Super Rugby 2016 Season

First topic message reminder :

Here's a thread for stray observations on this season's matches.

The Blues just pulled off an exciting 33-31 win over the Highlanders, while the Brumbies are comfortably ahead of the Hurricanes at half time.

The problem with the Kings goes beyond their on-field rugby issues...the union is under administration, the players don't get regular salaries, sometimes they go months without being paid. They don't even have their own gym facilities! The union CEO Cheeky Watson is a scoundrel (but very well politically connected) And this has been the case with the EP union for ages, which was part of the reason that so many locals were against the inclusion of the Kings in Super Rugby....If the EP union could not manage to successfully administer a 2nd division Currie Cup team (and if that team, never managed to progress beyond the 2nd Division, unlike smaller unions like Griquas and Mpumalanga) then how on earth was it expected that things would suddenly change when they became a Super Rugby team....

The Force & the Rebels both got off to a rough start in Super Rugby, but the former quickly adapted and finished mid-table the next few years, whereas the Rebels continued to struggle until recently. The Cheetahs, on the other hand, started well to finish in the top half of the table in their debut season, but have since battled near the bottom - with the notable exception of 2013 when they dipped out in the first round of the playoffs. 2013, incidentally, was the year the Kings actually debuted, replacing the Lions - but only to be relegated after finishing 15th then losing to the Lions on aggregate in a play-off for 2014 inclusion. They then spent the next two years on hiatus.

2 of the top 3 teams tumble so far this weekend - & it's only Friday

Jags down to 13 with two slightly harsh calls (most would get away with those clear outs). The Kings consistently infringe at nearly every breakdown and into the second half the Jags are slowly extending their lead by increments of three. It's an example of two differing displays of indiscipline.

Jags down to 12 for the last 10 minutes (yellow card), then a penalty try, 2 more tries 29-22 . They may have won, but Southern Kings are absolutely sh!te. Losing BP for Jaquares

Embarrassing reffing performance robs Jags. Did anyone else see that. The yellow card and from the rolling maul was farcical, the ref had made his mind up before the maul took place and from the ensuing scrum the ref has backing towards the post for the penalty try before the ball was put in.

Jags blew a 12 point lead in the third quarter to lose?? How did they get so many players sent off??

They had 2 men red carded in the FIRST half (Half time score 3 - 6). They then managed to lead 10 - 22 after 70 minutes, playing 30 minutes of the 2nd half with 13 men. Then on 70 minutes they had the yellow card as described by Sam above. The Kings score 19 unanswered against 12 men in the last 10 minutes

Couldn't see the match but Lavanini has been borderline a few times already and we know from the Argentina-Ireland QF how stupid Herrera can be. I'm not surprised in the slightest those were the players red carded.

Must have been an embarrassing performance from the Kings.

Another spanking for the Sunpoodles...

As Lionel Mapoe tears Jesse Kriel a new one, I'd like to remind everyone that I was ridiculed when I said he should have had a world cup berth. Not bragging or anything, because I though it was obvious

Meanwhile another impressive outing from the Lions, they really are firing on all cylinders.

Great to see Lions doing so well. Blues looked good today too but Kieran Read made a big difference at the breakdown for Crusaders in 2nd half. Folau looked really sharp for Tahs other day, playing at 13 I noticed. Guess he can play anywhere in backline really.

Excited to see how Force get on vs Rebels tomorrow morning!

So there's like a 5 week break now till after the Spring internationals, is that right? Some of those teams are going to lose the momentum they've been building up in recent weeks, with the Canes & Brumbies the most likely candidates... Frankly, I'd rather just carry on watching Super Rugby . . .

Rowanbi wrote:So there's like a 5 week break now till after the Spring internationals, is that right? Some of those teams are going to lose the momentum they've been building up in recent weeks, with the Canes & Brumbies the most likely candidates... Frankly, I'd rather just carry on watching Super Rugby . . .

Same here.

It took me a while to get interested in this year's competition as well, with all the changes and whatever. Then just as they hit the home straight and the likely finalists are shaping up, with a few key match-ups to come, we've got to wait over a month while our national teams dish out their customary spankings to touring Northern Hemisphere sides in games that don't actually mean anything

This is poor indeed, you forget the Lions as well they can have their momentum totally stopped. 5 weeks break is way too much. To make things worse we will have to deal with Soccer's Euro starting very soon.. At least i will have more time to go cut the grass

Pretty sure they could shave a few weeks of this tournament with a little restructuring. I've suggested putting the Jags in NZ's conference, the Sunwolves in Aussie's, and SA forming its own of six teams. That would eliminate the need for so many byes. & they could reduce it to a 16 game season with 10 against conference rivals and six against non-conference rivals. Therefore it might actually be possible to get it over with before the spring tests begin. Alternatively, they could just start a few weeks earlier, so that the break would come in the middle - not the business end of the program.

