Kiss: Super Rugby ‘alive and kicking’

Standard published on

Reds coach Les Kiss declared Super Rugby was “healthy” after their last-gasp win over the Force, with the Pacific tournament proving far more competitive this season.

A converted 80th-minute try from Wallabies winger Filipo Daugunu earned them a pulsating 28-24 victory in Perth on Saturday – the latest in a series of thrilling games across the opening three rounds.

Kiss, seen a potential replacement when Australia coach Joe Schmidt departs later this year, admitted his side “won ugly” after battling back from a 14-0 deficit.

“But it was a beautiful win too,” he said. “Can that exist in the same space? I’m not sure.

“But that’s what this comp is offering, we’ve already seen it, there is jeopardy… teams can come back from nowhere, there is no given at the moment, and that’s in every game so far.

“So Super Rugby is alive and healthy and kicking, and showed it again [in Perth]. We didn’t expect anything less.”

The demise of the debt-ridden Rebels last season has bolstered the stocks of the remaining four Australian teams, who snapped up players left without a club.

On the evidence so far, it has made for a more attractive spectacle with games closer than ever.

Defeat denied Force three straight wins to start a season for the first time in their 20-year history, and it was hard to swallow for coach Simon Cron.

“This one hurts, and you can see it in the faces of the players,” he said. “It really hurts them that we’ve let that one go.

“So that’s what I’m happy about – that it hurts them, so that they will get up and go again and learn from it, and we’ll get better as a team.”

The Reds travel to New Zealand next to meet a Crusaders side that had a bye this week after a win and a loss to open their season. Force jet across Australia to Sydney where the unbeaten Waratahs await.

© Agence France-Presse

Photo: Janelle St Pierre/Getty Images

Post by