Super XV Round 2 Preview/Live match thread

[Pete C (Kiwireddevil)]

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Super XV Round 2 Preview

Competition table
Australian Super Rugby Conference
Team P W L D B PF PA PD Bp Ttl
1. Reds 1 1 0 0 0 25 21 4 0 4
2. Brumbies 1 1 0 0 0 19 17 2 0 4
3. Rebels 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 4
4. W.Force 1 0 1 0 0 17 19 -2 1 1
5. Waratahs 1 0 1 0 0 21 25 -4 1 1

New Zealand Super Rugby Conference
Team Nation P W L D B PF PA PD Bp Ttl
1. Highlanders 1 1 0 0 0 23 19 4 0 4
2. Crusaders 1 1 0 0 0 19 18 1 0 4
3. Blues 1 0 1 0 0 18 19 -1 1 1
4. Chiefs 1 0 1 0 0 19 23 -4 1 1
5. Hurricanes 1 0 1 0 0 26 39 -13 0 0

South African Super Rugby Conference
Team Nation P W L D B PF PA PD Bp Ttl
1. Stormers 1 1 0 0 0 39 26 13 0 4
2. Lions 1 1 0 0 0 27 25 2 0 4
3. Bulls 1 1 0 0 0 18 13 5 0 4
4. Cheetahs 1 0 1 0 0 25 27 -2 1 1
5. Sharks 1 0 1 0 0 13 18 -5 1 1


Chiefs vs Blues
Both the Chiefs and Blues suffered narrow losses at home last week, and will want to get a win on board. Injuries mean both teams field re-shuffled front rows, with the Chiefs have also have Tawera Kerr-Barlow and Asaeli Tikoirotuma fill halfback and wing injury vacancies respectively. Ma’a Nonu has returned from Japan but is not yet available so the fans miss out on a mouth-watering clash between him and Sonny Bill Williams. Blues by 5.

Rebels vs Waratahs
The Waratahs suffered a home loss in the big Aussie derby last week, they will be eager to get their season back on track against the Rebels, who had the bye in round 1. Danny Cipriani starts at fly-half inside James O’Connor for the Rebels, while Kurtley Beale and Stirling Mortlock are out injured. Given enough ball the Rebels could sneak this one, Rebels by 4.

Lions vs Hurricanes
The Lions would like to follow up their first win at home since 2009 this weekend against a Hurricanes team who in spite of being penalised heavily last Saturday made a good challenge against the Stormers. John Mitchell will be pleased about the win last weekend, but he will also realise that the longer the competition goes on, the better teams will execute, so he would want his team to strike early and execute well. The hurricanes may not look like a team that is playing well as a collective unit, but individually they have dangerous runners. Lions by 8.

Highlanders vs Crusaders
Both teams won away in the North Island in round 1 to set up a cracking South Island derby at the new “House of Pain” in Dunedin. Currently, sadly, it is the Otago Rugby Union and Dunedin City Council who are feeling all the (financial) pain of the new stadium. The Crusaders have brought Zac Guildford back onto the bench after his month-long suspension, while Adam Whitelock will replace the injured Ryan Crotty. Crusaders by 5.

Reds vs Force
The defending champions return home fresh of a win over the ‘Tahs in Sydney with 5 positional changes forced by injuries to Scott Higginbotham, Anthony Faingaa and James Hanson. However they should still be too strong at home for the Force, who lost in Canberra last week. Reds by 12.


Cheetahs vs Bulls
It is very likely that this match will follow much the same pattern as the Bulls vs Sharks game of last weekend. The Bulls have decided due to the instruction of SANZAR to the referees to be very strict at the breakdown that they will play vintage 2009 rugby, kick, chase hard, force errors and strangle teams in their half. It is doubtful whether the Cheetahs will be able to cope with those tactics. Bulls by 8.

Stormers vs Sharks
A key clash here for the South African conference sees the Sharks visit Cape Town coming off a narrow away loss in Pretoria last week. The Stormers looked good beating an ill-disciplined Hurricanes team in week 1, though they will be disappointed at scoring 39 points without getting a 4-try bonus point.

The Sharks will have added motivation and pressure to come away with a win against the Stormers this coming weekend, they would not want to put themselves under the same pressure as what they found themselves in beginning of the season last year. The Sharks functioned well last weekend, but lacked discipline in execution and that would be vital in turning over the Stormers.

The Stormers on the other hand will have Andries Bekker to control the lineouts, but will miss the physicality of Schalk Burger. A tough game to call, Sharks by 4.


