What's Wrong with the Aussie Super Rugby Teams?

With 6 rounds to go, two things are clear: the New Zealand and South African sides are leading the way, and the Aussies are being left well behind at this stage.

In fact, the Australian conference of 2012 so far has been akin to the NFL's weakest of the weak, NFC West division in the 2010 season when no teams finished with a winning record and the eventual division champ, the Seattle Seahawks only won the division because they won their last game despite possessing a final losing 7-9 season record.

The Australian teams have certainly had it rough in recent times after a glorious late 90s and early 00s. Now that the South African teams have figured out how to succeed away from the Republic in Super Rugby, the Australian teams have found themselves lagging behind with only the Queensland Reds of 2011 pulling away from the rest - a bit like the San Francisco 49ers of 2011 did, when they were streets ahead of the other NFC West teams; and yes I know they both wear red.

However, the Reds of 2012 have been a pale shadow of the side that thrilled on its way to its first ever championship in 2011. Yes, injuries and suspension to key players hasn't helped, i.e. Quade Cooper, Mike Harris, Digby Ioane, Ben Lucas, etc. but you'd expect a side coached by Ewen McKenzie not to have a ton of points scored against it in two weekends. Ok, the Bulls in Pretoria in the highveldt can be quite a tough proposition when you have so many injuries but to be thrashed by the Western Force in Perth and concede a try-scoring bonus point? That is just unbelievable.

As a result, the Reds are now in a mire with their dirty arch-rivals, the NSW Waratahs and the newbies, the Western Force and Melbourne Rebels separated only by 3 points. They're 5 points behind the Brumbies but even the Canberra side can't really be too happy where they are, with only 18 points, and 3rd on the table by dint of the fact they're the Australian conference leader - they're actually 6th tied with the chasing Crusaders with the Bulls and Chiefs actually having more points than them at this stage.

Yes, there are plenty of rounds to go and yes the competition does go till July so Aussie fans shouldn't really panic. After all, there will be an Australian side in the playoffs, but whether there'll be another one, it's a bit hard to see, given that 2012 isn't a Rugby World Cup year, all the South African and New Zealand sides will be absolutely hoeing into the rigours of a full Super rugby campaign.

It has got to be a depth issue across Australia. Yes, it is quite plain to see with the Reds who have definitely struggled once you take out their best players but have a look at the other teams. The Western Force have had to sign David Harvey from club footie in Sydney as injury cover for the injured James Stannard and the move of James O'Connor to Melbourne - having said that, Harvey has actually been quite impressive as first-five there. A spattering of ITM Cup players who couldn't make their own Super Rugby teams in NZ like James Speight, Toby Lynn etc. have also been signed by Australian sides simply because there isn't enough depth to cover 5 teams. This in addition to the likes of Sal Pretorius, Mike Harris, Gareth Delve, Michael Lipman who are all overseas imports.

It is obvious that the war in Australia between the three big football codes, rugby league, rugby union and Australian rules has clearly left rugby union a bit of a poor cousin with the riches of league and Aussie rules a carrot for many young budding Aussie boys. While New Zealand rugby union still has a fight with rugby league, rugby union will continue to win that fight for players. And South Africa has double the population of Australia and no football war to contend with.

Having said that, rugby union has always been a bit of a whipping boy in Australia and the depth of players in Australia has always been the weakest out of the top sides bar Ireland, Scotland and Italy so what's new.

In fact, you could say that the game turning professional might have probably helped Australian rugby and that things could have been far worse if the game wasn't professional there. The franchises there certainly have the money to play the game the European sides play and hence they can afford guys like James Cipriani from England, and big money moves between states involving the likes of James O'Connor and Matt Giteau.

I guess as a Kiwi rugby fan, I have a wry smile seeing our big Tasman brothers failing for once, having seen many Kiwis go over there for the West Island's other big benefits. At the same time though, you wonder if it's a good look for Super Rugby to hand Australia a free ticket into the playoffs despite being clearly so inferior - and they would have definitely missed out under the old system if the season closed last weekend.