Super XV Week 4 Preview

This season's Super Rugby has seen defences dominating, after 3 rounds and 21 matches there have only been 3 matches where a team has secured a 4-try bonus point, with the Bulls, Chiefs and Sharks the successful teams.

Australian Conference

Position	Team	Played	Wins	Losses	Draws	Byes	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Bonus Points	Total
1	Reds	3	3	0	0	0	71	47	24	0	12
2	Brumbies	2	2	0	0	1	43	40	3	0	12
3	Waratahs	3	1	2	0	0	73	62	11	3	7
4	Rebels	2	0	2	0	1	25	46	-21	1	5
5	W.Force	3	0	3	0	0	56	100	-44	1	1

New Zealand Conference

Position	Team	Played	Wins	Losses	Draws	Byes	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Bonus Points	Total
1	Highlanders	3	3	0	0	0	68	60	8	0	12
2	Chiefs	3	2	1	0	0	72	56	16	2	10
3	Hurricanes	3	2	1	0	0	102	86	16	1	9
4	Crusaders	3	1	2	0	0	62	69	-7	2	6
5	Blues	3	1	2	0	0	61	71	-10	1	5

South African Conference

Position	Team	Played	Wins	Losses	Draws	Byes	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Bonus Points	Total
1	Bulls	2	2	0	0	1	54	38	16	0	12
2	Stormers	3	2	1	0	0	92	61	31	2	10
3	Lions	3	1	2	0	0	57	53	4	3	7
4	Sharks	3	1	2	0	0	75	87	-12	1	5
5	Cheetahs	3	0	3	0	0	67	102	-35	2	2

Chiefs vs Brumbies
Two 2nd-in-conference teams face off against each other in Hamilton this week. The Chiefs will go in full of confidence with the fans’ cow-bells loudly behind them following good wins over the highly fancied Blues and Crusaders. The Brumbies come into the game following narrow home wins over the battling Cheetahs and Force.

Both sides have a few injuries, with the Brumbies having completely changed their inside backs from last week, while Richard Kahui moves out to the wing for the Chiefs to replace Asaeli Tikoirotuma who is on bereavement leave.

It’s hard to see past the Chiefs for this one, Chiefs by 15


Stormers vs Blues
The high-flying Stormers host the Blues in Cape Town. The Blues clicked in Pretoria last week with a hard-fought (is there any other kind in Pretoria?) win over the Bulls.

For the Stormers the highly fancied Peter Grant gets his first 2012 start at 10, with Gary van Aswegen's swap to the bench the only change to the side which beat the Sharks in their last outing.

The Blues are minus the injured Isaia Toeava and Anthony Boric; Rene Ranger is suspended; while Michael Hobbs is in New Zealand due to the death of his father, NZ rugby legend Jock Hobbs. With Jerome Kaino ruled out for the season and Tony Woodcock due back from his post-RWC holiday next week the Blues are missing a lot of experience.

At home the Stormers should be too strong, Stormers by 10.


Hurricanes vs Highlanders
The Hurricanes return home from their relatively (2 wins out of 3) successful tour to South Africa (and Perth) to host the high-flying Highlanders in what should be a very interesting contest at the Cake Tin between two sides who are lacking a little “star power”, but who are coached by no-nonsense former forwards.

Cory Jane has been tweeting about man-flu and stomach bugs this week, but should be fit to play for the Hurricanes. Andre Taylor has been a revelation for the 'Canes at fullback this season and the team from the capital will be trying to involve him as much as possible.

The visitors have two changes from last week, with Colin Slade coming in at fullback in place of the concussed Ben Smith while Kade Poki also gets his first 2012 start on the right wing. Jimmy Cowan remains on the bench behind 2012 revelation Aaron Smith. Hosea Gear and Andrew Hore return “home” after the pair decamped from the Hurricanes last season.

My head is saying “anyone’s game” on this one, so I’m going with my heart and picking the Highlanders by 5.

Waratahs vs Force
The Waratahs and the Force will both be disappointed with their starts to the 2012 competition, with the ‘Tahs notching up losses to the Reds and Highlanders, while the Force are in last place in the competition with just one losing bonus point to their name.

Former Perth player Jono Jenkins starts for the Waratahs in place of the injured Pat McCutcheon while the impressive Timani brothers will hopefully both take places on the bench with Sitaleki back from his Japanese club and Lopeti hopefully having sorted the visa issues which saw him left behind in New Zealand last weekend.

