Super Rugby's integrity under the spotlight
REACTION: Waratahs coach Darren Coleman believes player resting protocols are tainting the “integrity” of Super Rugby Pacific, following their heavy loss to the Blues.
Coleman deliberately fielded a weakened team in Saturday’s 21-55 defeat at Eden Park, to “knock off the Wallaby resting that we had to do” and conceded it wasn’t a good look.
Both Rugby Australia and New Zealand Rugby have mandated their Super Rugby teams must impose a number of games for their international players to miss, aimed at keeping their workloads in check ahead of the Rugby World Cup starting in September.
Coleman says he supports the move if it will improve the Wallabies’ chances of lifting the Webb Ellis Cup but agreed when asked if it affected the reputation of the southern hemisphere’s premier domestic competition.
“Supporting the national team is definitely the company line and one that I’m happy to support,” Coleman told reporters after the game.
“The integrity of the competition? Yeah, you could argue it does sort of compromise that a little bit.
“It’s not great for the competition but in a World Cup year you’ve just got to suck it up I guess.”
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Coleman believed the Brumbies employed the same tactic when faced with a challenging fixture against the Crusaders in Christchurch last month.
The Canberra-based side handed rests to a number of key players and suffered their only loss of the season to date.
A Waratahs team fielding three players on debut and another three making their first start were no match for the Blues side laden with All Blacks, who ran in seven tries.
Among the Waratahs rested was veteran Test flank Michael Hooper, who is set to return for next week’s match against the Otago Highlanders in Sydney.
Coleman is intending that to be the start of a six-match run to end the regular season that lifts his side from 10th place into a finals berth.
“To see a scoreline like that [against the Blues] is disappointing and a little embarrassing,” he said.
“However, in the scheme of our season, I don’t think it hurts us too much.
“We knocked off the Wallaby resting we had to do, we’ll get some guys back and on top of those three boys that we rested, there’ll be another three back from injury and I feel like we’re in a position now to launch at the last six games.
“You’ve just got to hit those playoffs in form and relatively healthy, and we have the opportunity to do that.”
