Talofa lava, Malo lelei’i Bula vinaka and welcome to TEIVOVOrugby’s Super Rugby podcast Season One episode 04 again, sorry I got my numbers mixed up last time – anyway I’m Culden Kamea.

This is my weekly podcast on the Fijian Drua, Moana Pasifika and other teams in the Super Rugby Pacific 2023 competition, plus Team Fijiana of course when they start defending their Super W title in Australia very soon.

In Super Rugby Round 4 last weekend:
the Hurricanes 34-17 the NSW Tahs.
the Chiefs 44-25 the Rebels
the Blues 28-34 Crusaders
the Brumbies 62-36 Moana Pasifika
the Highlanders 43-35 the Force

A couple of big issues that I want to focus on are:
the Yellow card, no-pushing-in-the-scrums, 13-man rule
the naming of Scott “Razor” Robertson as All Blacks Head Coach

Competing against any team with 15 players is tough enough, but as the Blues found out against the Crusaders last weekend, with two men short, it’s nigh on impossible.

The Blues ended up conceding two tries in the 10-minute period, going from 21-19 up to 31-21 down and like the Fijian Drua against the NSW Waratahs the previous round, that was pretty much game over.

So how did the situation arise?
The Blues losing both starting props – Alex Hodgman and James Lay – to injury inside the opening quarter hour. They then lost one of their replacement props – yellow-carded for a cynical infringement on the goal-line.

So the World Rugby Law 3.18 states: “Only when no replacement front-row player is available is any other player permitted to play in the front row” – the Blues had to inject reserve Hooker Kurt Eklund into the game, because, even though he is not a prop, he is at least a front-rower.

They then had to drop another player to accommodate that, with blindside flanker Cameron Suafoa the unlucky man.

But here’s where things get tricky - there is a quirk in the law whereby a team forcing uncontested scrums must be ‘punished’ for doing so by losing another player.

This law was introduced following a controversial Wales v Georgia Test in 2017.

This situation also arose in round two in Melbourne, where the Fijian Drua were forced to 13 players in their 46-17 loss to the Waratahs.

So the Blues opted to take off fullback Stephen Perofeta, and with law 3.15 stating: “Uncontested scrums as a result of a sending off, temporary suspension or injury must be played with eight players per side in the forwards”, the Blues were on a hiding to nothing trying to defend with only five backs.

Meanwhile, the Highlanders produced a final quarter surge to claim their first win of the Super Rugby season 43-17 against the Force, but a growing injury list and a misfiring attack means they have a lot of work to do.

In a scrappy, error-riddled game dominated by kicking, the Highlanders’ attack again struggled to get going for long periods.

They host the Fijian Drua in Dunedin this Saturday in what could be a real ding dong battle – guaranteed, the Fijian Drua will be much more dangerous with ball in hand than the Force.

Finally in my rugby podcast today - the New Zealand Rugby Football Union has confirmed Scott “Razor” Robertson as the All Blacks Head Coach from 2024, ending a chaotic search that can still derail their Rugby World Cup campaign this year.

Razor has been appointed through to the end of the 2027 RWC in Australia.

Bula Razor, so what happened to Fiji?

The BIG conspiracy theory doing the rounds is that the former interim CEO Tevita Tuiloa had really connected with Razor and was building up a strong working relationship with the Super Rugby Champion Coach to lead the Flying Fijians to the RWC2023.

However, the now former Chairman, Fiji Navy Commander, Humphrey Tawake pushed for the somewhat rushed announcement of Simon Raiwalui ahead of Razor when they could have waited a couple more weeks and Razor could have possibly been named as the Flying Fijians Head Coach to RWC2023.

A short time later, Tawake also announced that Tuiloa was gone – giving three reasons for his departure after Tuiloa revealed that Fiji rugby 7s legend, Jerry Tuiwai was still waiting for the $30,000 for his new home, promised by fomer PM Bainimarama immediately after the Tokyo Olympics gold medal win in 2021.

Thankfully, Fijian Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka stepped up and named his own nominee to the FRU Board, instantly replacing former PM Bainimarama’s nominee – Tawake.

Tit for tat – whatever, that’s the big conspiracy theory anyway.

For TEIVOVOrugby, I’m Culden Kamea.

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