Silly me, but I assumed there were going to be some tour matches this weekend, since Super Rugby's on ice for the rest of the month. I mean, don't they play build-up games against provincial sides any more?

Anyone who hasn't watched these highlights should really do themselves a favour and sit down to appreciate this:

George Carlin wrote:Anyone who hasn't watched these highlights should really do themselves a favour and sit down to appreciate this:

Crusaders are the Real Madrid of rugby!

Rowanbi wrote:
Crusaders are the Real Madrid of rugby!

They may be the Real Madrid of rugby but once they play a superior team such as the Chiefs or Highlanders they lose.

Some Scores:
Chiefs...23.
Crusaders...13.

Brumbies...43.
Queensland Reds...24.

Waraths...57.
Sunwolves...12.

Hurricanes...37.
Blues...27.

Cheetahs...30.
Western Force...29.

Lions...37.
Sharks...10.

Jaguares...29.
Bulls..11.

Crusaders vs Rebels

85 - 26

The Crusaders scored 13 tries. The Rebels scored 4 themselves, so they actually came away with a try bonus point.

Rugby Fan wrote:Crusaders vs Rebels

85 - 26

The Crusaders scored 13 tries. The Rebels scored 4 themselves, so they actually came away with a try bonus point.

Not anymore, you have to score 3 tries more than the opposition now to get a try bonus point (if I understand the rules correctly which is not always easy with Super Rugby).

Galted wrote:

Rugby Fan wrote:Crusaders vs Rebels

85 - 26

The Crusaders scored 13 tries. The Rebels scored 4 themselves, so they actually came away with a try bonus point.

Not anymore, you have to score 3 tries more than the opposition now to get a try bonus point (if I understand the rules correctly which is not always easy with Super Rugby).

I thought it was four tries more?

kingraf wrote:

Galted wrote:

Rugby Fan wrote:Crusaders vs Rebels

85 - 26

The Crusaders scored 13 tries. The Rebels scored 4 themselves, so they actually came away with a try bonus point.

Not anymore, you have to score 3 tries more than the opposition now to get a try bonus point (if I understand the rules correctly which is not always easy with Super Rugby).

I thought it was four tries more?

I thought so too, Raf, but took it as gospel from the first site I visited that it was 3. Could very well be 4.

Lions 57...Kings 21.

Stormers 22...Western force 3.

Bulls 50..Sunwolves 3.

Sharks 26...Cheetahs10.

Blues 40...Brumbies 15.

Chiefs 50...Reds 5.

Crusaders 85...Rebels 26.

Hurricanes 28...Waratahs 17.

Highlanders 34...Jaguares 8.

Lions lead the competition on 52 points. and the Kiwi teams all sneaked wins.

Question:
Can anyone think of a recent year where Australian Rugby has been so weak? Every Australian team this weekend lost.

Yes, every Aussie franchise is eating it at the moment.

What has happened to your Blues again this year, Laurie?

George Carlin wrote:Yes, every Aussie franchise is eating it at the moment.

What has happened to your Blues again this year, Laurie?

Blues are good, we are going through a re-buliding stage, we might be the bottom New Zealand team but on Friday night we shoved 40 points up the top Australian team.

The 5 NZ franchises are very, very strong this season way above the other teams.

VinceWLB wrote:The 5 NZ franchises are very, very strong this season way above the other teams.

Top of the log says otherwise

What are everyone's thoughts of the tournament format thus far? Poor Attendance and TV audiences but I think it could be a winner with a bit of tweaking.

1. More money. Need money to retain our best players. Australia has a A$5 million salary cap. Does the competition make enough to make that the standard across the board. Both NZ and Aus have TV deals worth around A$50m a year. Ours is hopefully similar. Chuck in the value of Arg and Japan (can't find) and you're looking at $150+m per annum. A salary cap like that may make the earnings top heavy initially, but if it brings back the crowds and TV audiences it will prove to be a masterstroke

2. Change the format. Sanzar thought derbies would lead to greater audiences, they haven't. Lets go back to round robin. Maybe if necessary adopt an NBA style conference if you really want to get derbies.

Not too worried about the crowds, we all know that if SANZA was concerned that if they dropped the ticket prices back a bit they would luire more crowds in the stands, but everyone is paying for it in their Sky subscription (Fox in Australia).

