets for a week or two – for me, that’s the beauty of rugby. Being able to travel, the people you meet, experiences, that’s what you remember. At the end of the day when the music’s over, money comes and goes but the friendships and the experiences are what you remember.”

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      McMillan compared the situation to the All Blacks’ plight, with the team leaving NZ in September and not returning home until late November.

      “Being away for three or four months, that’s tough, right? If you’re a single guy going over there and you get three square meals a day, gym, you’re living the dream, but a lot of those guys are family men and they’ll find that tough. And I’m sure they’ll have their moments where they really battle with that sort of level of isolation being away from family and friends for so long.

      “But in the long run, what they’ll get out of that, the bonds they’ll make, the depth of the relationships that they’ll build, it’s really pretty unique. Not many teams are going to get that opportunity too many times … I reckon they’re going to get a hell of a lot of reward out of that in the long run, just from having that amount of time together and facing all of the challenges together, that’s gonna really bond and unify them to a whole new level, I reckon.”

      While neither the Chiefs, nor any other Super Rugby side, will be spending months away from home at a time (touch wood), their time together on ‘tour’ to Queenstown should prove beneficial further down the track – even if it’s not the ideal situation.

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      Comments

      1 Comment
      J
      John 1268 days ago

      Are these people prima donnas I would compare them to defence force personnel both are getting paid to do a job Differences are rugby players nice hotel gyms excellent communication meals all prepared for them 3 or 4 months away from home Defence force deployed overseas tent rations sometimes poor or no communication 6 months plus away from home

      We are still to see in the media how tough it is too be deployed overseas

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      Comments on RugbyPass

      J
      JW 40 minutes ago
      Andy Goode: Aussie comments didn't cover them in glory

      Yes I was happy with the refs ruling of arrival (and that the tackled player wasn’t obligated to release the ball immediately) but if you see the wide angle you can note how Morgan dives to get there in time.


      I don’t mind your (or the refs) view, but what Morgan said is accurate. Both Mils and Beaver agreed on the breakdown, and you will also get the same view from Aotearoa Rugby Pod guys for a pretty unanimous NZ view.

      Sometimes when both players are low its a rugby collision and this is one of those times.

      Not recently. In the SR finals and AB v Arg series weve seen players clearly bent 90 at the waist still be penalised, only when the attacker does something the ref sees immediate mitigation and rules a rugby incident. Tizzano didn’t offer that he was always in the position Morgan aimed to collect him in.


      Happy to not throw the rule book at these situations but the precent is that they are in these situations.

      many tries out wide the player is allowed to be tackled while diving

      They are diving for the line, not to avoid being tackled.

      “In principle, in a try scoring situation, if the action is deemed to be a dive forward for a try, then it should be permitted. If a player is deemed to have left the ground to avoid a tackle; or to jump, or hurdle a potential tackler, then this is dangerous play and should be sanctioned accordingly.”

      You can read Nicks article for an updated discourse on this though.

      30 Go to comments
      J
      JW 1 hour ago
      New Zealanders may not understand, but in France Test rugby is the 'B movie'

      But he was wrong, he had to take back what he said. But maybe this only happened because he came out and was honest with his initial plans?


      He’s simply in a position where he should be far more professional.


      I don’t really follow much media, especially SM, but again, I’ve not seen anyone complaining. Plenty of ridicule and pointing out things like it being disrespectful to the game, but as far as the English language goes, that’s not complaining. Nick Bishop for instance hasn’t been complaining, he’s simply saying Galthie made a bad decision for France’s prospects (which when the common reply is ‘thats how it is’).


      Complaining would be views expressing that the FFR should have put the tour back a week so that all T14 finalists could attend. Complaining would be saying they’ve been robbed of seeing the worlds best stars. Complaining would be saying players can simply take extra weeks off from T14. I’ve only seen advice and suggestions that these are things France need to look-at-for-the-future.


      Basically I tried to communicate with French fans because they don’t understand what’s being communicated. ALL reactions I have seen shared here by French supports have all seemed way over the top compared what I’ve seen expressed about this tour.

      the players are expected to play in too many matches, for too many minutes, and need more rest and recovery time.

      This is the message I have been sharing. So something needs to happen, whether thats France pull out of more Internationals or rest players from more domestic games, who knows, but I also don’t think what they have now is working. It’s obviously much better than 3-4 years ago, but they appear to want to work even harder at it like you say. Personally I’ve only seen LNR be reasonable, I hear much less of their other internationals being denied/influenced not to play, so I imagine that they will give even further (as I can’t really see France pulling out the other international windows as well).

      147 Go to comments
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