Wally the Fly

Well, this isn’t exactly the most unbiased of posts but who cares?

The Waratahs are into the Super 14 final after their best series of Super rugby ever.

Thanks to some youngsters such as Luke Burgess, Rob Horne, Beale as well as the old guard of Waugh, Palu and Elsom the men in blue are looking good.

While naturally the Crusaders are red hot favourites you never know what can happen in sport, and if there was ever a Tah outfit to knock them off in a final then this is surely it.     

It’s also a great boost to the game so lets hope the rugby gods are smiling on Saturday night.

GO THE TAHS!

What’s happened to Rugby League in the last couple of weeks?

After all the hype and talk about the 100th year of footy suddenly its all doom and gloom.

The NRL boss reckons that nine Sydney club teams is unsustainable and someone needs to move up to the Central Coast (and would get a nice $8m for it) and other teams need to merge.

Amongst all the other internal bickering at South Sydney, club legend George Piggins reckons the cardinal and mytle have no choice but relocate up north.

First of all someone needs to point out that the NRL are way too late on the Central Coast move. People up that way used to love the Bears and having a Central Coast Bears team would have been immediately successful, at least in terms of crowd numbers and interest. According to Wally’s friends up that way all the League lovers now all go for different teams.

Second, the team would have to be either a new franchise or the team would have to permanently move there and change their name. People living outside Sydney will never support a Sydney blow-in team (circa Northern Eagles). There’s a reason why Souths, Manly and Easts got crap crowds when they played their ‘home’ game up that way.

Just look at the success of the Central Coast Mariners. Just on personal observation it seems that the Central Coast Rays of the doomed ARC were the most successful in terms of interest from locals (didnt’ hurt that they won it either).

If some of these clubs were to disappear there’s no way that they will convert to follow other clubs. If Penrith get knocked off they aren’t going to suddenly support Para or Wests/Balmain.

Rugby League in Australia is a tribal thing, the best thing the NRL can do is get the teams to playing at their suburban home grounds where their supporters are. As one coach said ‘blow up Homebush’.

What a great game last night between the Western Force and the ACT Brumbies.

Firstly, because unlike most all Aussie encounters the game saw great fast passed running rugby.

It was also great that the Force gave their home fans (all 21,000 of them) something to cheer about with a great comeback from 22-0 down. The Force’s entry into the Super 14 competition in 2006 has been a great success not only in developing and promoting the game in WA but also because it’s given us the opportunity to watch some great young players.

Traditionally all Aussie games have often been low-scoring and dour affairs. Let’s hope that the game, the first ever where both Aussie sides have scored four tries is repeated tonight and into the future.

Three weeks to go in the Super 14 and once again the top of the ladder is packed with teams trying to make the top four with only the Crusaders basically guaranteed to make it.

The Tahs bonus point win on Saturday means they can breathe a little easier but not much. While the Sharks have lost a few on the trot the Chiefs, Stormers and Hurricanes are all in hot form and have a nicer run home than the Aussies.

You’d expect the Sharks to go down to the Crusaders on Friday night, but then they have a home game against the Cheetahs and the Chiefs. Sitting on 32 points (3^rd place) you couldn’t dismiss them but one win from three won’t be not be enough to cut it.

NSW have last year’s winners the Bulls, Cape Town Stormers and then the Queensland Reds all away. NSW will really be eyeing the match against the Bulls as a must win. While NSW are a much better side than the Reds the Waratahs record against the banana benders ain’t great. Five points out of ten in South Africa and a win against the Reds would mean the semis for the Tahs. A home semi is still a possibility but they definitely have a lot of work to do.

The Wellington Hurricanes are also in the hunt outside the four on 31 points. They have the ordinary Lions and then the Force at home and then an away game in Auckland. You’d think Hurricanes would be a sure thing to get up over the first two and a good chance against the Blues. Throw in a couple of bonus points and they are well in contention for 2^nd or 3^rd.

The Stormers too have a good run home with games against the Brumbies, Waratahs and Lions. All three games are very winnable for the side with 7 bonus points. Like the Hurricanes they are on 31 points and a couple of more bonus points could mean they’ll be forcing Hurricans/Tahs/Chiefs/Sharks to Cape Town in a couple of weeks.

Chiefs have a tough game against the Force in Perth although they are favourites. They finish with the Lions and Sharks in South Africa and while they’ll beat the Lions it could take enough out of them to hurt them in the last game against Natal. Their shock win over Canterbury means they should be seriously considered in the hunt for this years Super 14.

Brumbies, Blues and Force won’t make it this year and will be playing for pride in the next three weeks.

The Crusaders will easily beat the Sharks, Reds and Highlanders and easily finish first with daylight second.

It’ll all come down to the last round, whether Wellington can get over Auckland, the Tahs beat the Reds like they should and the last game of the regular season (possibly for fourth spot) between the Sharks and Chiefs.

Bring it on!