Super Rugby Fixtures and kia kaha Christchurch

Ok most of you on these boards are rightly focused on the 6N this weekend. Fair enough. England vs Wales hopefully lives up to the hype and the many threads devoted to it.

But for those who follow rugby in the South, the monstrosity that is Super Rugby is starting this weekend. Personally I don´t much like the set up of this tournament or the size and duration of it. But regional pride is still up for grabs and even though February for me is associated with cricket and summer pursuits such as surfing and barbeques.

So let´s have a look at the fixtures and see who is in with a shout this year.

The first game up is the Blues against the Crusaders at Eden Park. Now last year the Blues beat the Crusaders and even though I´m a red and black Cantabrian and yesterday was the first anniversary of the earthquake tragedy in Christchurch, I´m picking the Blues to beat the Crusaders again this year (and here´s hoping that jinxes them!) Piri Weepu has been left out for once again entering the new season looking like a stuffed Christmas turkey and McCaw and Carter are not playing in this match. We have the exciting match up of Kaino and McCaw against one another playing at number 8 opposite one another and I´m picking for this to be a hard match with not much between the sides. Blues to win by 5.

Brumbies vs Force is the next game and the Brumbies had one of the most disappointing seasons in their Super history and will no doubt be pumped to get this 2012 season off to the best possible start. Can the Force really be a force in Australian rugby. They surprised a few teams last year and looked to be more consistent but still seem some way off the top two Aussie teams. Brumbies to win by 12.

Bulls vs Sharks Well at least we can count on the South Africans to generate some proper interest in terms of atmosphere and crowd support. The Bulls will not be pleased by last year´s efforts where they had a horror road show. The Sharks seemed on the rise but still some way off their form at their peak so this will be a great first up battle. I´m predicting a Bulls win by 8.

The Chiefs vs Highlanders. The Chiefs have Wayne Smith as their number 2. Number 2 seems to suit Wayne Smith more than number 1. But can he do more for the Chiefs backs than the (gulp) ABs assistant coach Ian Foster? Much of that depends of course on the efforts of the forwards and whether they can keep injuries at bay. SBW is now playing for the Chiefs, so can his offloads spark the outside backs to something special. Meanwhile the Highlanders have a few new recruits including Jamie Haskell so can they get off to the same positive start as they did last year even though they fell away at the tail end of the season. Highlanders to sneak this by 3.

Waratahs vs Reds. This is going to be a nice little grudge match with some Waratahs players having a dig at the Reds saying their season last year was like a debut album: relatively easy to attain success because they were unknown. Now follows the difficult second album or follow-up season and everyone will be gunning for them. That said, I think Quade Cooper with Genia will come back stronger this year and Digby Ioane is one of the most exciting backs (I´d go even further actually and say the most exciting back) in world rugby at the moment and I expect the Reds to start off again where they left off last year. Reds to win by 12.

Stormers vs Hurricanes. Well the Stormers looked on fire but fell to the Crusaders near the final hurdle. The Hurricanes were like Wellington weather and mostly atrocious last year. So which Hurricanes will we see this year and can we see the Stormers play that attractive and effective style of rugby again? I´d put more money on the latter occurring than the former. Stormers to win by 15.

Lastly the Lions vs Cheetahs. The Lions were the fairytale story of last year. No real stars but the ex Mooloo man got them playing very good rugby. The Cheetahs on the other hand were one of the laughing stock teams of last year´s comp and here´s hoping they can improve this year round. Lions by 10.

So some good games in there. My picks are for Reds Waratahs for sheer rivalry along with the Crusaders Blues match. It´s going to be very interesting though to see which teams look to have the goods and which teams have turned over a performance leaf. If you can't sleep because of the England Wales match, at least you can balance out your insomnia with watching some good rugby match ups. kia kaha Christchurch and all the best to the teams down that part of the world.

I think the Crusaders will win, Force, Bulls, chiefs, waratahs, Stormers, Lions .

I predict all games to be within 6 points.

Everyone gets points then Biltong. Very generous of you. Hope you´re right about the Crusaders result but can't see it myself.

I think the local matches are a good way to start the competition. That´s what the majority of the games are.

I expect the preperations for the teams have been pretty solid. So I don't think any team will be caught asleep.

The Crusaders start with two away matches and with the Blues being their biggest rivals for their conference will be targeted in a big way.

The Crusaders have shown that they can win without Carter and McCaw but it´ll be interesting to see how Fruean operates without his internet provider SBW.

I´m looking forward to seeing the Read Kaino battle. There´s going to be a big hit in there for sure between those AB partners.

Do you know mate if the teams you don't play because of the conference system are different to or the same as last year? If they´re the same I´ll be and plenty worse besides.