The Force have signed Australian Sevens star David Harvey on a short term contract as fly-half cover from Narbonne, but David Pocock will have his work cut out leading a struggling side in Sydney.

The Force finished second in Canberra two weeks ago, and it is hard to see a different result this week. Waratahs by 12.

Sharks vs Reds
The Reds start their South African tour sitting on top of the competition table with three wins in a row facing a Sharks side who have not yet matched pre-tournament expectations, though a bonus point win in Johannesburg last week hints at more to come..

John Plumtree has made several changes to the Sharks' team that beat the Lions, notably with Jannie du Plessis returning to bolster the scrum and lock Ross Skeate misses out due to injury. Freddie Michalak drops to the bench to give Charl McLeod some game time.

For the Reds Ewan McKenzie has made 6 changes to last week's starting XV that struggled to put away the Rebels, four changes in the pack meaning Radike Samo returns at number 8. Beau Robinson on the openside and Van Humphries at lock earn starts. A re-shuffled backline sees Ben Lucas start at fly-half, pushing Mike Harris out to 12 and bringing Rod Davies in at fullback.

This match is my pick for game of the round, it’s a shame the match in Durban kicks off at 3pm on Saturday UK time, just 15 minutes after kick off in the Wales vs. France 6 Nations match. Home ground advantage should swing the match the Sharks’ way, Sharks by 7.


Rebels vs Cheetahs
The winless Rebels and Cheetahs face off in Melbourne in a contest that could help decide the wooden spoon. The Cheetahs did come within a point of the Brumbies in Canberra last week, only being denied by a controversial scrum penalty in the final minute. Keith Brown’s decision is being investigated by the Super Rugby elite scrum panel.

The Rebels’ potentially exciting back line is still yet to fire though their defence is (thankfully) working a lot better than in 2011. If their forward pack can secure some front-foot ball expect some fireworks from the likes of O’Connor and Beale.

Andries Strauss returns from suspension to bolster the Cheetahs’ midfield, while Naka Drotske continues experimenting with his loose forward combination, changing it for the fourth week in a row.

This one will probably be decided up front, if the Rebels can secure 40% of possession they have the firepower to win this one. The Bookies have the Rebels as solid favourites, and so do I, Rebels by 10.

Bye
Bulls, Crusaders, Lions

Updated. I'd like to add a bit more on the Sharks vs Reds match, teams aren't out yet as far as I can tell.

Can I ask a favou for the tables?

Can you turn them into an image and post the url?

To do this, paste them into powerpoint, right click and save as image. Then upload to imageshack.

there doesnt seem to be a table function on the site builder.

https://2img.net/r/ihimg/photo/my-images/707/sxvpoints.jpg/


I'm sure it's possible to do tables via the "custom html" bit, but I haven't had time to play with that yet. And it's probably really complicated.

•Team: 15. Rod Davies, 14. Dom Shipperley, 13. Ben Tapuai, 12. Mike Harris, 11. Digby Ioane, 10. Ben Lucas, 9. Will Genia, 8. Radike Samo, 7. Beau Robinson, 6. Scott Higginbotham, 5. Van Humphries, 4. James Horwill (Captain), 3. James Slipper, 2. James Hanson, 1. Greg Holmes
•Replacements: 16 Saia Faingaa, 17 Ben Daley, 18 Rob Simmons, 19 Jake Schatz, 20 Liam Gill, 21 Nick Frisby, 22 Luke Morahan

Ross skeate might not make it, but Hargreaves can cover, Jean Deysel still two weeks away from recovery.

link to an interview with Plumtree.

http://www.supersport.com/rugby/super-rugby/news/120314/Plumtree_hopes_Sharks_broke_the_ice

That's about ready to go I think. I'll publish it tonight when I get home, please tell me if you spot any typos in the mean time

The Hurricanes return home from their relatively (2 wins out of 3)

The Hurricanes return home from their relatively successful (2 wins out of 3)


The Force finished second in Canberra two weeks ago

The Force came away with a loss in Canberra two weeks ago?

biltongbek wrote:The Hurricanes return home from their relatively (2 wins out of 3)

The Hurricanes return home from their relatively successful (2 wins out of 3)


The Force finished second in Canberra two weeks ago

The Force came away with a loss in Canberra two weeks ago?

Cheers for the 1st one - oops.

I'll think about the "finished second", that is a Kiwi idiom for "lost" that I threw in for some variety.