Analysis - Last weekend I wrote that Super Rugby was 'back on track'. And I'm here to tell you that, hey, I was wrong! It's really not.
Richie Mo'unga fends in Super Rugby Pacific at Christchurch versus the Chiefs. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
So congratulations to Covid-19, who has sewn up the least valuable player award for all professional sport for an unprecedented third year running. Its contribution to ruining Super Rugby Pacific reached new lows this week with all three New Zealand fixtures postponed with one makeshift game between the Chiefs and Moana Pasifika set to take place on Saturday night. Whether that even goes ahead is at the whim of both teams' RAT results, anyway.
The Vanuatu football team found that lesson out the hard way in the early hours of Friday morning, having the vast majority of their squad test positive as they were leaving their hotel in Doha to play a World Cup qualifying match against Tahiti.
The Chiefs have named a team thrown together from wider squad members that has no recognised reserve halfback and two hookers on the bench. One of them, Solomone Tukuafu, is yet to even play a game at NPC level. Tellingly, they are still going in as almost unbackable favourites, given Moana Pasifika's continually disrupted season has seen them only play one game so far.
It's a farcical situation, as now teams will be playing three games a week at some stage this season to make up for the postponements. It's probably music to the ears of the Australian sides, though, as they happily battle out another full slate of games on their side of the Tasman. The big game will be the Brumbies taking on the Reds in Canberra, with the winner moving to top outright on the competition points table, and, to be fair, this fixture most probably would have been seen as a highlight anyway.
There are match ups across the park for this clash, most notably Harry Wilson squaring off with Rob Valetini in what is essentially a trial for the Wallaby number eight jersey. Jordan Petaia has looked very impressive so far at the back for the Reds, making poor Baden Kerr look like he was a statue on the way to an impressive solo try against the Drua at Suncorp Stadium.
Turnstile-like tackling aside, the Fijians were very impressive in their 33-28 loss to the Reds, though, having quickly lived up to the expectations of them being a fun team to watch. They will have high hopes against a cagey but experienced Western Force team in Sydney.
But really, this is what the situation has reduced this to, talking up Australian Super Rugby fixtures. So we might as well talk a bit of Warriors as well, considering their status as Australian residents means they will definitely be taking the field. The bad news is Shaun Johnson and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak are out, the good is that there are pretty good replacements in Ash Taylor and Reece Walsh (for now at least, the writing seems to be on the wall that he'll be a puff of smoke as soon as his contract is up), as well as Matt Lodge returning to bolster the pack. Their opponents, the Titans, will provide a tough challenge; they embarrassed the Warriors at Cbus Super Stadium last year in what has gone down as one of the darkest days in the club's history.
Not only did they haemorrhage 44 points, the Warriors were lucky to get nil and played most of the final period with only 10 players. Lodge, in particular, has a lot to make up for after being binned for fighting in that game. It wasn't a particularly good look in his own personal redemption story -so here's a chance for both he and his team to try and set things right.