Super Rugby

[Len]

Nehe Milner Stepper back on form. That step makes me sex wee. The run and offload from Barrett junior was mint too.

Good win for the Crusaders also.

Please explain sex wee, I'm going to use it, I just don't want it to be out of context.

Means jizz

[rowan]

Ladder's lookin' mighty good right now!

[rowan]

Chiefs - Canes is going to be a cracker! I have a hunch the Chiefs may edge it, but the Canes will take revenge in the return fixture, whenever that is. What concerns me about the Canes right now is that their first two hit-outs will not have prepared them well for the tough, bruising encounter that is surely in store this weekend...

Ladder's lookin' mighty good right now!

[rowan]

Predictions

Two of the world's most exciting flyhalves will meet on Friday when Beauden Barrett of the Hurricanes and Aaron Cruden of the Chiefs lock horns in Waikato.

Both sides have collected maximum points from their first two matches of the season, and this clash is undoubtedly the main event of the Super Rugby weekend.

Cruden is jetting off to Montpellier at the end of the season on a huge money deal that will rule him out of All Black contention, meaning this could be one of the last times we get to see him and Barrett squaring off.

"Aaron has been playing really well in the first two weeks. He's obviously a very important cog in their wheel. He obviously wants to leave New Zealand on a good note and he's started off strong this year," Barrett told Kiwi talk show The Crowd Goes Wild.

"I respect him a lot as a player but when it comes to personal match-ups you don't read too much into it because we hardly ever butt heads in a game. It's more about how we run our teams, but it's a good challenge.

"This week is obviously a big test for us to see where we're at, but if we compare it to this time, last year I think we're in a much better place.

"Our shape is a lot better and our defence ... we know what works for us."

http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/SuperRug ... n-20170307

Does this look slightly ominous

Australian Super Rugby teams have been asked not to re-sign any non-Wallabies players until after SANZAAR officials decide if they will axe one of Australia's five franchises from the competition.

It can be revealed a core group of Australian players are in contract limbo as SANZAAR bosses prepare to meet in London on Friday to discuss the future of Super Rugby.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/rugby-u ... uso9i.html

[rowan]

Predictions

Two of the world's most exciting flyhalves will meet on Friday when Beauden Barrett of the Hurricanes and Aaron Cruden of the Chiefs lock horns in Waikato.

Both sides have collected maximum points from their first two matches of the season, and this clash is undoubtedly the main event of the Super Rugby weekend.

Cruden is jetting off to Montpellier at the end of the season on a huge money deal that will rule him out of All Black contention, meaning this could be one of the last times we get to see him and Barrett squaring off.

"Aaron has been playing really well in the first two weeks. He's obviously a very important cog in their wheel. He obviously wants to leave New Zealand on a good note and he's started off strong this year," Barrett told Kiwi talk show The Crowd Goes Wild.

"I respect him a lot as a player but when it comes to personal match-ups you don't read too much into it because we hardly ever butt heads in a game. It's more about how we run our teams, but it's a good challenge.

"This week is obviously a big test for us to see where we're at, but if we compare it to this time, last year I think we're in a much better place.

"Our shape is a lot better and our defence ... we know what works for us."

http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/SuperRug ... n-20170307

Does this look slightly ominous

Australian Super Rugby teams have been asked not to re-sign any non-Wallabies players until after SANZAAR officials decide if they will axe one of Australia's five franchises from the competition.

It can be revealed a core group of Australian players are in contract limbo as SANZAAR bosses prepare to meet in London on Friday to discuss the future of Super Rugby.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/rugby-u ... uso9i.html

No takers regarding predictions Guess everybody's too busy discussing the color of Trump's socks or something . . .

[rowan]

Rugby isn't going to get a global season but it is going to get a sensible season. World Rugby executives meeting in Europe this week are understood to have all but reached agreement that from 2020, the June international window will be shifted to July.

There's a bit of fine detail still to be worked through - the Northern Hemisphere seeing if they need to lop a rest week off the Six Nations to make things fit - but in principle, all the major stumbling blocks have been hurdled and the change will most likely be ratified later this year.

That's the good news. The bad news is that Sanzaar, who will also have a summit meeting in Europe at the end of this week, are odds on to blow the golden opportunity with which they have been presented.

Shifting the June internationals to July may not seem like a tectonic shift, but it is significant. The most notable advantage will be the ability to run Super Rugby in one block without having to take a break to play tests.

That's a major, as the three-week hiatus is a competition killer.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/ar ... d=11814662

[Eugene Wrayburn]

Is the hiatus actually a killer. Has anyone actually looked at figures? If he surprised if the 3 week national advertisement for rugby union provided by the incoming tours provided no actual benefit.

[rowan]

Fair comment. I was fretting last year that it would destroy the Canes' momentum, but they took it in their stride and by the time the play-offs came around the hiatus was long forgotten. Still, I'd rather see the competition run right through personally. Makes no difference whether the international fixtures are staged in June or July. Not sure how it effects Europe, though.

