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Analysis: Inaccuracy loses finals

Analysis: Inaccuracy loses finals

07/09/2011 12:38:19 PM

Accuracy is vital in crunch games and it was inaccuracy by the Crusaders that provided the Reds with their deserving victory in the pulsating Super Rugby final played out in Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night.

Make no mistake, this was one of the finest finals of recent Super Rugby history played out by two teams with a higher emotional quotient resulting from natural disasters than has ever been experienced before.

Someone had to lose, and given the Crusaders' legacy of success in the competition since its inception, no-one would deny the Reds their triumph.

In terms of fluidity, cohesion and set-piece structure, there was little to write home about from either side. But then finals have rarely had space for those requirements.

They are about taking opportunities when they come or, as was the case in Brisbane, when they are presented and there could be no clearer example of that than the tries scored by wing Digby Ioane and halfback Will Genia.

They were priceless gems or, as they say in conferences featuring the members of the Tight Five Club, arse knockers which knock the stuffing out of sides on the receiving end quicker than a thumping tackle to the midriff.

That's not to deny the Crusaders' their part in the scheme of things when first five-eighths Dan Carter scored his try. But it said something that his try was down to genuine individual skill and peripheral awareness.

There's an old adage about first five-eighths making breaks. They don't have to make them all game and every game. They often only get one chance in a game and they have to be ready to take them. Carter managed that perfectly and showed he is still the genuine article. As if there was ever any doubt.

But for the Reds, the policy of having their own five-eighths Quade Cooper patrolling the nether regions, the potential waste lands behind his backline, paid off in huge fashion with his fielding of halfback Andrew Ellis' attempted kick clearance from a ruck. It is a ploy the Reds have used ad infinitum this season, and it produced the game breaker for Ioane. The Crusaders may have equalised soon after, but the momentum was with the home team and they were perfectly placed to finish it off with Genia's try.

The result showed that having a scrum capable of withstanding the strength of the opposition unit is not always a handicap – something that may rear its head by the end of the Rugby World Cup in three months time. But what was demonstrated was the need to at least win your own ball in lineouts.

The Crusaders had an abysmal night in this area and paid the price, and in the final say, the failure to secure their lineout again proved the final denouement denied them a last-minute chance to score an equaliser. And, in effect, it summed up their failure, heroic as it was.

What the Reds achieved was great for the competition, great for coach Ewen McKenzie and it has set a fascinating standard for the side, albeit a young combination, for the future. Queensland has been a great contributor to rugby thinking, not only in Australia but around the world since the early 1970s and Super Rugby champion status is a fitting reward for a campaign well executed.

 
Photograph Copyright : Action Images

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