Bye: Brumbies

[Biltong]

Yeah, took the little man for a fishing weeknd, but when my brother is around he believes in camping with style.

No luxury is left behind, sattelite dish, fridge, toaster etc.

apart from sleeping in a tent or caravan you would think you are in his back yard.

[kiakahaaotearoa]

Nothing like sitting round a camp fire watching rugby and using a dummy of Bryce Lawrence to fuel the flames. Sounds like bliss Biltong.

I got no rugby this weekend. Was at a wedding in Girona with 100 Catalans trying to make it quite clear I was from NZ and that my wife was not from Madrid but instead half Kiwi too. I think I convinced them after the 12 th copa or cerveza. Or maybe I just didn´t care what they thought after that many.

[Biltong]

Kia, it would have been better if we could have Bryce himeslf on the flames.

[kiakahaaotearoa]

That would be potentially quite explosive mate as he is so full of s**t.

[Biltong]

Nah, we'll just tie him to a tree and scare him the whole night, see how many times he can wet himself.

[B91212]

Without getting into Bruce Lawrence debate again (by the way he looked like he was carrying extra s**t around his middle than the world cup, perhaps he has been comfort eating due to the stress) anyway did you see the Rebels & NSW game? I couldn't believe the amount of petty crap going on. Seemed to me that NSW were the worst at the start, holding players back off the ball, tackling without the ball, laying on the scrum half for 30 minutes after he had got the ball away to stop him getting to the next breakdown this side of Christmas - it wasn't a great surprise that a Rebel player resorted to what looked like gouging, especially against Carter who had been a total idiot until that point.

The Rebels then started giving some back which finally caught the attention of the aforementioned referee, who somehow had missed most of the NSW stuff until then. He then finally picked up on some after Delve pointed out that there were 2 teams playing and infringing, The stupid thing is NSW didn't need to do that anyway as they always had the beating of the Rebels anyway. Is it me or does a 10/12 axis of Cipriani and O'Conner (as good a player as he is) seem just a little weak defensively?

[boomeranga]

I didnt see the Brumbies v Force game in the 1st round B, but the other three matches have been full of niggle. Carter, Higginbotham, Nathan Charles at the Force and Byrnes at the Rebels seem to be all over it, but its been a feature of the games.

Byrnes was the guy from the Rebels with the gouging. He got 10 weeks with 2 weeks off for a clean record. It didnt suprise me that he got done for gouging, but I was amazed he had a clean record. He is a pheking idiot.

Regarding Cips and Joc defensively, I dont usually have any concerns about JOC in that aspect, but I have also read comments to that effect on GAGR and the roar so you could well be right. Mitch Inman at 13 was good for them on the weekend.

[Full Credit]

I was actually going to comment on the amount of niggle in the Oz games too. It seems like every tackle, every breakdown there's always something going on. Boomer, the Brumbies Force game in round 1 was full of agro as well. No all-ins but plenty of niggle.

Push and shove is all well and good as a bit of foreplay if it's going to lead somewhere but when nothing comes of it it's all a bit of a letdown. Either see it through or don't bother with it to begin with.

Re JOC, while not a big hitter I always saw him as pretty solid. The attacker will probably get over the gain line but that's about it. That said, any sizable 12's will be licking their lips at the prospect of running that channel, especially a Money-Bill Williams type who can ship an offload.

[Ozzy3213]

Where's the Round 3 preview Kiwi? Come on pull your finger out man, it's not like you have anything else to do on this forum!

[B91212]

Byrnes was the guy from the Rebels with the gouging. He got 10 weeks with 2 weeks off for a clean record. It didnt suprise me that he got done for gouging, but I was amazed he had a clean record. He is a pheking idiot.

Not shocked that he got caught, it was obvious from the replay and Carter even had the red scrape marks under his eye's as evidence. He's pretty lucky to only get 10 weeks, some players have picked up 26 for incidents like that with really damning evidence. Was surprised that the commentators didn't really discuss it at the time as it was that obvious.

[Taylorman]

Where's the Round 3 preview Kiwi? Come on pull your finger out man, it's not like you have anything else to do on this forum!

And I dare you to pick the blues again!
Im giving them one more chance after hearing about that depressing soul searching plane ride.

Its still a mental thing. But Alis "i dont care if youre a first years blues man have a go at me if you think i let you down"

gaw...wish i was on the plane. Be more than a few thick ears under that rule!

By the way is mitey the new gg reincarnated as an english poster?? Sure is similar...checked the ip address?...

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