Hits & Misses: Benchmark-setting Boks and blossoming Japan

OPINION: The first round of the inaugural Nations Championship featured thrill-a-minute displays, upsets, and belligerently dominant performances.

From the All Blacks’ nailbiter against Les Bleus in Christchurch to the Springboks giving England a rugby lesson in Johannesburg, we look at the good and the bad from the opening weekend of the new tournament.

Hits:

Spectacular Nations Championship debut in Christchurch

It was blow for blow throughout the match under the new roof of One New Zealand Stadium, and nobody could confidently predict a winner until the very end of the seesaw battle, which New Zealand won 34-32 in Dave Rennie’s first Test assignment as All Blacks boss.

It was entertaining, it was dramatic, it was thrilling to the very end, and as Man of the Match Cam Roigard said during his post-match interview, it was the definition of a Test match. This was Test match rugby played at Super Rugby pace.

Remarquable pivot Matthieu Jalibert’s try took the score to 34-32 in the 78th minute, and while how the game went up until that point had viewers believing that anything could still happen, with the All Blacks having scored five tries to France’s four and with nothing more than a converted try between the sides at all times, that was the end of it as the hosts extended their winning 17-year winning streak on home soil against France in the tournament-opener.

The fact that France could go toe-to-toe with the All Blacks like that despite being without much of their first-class spine was an eerie reminder of their depth.

Christchurch waited a long time for a Test match, and this spectacle was the perfect way to take rugby back to the city.

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Japan blossoming in Italy Test

The hosts went into the game without head coach Eddie Jones, who served the last of his four-match suspension for abusing match officials earlier this year, and while they didn’t have the best start to the match with Italy quick out of the blocks to score the first try in the fifth minute, they responded with three tries to Italy’s one to get their campaign off the an impressive start.

Competing in the big league alongside the traditional rugby nations is a sure way to up their game, but they are also going to be tested.

Italy, who had one of their best Six Nations campaigns, including a historic first win over England in Rome, were surprisingly underwhelming, but Japan did their part and showed up for the occasion.

While there is still debate as to whether Japan is a tier one nation on the same scale as the Rugby Championship and Six Nations teams, their 27-10 victory over Japan was an upset, especially considering the Azzurri’s Six Nations form. And they did it in style.

Boks prove they are the benchmark… again

If ever there was a way to send a warning to the rest of the Nations Championship teams, this was it.

Saying the score flattered England might be a bold statement, but there can be no disputing that the back-to-back World Cup winners looked unbeatable in their first Test of the season.

They played with the attacking zest that has elevated their game, seldomly opting for more than a couple of phases, acted quickly at the rucks without giving England time to gather their thoughts, punished the opposition’s mistakes, passed their experiments with Cheslin Kolbe in charge of goal-kicking while Manie Libbok was given the freedom to focus solely on running the game while deploying Andre Esterhuizen in the back-row towards the end once more, and they still managed to be rampant despite a few misfires at the line-out.

England may have crawled their way back into the game from 17-0 down, but Rassie Erasmus’ crew never looked like they were in trouble.

You never would have guessed there was such disruption just hours before kick-off, with captain Siya Kolisi and lock Eben Etzebeth withdrawn due to injury, resulting in Pieter-Steph du Toit taking over the captaincy and moving to the second row, while Cameron Hanekom was handed the No.7 jersey and Paul de Villiers coming into the run-on side.

This was a team who last played a Test in November, while England went into the fixture with the Six Nations campaign under the belt.

For the Boks, the mission was clear: new season, new tournament, same dominance.

Bet Henry Pollock won’t be hoping to “see them soon” in the foreseeable future.

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Misses:

No Homeground Advantage for Japan

Fiji “hosted” Wales at Cardiff City Stadium in their Nations Championship opener on Saturday in a match the lost 24-39.

While their rugby ground in Suva doesn’t meet competition requirements and can only hold around 15,000 people, the reasons for Japan having to sacrifice their home ground for their next match aren’t as clear.

Ireland will take on the Brave Blossoms at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle, New South Wales on Saturday in the first neutral Test to be staged in Australia since the pandemic.

Outspoken coach Eddie Jones has publicly claimed that his team have to play at a neutral venue Down Under simply so as not to inconvenience Ireland, who defeated Australia 31-33 in Sydney in the second match of the weekend.

Had the next match actually been hosted by Japan, Ireland would have had to travel from Australia to Tokyo and then back to New Zealand for their Round Three clash against the All Blacks.

Regardless, it would have been great to see how Japan could go at home, their real home, not a neutral venue and, needless to say, it would have been much fairer had they been able to play the No.3 ranked team in Tokyo.

Not seeing them have the chance to impress at home against one of the world’s top teams, the way they did against Italy, is a major miss.