The ‘Lions phenomenon’ may be helping Australia’s Super Rugby contingent with the Rebels uncovering a new rising star.
There have been 12 encounters between the five Australian sides and the five New Zealand ones this season, and at the midpoint of the season the outcomes point to a not insignificant swing away from Kiwi dominance.
Australian teams have won five of those encounters after this weekend’s double for the Waratahs and Rebels against the Crusaders and Highlanders, giving them a trans-Tasman success rate of 41.7 per cent. This is a big lift on last year’s results, and if this trend continues the Australian sides are on track to double their wins against the Kiwis compared to last year.
It is an enormous boost for tournament organisers, points to rising belief levels in Australia and, probably most importantly, gives Rugby Australia a credible product to sell to broadcasters.
And, if it continues or indeed improves in 2025, it might confirm the ‘Lions phenomenon’ observed in 2013 (the previous Lions tour year) when Australian teams won 50 per cent of their inter-conference games in the old format involving New Zealand and South Africa.
It’s easy to overlook how important Lalakai Foketi is to the Waratahs, but while they did not lose a thing swapping the out-of-form Mark Nawaqanitawase for Triston Reilly against the Crusaders, they found it a lot harder replacing Foketi earlier in the season.
Look at his statistics from Friday’s wild win: 10 runs, 52 metres, three defenders beaten and two offloads. Most of those metres would have been hard metres, too, and he is undoubtedly the player who can straighten the attack better than anyone else in that backline. For mine, Foketi is a certain Wallaby this year – he’s a very underappreciated player.
New Zealand no longer the lions’ den as Australian stocks rise
12
6
14.04.2024
The ‘Lions phenomenon’ may be helping Australia’s Super Rugby contingent with the Rebels uncovering a new rising star.
There have been 12 encounters between the five Australian sides and the five New Zealand ones this season, and at the midpoint of the season the outcomes point to a not insignificant swing away from Kiwi dominance.
Australian teams have won five of those encounters after this weekend’s double for the Waratahs........
© The Sydney Morning Herald
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Andrew Mitrovica
Mort Laitner
Nikkei Editorial
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Rami G Khouri
