This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with degrees of cooking, the return of Louis Rees-Zammit and the Women’s Rugby World Cup…
Physical drop-offs could also be a sign of the fractured calendar
While it would be remiss not to dip into the bag of hyperbole to both lavish the praise and describe the manner in which Australia racked up 38 unanswered points in an hour in Johannesburg, the responses of both teams in Cape Town this weekend will also be instructive.
Just as Australia, fresh off an extended period of no matches in almost two months bar a friendly-ish hit-up with Fiji, did not look wholly at the races in the first Test against the British and Irish Lions, so South Africa, having not played a match in almost a month and whirlwind start aside, did not look fully up for the long battle when Australia turned up the volume.
It’s been a long, long time since a Springbok team was out-tackled, never mind outplayed as they were in that long, final hour on Saturday. But the stats tell the tale. 26 missed tackles for an 80 per cent success rate is an extraordinary low number for a team that has built an entire rugby culture on teak-tough defence, while 17 turnovers in all is unacceptable for any team, never mind the double world champions.
But as the Lions did to Australia in Brisbane, so Australia simply seemed to be up for it more and physically more able to deliver than the Boks as the game wore on. Once Fraser McReight had dug in to win his first breakdown turnover, South Africa simply seemed unable to up the intensity to respond. Moreover, the decision-making, usually such a feature of South African performances, went completely awry.
A result of four weeks of no games playing against a team that was just off an intense three-match series? Was the decision-making solely down to a more expansive game-plan or was it also down to a mixture of a lack of top-tier opposition in the July Tests and the distractions of sideshows such as line-out lifts in open play and the concessions of free-kicks on purpose?
David Campese savours ‘belly full of humble pie’ after Wallabies triumph over Springboks
While there are arguments for the latter, the former has been less talked-about, yet clearly looked valid for Australia during the Lions’ visit. It has an element of potential validity here too. But the most physical team in the world does not become a bunch of willowy jessies overnight. A response in Cape Town is likely to feature physical intensity off the scale; only if Australia can master that again will we really be able to comment on a possible changing of the guard.
Rees Lightning II
That it was not Newcastle is perhaps a surprise, given the likely salary cap room and ability to fill it on offer, but Rees-Zammit‘s rugby return to Bristol will be fascinating.
American Football conditioning is in no way the same as rugby; why would it be when the ball is in play for just 11 minutes of the 60 of clock time and an offensive player is on the field, notionally, for just half of that. Nor, by the by, was he ever required to make a tackle – certainly not once he had zeroed in on either being a wide receiver or a running back.
Rees-Zammit is likely to be more powerful on the bursting run than he was when he returned and perhaps quicker over 40 metres, but it is hard to conceive how, initially anyway, he would simply slot into the constant toing and froing and resetting of an 80-minute match in which the ball is in play for at least 35 of the minutes and he is on the pitch for all 80.
And while it’s tough to forget all you have learned of a sport you have played since being a boy, how much knowledge will have seeped away over the past two years? How much has the game moved on? Is he still a winger or will any physical and tactical/strategic developments and learnings have turned him, perhaps, into more of a centre?
Conditioning does not always take too long for elite athletes of course; doubtless the Bristol fitness team has given the Welshman a carefully-crafted personal fitness schedule to build up his endurance. But it will be fascinating to see what’s different and what’s not on his return to the game after his 18 months in another world.
Women’s World Cup will be more than a gap-filler
Global rugby focus will doubtless be on the Rugby Championship, but with the club game in the north on ice until the start of September in France and the end of September in the Britain and Ireland, there is almost no excuse not to cast an eye or two towards the Women’s World Cup which starts this Friday.
England are hosts and favourites, having not lost since the defeat to previous hosts favourites New Zealand in the final of the last edition, in 2022. Losing to New Zealand in World Cup finals when slated as favourites has been a feature of England Women’s rugby for the past two editions in fact, this time, with home advantage as well, the English team seeks to straighten that record.
Canada, France, the United States and Australia could all disrupt that established order, while Spain, Japan and Brazil will provide the narrative of gutsy amateurs being blown away despite their brave performance.
What will raise eyebrows among the uninitiated however, is how fast and how much the women’s game has evolved in the past decade. Those in the know are looking forward to it keenly, for those who don’t, this World Cup is well worth the watch.