For Superguru Ive gone:
Blues by 9
Brumbies by 7
Bulls by 4
Highlanders by 7
Reds by 13
Stormers by 17
Lions by 19

Blues at Eden Park without Carter and McCaw is still a big ask Biltong. Saders know how to manage their season as their last 10 straight semi appearances prove and they normally lose matches like this. Blues know they need these to compete for the top spot.

Both are unbeaten pre season so should be a good match.

Historically Blues should take it...

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:

Do you know mate if the teams you don't play because of the conference system are different to or the same as last year? If they´re the same I´ll be and plenty worse besides.

Kiwi alluded to the missing opponents in his conference summary's- They look different...Crusaders miss Sharks and Brumbies- last year they had bottom dwellers Lions and Rebels on top of their 100k travelling!

That´s true Taylorman. Just like the ABs we tend to start the season slowly. Unless you´re talking about the season we went unbeaten.

It´d be great if we could a 606v2 team on this website. http://virtualrugby.jimungo.com/ I´m on there as updoc.

PS Thanks for the info. Much better than the two cellar dweller sides we had last year. That would´ve given us home advantage playing those sides and I could´ve flown over to Twickers for the final!

Guys the teams you don't play rotates evry year, so those you missed last year will only come up on rotation every 5 years

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:That´s true Taylorman. Just like the ABs we tend to start the season slowly. Unless you´re talking about the season we went unbeaten.

Like our 97? Though we did give a draw up I have to admit...

Ooooh... can you feel the old Auks Cantab's rivalry coming back again... Hart vs Grizz...ahhh those were the days (when we used to win!)

Well I grew up in the era when the log of wood was taken away from Canterbury after a lengthy spell. Then Auckland turned it into an interminable reign and became one of the most powerful clubs ever to grace NZ rugby (who am I kidding, they became the club that any club now refers to. Even the Crusaders don't compare to what Auckland achieved).

This gave rise to the theory that when Auckland rugby is strong, NZ rugby is strong. Well of course if Auckland contained a pack of the Brooke bros, a front row of Fitzpatrick, Brown and Dowd and a backrow of Jones with backs like Kirwan, Fox and Stanley etc,then of course AB rugby was strong to have those players.

But now that ascendancy is in Canterbury and we finally have a World Cup again but AB rugby isn't strong because Canterbury is strong. Sure combinations at club level form powerful combinations in test rugby but it´s a lot more complex than that.

I´m surprised and delighted obviously by the result but the Blues have recently made silly errors when normally they were the ones forcing those errors on other sides. It´s sad now that there is not so much rivalry with Auckland and Canterbury provinces because the ABs are often left out of the teams. But certainly in Super Rugby the rivalry and respect is there as both teams have a lot of AB players.

Hey mate - Thanks for the post!
For some reason I kept thinking the comp started on Saturday not today. Just turned on the Brumbies-Force match.

This is the best leg of the Rugby season. Six Nations, Heineken Cup. The Premeirship, Celtic and Top 14 league seasons getting into the hotting up stages, and now the Super Rugby too.

Not too bad. Not too bad at all.

Good win for the red and blacks this morning, some of the youngsters stepped up well (actually, Bleyendaal simply stepped really well )

Here's the list of teams "missed" (I had to trawl through the fixtures list over the last few days to compile this for the previews)
Blues: Cheetahs, Waratahs
Chiefs: Rebels, Stormers
Crusaders: Brumbies, Sharks
Highlanders: Force, Lions
Hurricanes: Bulls, Reds

So a good draw for the Hurricanes, and better for the Crusaders than last year.

Bulls: Force, Hurricanes
Cheetahs: Blues, Reds
Lions: Highlanders, Waratahs
Sharks: Crusaders, Rebels
Stormers: Brumbies, Chiefs
I bet the Cheetahs are happiest for that list

Brumbies: Crusaders, Stormers
Force: Bulls, Highlanders
Rebels: Chiefs, Sharks
Reds: Cheetahs, Hurricanes
Waratahs: Blues, Lions
Good for the Brumbies, bad for the Reds

Good work there Kiwi. Cheers for that. How did they come up with these teams in the first place? Were they pulled out of a hat or random.org?

The Brumbies have the sweetest draw easily in the Australia conference and the Cheetahs have a dream no-play draw. The problem is they look so bad on paper and their performance from last year that it won't count for much.

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Good work there Kiwi. Cheers for that. How did they come up with these teams in the first place? Were they pulled out of a hat or random.org?

The Brumbies have the sweetest draw easily in the Australia conference and the Cheetahs have a dream no-play draw. The problem is they look so bad on paper and their performance from last year that it won't count for much.

I think it was random - shrug. I'm guessing they set up a "miss" draw for the 5 years starting last year, and it's set.

The Brumbies and Cheetahs probably need all the help they can get this season