Super15 playing with loaded dice

The Super series has expanded to a point where it is no longer Super and we have the Conference system which favours certain countries currently.In 2013 the Super series is to start earlier to accomodate the Lions tour and it would seem to be a good point to change things.Start every Super Series earlier,abandon theConference system and play each team once Home and Away alternate seasons.Top 4 teams finishing play a Semi final .Top 2 teams getting a Home game the Final played on Neutral territory. That way teams would`nt as now if they win a Wild card Semi.Would`nt have a huge travel handicap as Crusaders last year and Sharks this year have neither would a team coming half way up the table get a Home wildcard game advantage.Currently 2 of the Australian,and 2 of the SA sides always the same two underperform recently.That is not true of the Nz Franchise as it usually is one but recently not the same one.Obviously if under the current system you play the bottom two sides twice you have a better chance of gaining easy points.Than if you faced a top side from another conference you never played as this year.

Next year NZ sides are going to be the most even across the five for some time. The canes and chiefs have gained some backbone that looks like it will last and so much change is going on at the blues that they can only get better.

If anything its likely the saders and highlanders have flatlined and need to find something new to reinvigorate their franchises.

emack2 wrote:The Super series has expanded to a point where it is no longer Super and we have the Conference system which favours certain countries currently.In 2013 the Super series is to start earlier to accomodate the Lions tour and it would seem to be a good point to change things.Start every Super Series earlier,abandon theConference system and play each team once Home and Away alternate seasons.Top 4 teams finishing play a Semi final .Top 2 teams getting a Home game the Final played on Neutral territory. That way teams would`nt as now if they win a Wild card Semi.Would`nt have a huge travel handicap as Crusaders last year and Sharks this year have neither would a team coming half way up the table get a Home wildcard game advantage.Currently 2 of the Australian,and 2 of the SA sides always the same two underperform recently.That is not true of the Nz Franchise as it usually is one but recently not the same one.Obviously if under the current system you play the bottom two sides twice you have a better chance of gaining easy points.Than if you faced a top side from another conference you never played as this year.

Sorry for only posting now, I still had to get over the Stormers losing and I am still not over it. I really don't think the Cheetahs are a bad team - yes they do struggle against the SA top 3 but if you look at it the Cheetah's takes more points from their international games than they do in the country.

Yes the Lions is really bad and something needs to be done to get them up to speed. They used to be such a good team and a few years ago they were still the richest franchise in SA. No it looks like they are bankrupt, in the richest city in SA - where most of the country's money are made.

The Australian sides will still need some time to get to grips with their 5 teams. They went from 3 to 4 to 5 really quickly and I think they never really got to settle on four and now have to deal with 5 sides in the super15. I think it will take some time for them to get the spread right. It looked like only the Reds and Brumbies were really competitive, with the Waratahs somewhere in between, but give them time and you will see how their sides will build to formidable and feared opponents.

Australia also went from 3 to 4 to 5 by rotating the Wallabies around to make the new franchise some success. This weaken the structure in the existing clubs. Disasterous management that has held back Wallaby rugby more than naming Robbie Deans as head coach.

As for the conference system, it's not supposed to be "fair" but designed to provide increase number of local derbies and build towards a format attempt to guarantee interenational semi-finals because this is statistically what brings in the fans and makes more revenue. So ecnomically it's correct. I guess that's what "super" rugby has always target, and if not we may as well stamp the passports of our players now. If it keeps them in Black, Green and Gold then who cares if the conference is a bit skewed? It's just a bit of fun anyway. Let's not get like the British and start believing club rugby is more important than international...

Taylorman wrote:Next year NZ sides are going to be the most even across the five for some time. The canes and chiefs have gained some backbone that looks like it will last and so much change is going on at the blues that they can only get better.

If anything its likely the saders and highlanders have flatlined and need to find something new to reinvigorate their franchises.

I gotta take exception with your statement that the Highlanders have flatlined Taylorman.
We were garbage before JJ took over last year.
We had been garbage for 6-7 years.
This year we have moved to a new indoor stadium.
The fans have come back.

Also...

1. We beat champions at home.
2. We won in Auckland for first time since 2003 (and beat them twice)
3. We won in S Africa.
4. We won one more game this year than 2011.

I believe we are in the 2nd year of a 5 year plan.
Hosea, Hore, Thompson, Smith (A+E), Tamati E, Hoeata .... have all re-signed!
Judge us in 2-3 more years!

Fair enough gunner, hadn't put a lot of thought into the highlanders (typical north islander ay?).

Just thought they hadn't rolled on a lot from last years improvements and went a bit off at the business end of this season.

Chiefs have shown a five year plan isn't necessary though they did have a huge injection of talent and coaching resource and few will match that turnaround in a year (blues?).

I think what I really meant is all five teams are looking strong provided the blues come to the party. The improvers being the canes and the chiefs. The highlanders are already up there as competitive but will need to find something extra. Some key players are not spring chickens either.

Highlanders with limited resources have really turned it around in the last couple of years instead of being easy beats.

Highlanders started to struggle when they lost Colin Slade through injury. So I don't think they hit their level, just missed their young out half. To me they play a nice, physical game. I like their captain, Jamie Mackintosh, who appears to be a terrific leader.