In terms of the format I Dont think anyone is too carried away with the local derbies add to bigger crowds theory either, what us Kiwis see in the local derbies is New Zealand teams playing each other in huge intensity games absolutely smashing each other which begs the question "Are the best teams making it too the playoffs?"

aucklandlaurie wrote:

George Carlin wrote:Yes, every Aussie franchise is eating it at the moment.

What has happened to your Blues again this year, Laurie?

 Blues are good, we are going through a re-buliding stage, we might be the bottom New Zealand team but on Friday night we shoved 40 points up the top Australian team.

Yep. They don't like it up 'em, Captain Mainwaring.

aucklandlaurie wrote:Question:
Can anyone think of a recent year where Australian Rugby has been so weak? Every Australian team this weekend lost.

http://www.theroar.com.au/2016/07/11/worst-aussie-super-rugby-round-ever/

The ARU’s website states that the Western Force’s loss to the Stormers is “the first winless weekend for Aussie teams since 2005, before the Force or the Rebels were in the competition.” Now 11 years later, this disaster has been trumped by a winless round that includes all five Australian Super Rugby sides.

Loving the SR. Tournament does seem too long and there are too many random factors like travel, byes and the various strengths of the conferences to really make it fair. But the rugby on show is superb and it's nice to watch in the morning on the weekend.

Well, cr/ap.

sent out what was essentially our B-team to Argentina, which was a risk given how tight it was at the top. Results went our way massively which meant that we only needed a point to end up top of the log and we failed. So what was once an almost Quarter final against the Sharks has become a prblematic fixture against the Saders, although they are in a bit of a lull at the moment. Even worse we've lost potential home final advantage. This is really worst case scenario. can't believe I dared to dream

Here we go:

Blues 34...Waratahs 28.

Melbourne Rebels 31...Reds28.

Sharks 40...Sunwolves 29.

Hurricanes 35...Crusaders 10.

Highlanders 25...Chiefs 15.

Brumbies 24...Western Force 10.

Stormers 52...Southern Kings 24.

Bulls 43...Cheetahs 17.

Jaguares 34..Lions 22.

Finals playoffs next weekend.

We now reach the end of the Tournament,History says home sides win
these.
So one Nz,one Oz,two SA sides in the SF.

emack2 wrote:We now reach the end of the Tournament,History says home sides win
these.
So one Nz,one Oz,two SA sides in the SF.

Alan - which Kiwi players are showing particularly good form at the moment? 

I am losing track.

The highlanders and hurricanes guys.

Especially Ardie Savea.

Uptill now all the NZ franchises have been outstanding,the format means
NZ teams are at a disadvantage.
Playing each other twice has cost them big time even the Blues are showing
promise again.
They now have to travel abroad some of them missing injured players,the
Lions now have a fully rested team against.The Crusaders now have to travel
to meet them.
They may well win as may the other NZ teams may but history is against it.

What are the odds for a NZ sweep in the QF? Must be worth a penny considering the form they have been in.

VinceWLB wrote:What are the odds for a NZ sweep in the QF? Must be worth a penny considering the form they have been in.

can tell you Vince that on the NZ TAB the odds on all four NZ teams wining is second favourite.:

Highlanders, Hurricanes, Lions, Chiefs is $5.00.

While Highlanders,Hurricanes,Crusaders,and chiefs is $5.25.

Other possible variations involving the Australian, South African teams run up to over $60.00.

Lions are favourites to beat the Saders then? What a time to be alive! I literally never thought I'd see the day

kingraf wrote:Lions are favourites to beat the Saders then? What a time to be alive! I literally never thought I'd see the day

Thats correct, the days of The Cats seems a long time ago.

Stephen Moore loves hitting rucks elbow/shoulder first at full pelt.

He doesn't get penalised for it in SR but I wonder if he'll fall foul of a few refs in the autumn.

The Brumbies were unlucky not to be awarded a try in the last minutes of their match against the Highlanders. If the referee had asked "Any reason why I cannot award..." then it would have been given.

However, they didn't really deserve to win, despite coach Larkham's complaints to the contrary.

Pocock's limitations at number 8 were shown up during some final attacking scrums. On two occasions, when the Brumbies were heading towards the tryline, he lost control of the ball. It didn't result in a turnover but those scrums could have ended in a try, or at least a penalty, if the ball had been kept in.

The Highlanders will wonder why the game was so close. The main reason is they kept making mistakes, and so didn't build a bigger points buffer.

I wonder if Peranara and Barrett are charging for the lesson they're giving to the Sharks half backs.