[rowan]

Yes, I picked the Chiefs to win this one and they are well on top at the moment, 20-6 midway 2nd half, on their home patch.

Update: 23-18 final minutes. Canes' comeback falls just short, but that's a more respectable scoreline which gives hope it will be reversed in the return match on Canes territory.

Update: Late Chiefs penalty seals it. 26-18. About what I expected.

[rowan]

Reading some of the reports on tonight's Super Rugby meeting in London consensus seems to be we'll see 18 teams retained, Argentina moved to the NZ conference, the Sunwolves moved to Australia, and the South Africans returning to a single conference. This is what I suggested earlier somewhere. There will thus be 3 6-team conferences, with the play-offs returning to the Super 15 formula.

[zer0]

Reading some of the reports on tonight's Super Rugby meeting in London consensus seems to be we'll see 18 teams retained, Argentina moved to the NZ conference, the Sunwolves moved to Australia, and the South Africans returning to a single conference. This is what I suggested earlier somewhere. There will thus be 3 6-team conferences, with the play-offs returning to the Super 15 formula.

As in straight top qualifiers without any of this quota malarkey? If so, that's a start. But what of the regular season? Will there still be regular international matches, or will the NZ teams will be sent back to cannibalise each other, and the Argentinians?

[rowan]

I should think the changes will be minimal. It will all be out in the press by morning...

[rowan]

I should think the changes will be minimal. It will all be out in the press by morning...

In fact, all that's out is that there will be changes, but again I think it's going to be minimal and mostly involve the playoff system. The very most I'm expecting is a return to the 3 conference system (Inshallah), only now with six teams apiece. It may not even go that far. I'm about 99% certain now that no teams will be axed. At least the looming prospect over the past few weeks may have served as a wake-up call for the likes of the Sunwolves, Kings & Rebels. If Super Rugby continues to lose support, they might not be so fortunate next time . . .

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/ar ... d=11816496

[cashead]

Is the hiatus actually a killer. Has anyone actually looked at figures? If he surprised if the 3 week national advertisement for rugby union provided by the incoming tours provided no actual benefit.

I know I don't speak for everyone, but I do find it hard to give a shit about Super Rugby once it restarts after the June test window. It always feels like a big step-down from the test rugby we just enjoyed not a couple of weeks ago. I'd say it's also because the fatigue sets in due to how increasingly early in the year the competition starts.

[cashead]

Fekitoa just copped a knee to the head. Could be a problem later.

[rowan]

The Blues lost again? How sad . . .

Meanwhile, SMH is still maintaining the axe may loom for one of the Aussie franchises, but I suspect that's just a little sensationalism going on . . .

[Eugene Wrayburn]

Is the hiatus actually a killer. Has anyone actually looked at figures? If he surprised if the 3 week national advertisement for rugby union provided by the incoming tours provided no actual benefit.

I know I don't speak for everyone, but I do find it hard to give a shit about Super Rugby once it restarts after the June test window. It always feels like a big step-down from the test rugby we just enjoyed not a couple of weeks ago. I'd say it's also because the fatigue sets in due to how increasingly early in the year the competition starts.

However for some teams is the business and of the season. Might that have rather more to do with it?

[rowan]

Another miracle comeback by the Saders. They seem like a 'team of destiny' this year...

[Len]

Eat shit reds

[rowan]

Once again, Saffas are looking surprisingly good this year - Kings notwithstading. So far they're 3-0 against foreign opposition this weekend, with the Sharks having just thumped the Tahs. Jaguares host the Lions later on in a rematch of that astonishing encounter last year, when the tourists sent a second string outfit to Buenos Aires and blew their chance of a home-final agianst the Canes...

[rowan]

Happy to say I appear to have spoken too soon. Jags cruising to victory over last year's finalists right now...

[cashead]

I can't believe the Lions management made THE SAME FUCKING MISTAKE THAT THEY MADE LAST YEAR. Jesus fucking christ.

[cashead]

Is the hiatus actually a killer. Has anyone actually looked at figures? If he surprised if the 3 week national advertisement for rugby union provided by the incoming tours provided no actual benefit.

I know I don't speak for everyone, but I do find it hard to give a shit about Super Rugby once it restarts after the June test window. It always feels like a big step-down from the test rugby we just enjoyed not a couple of weeks ago. I'd say it's also because the fatigue sets in due to how increasingly early in the year the competition starts.

However for some teams is the business and of the season. Might that have rather more to do with it?

Maybe, maybe not. I tend to follow the provincial comp all the way through, despite my team having been perpetual cellar dwellars, FWIW.

[Lizard]

I pine for the days of a round robin comp. I remember when Super Rugby started in 1996. One of the best things about it was that if your team wasn't playing, you could always support a team from your country against foreigners. The conference system undermines that because it's better if your own nation's teams do poorly.

[cashead]

The current set-up is not only way too difficult to get one's head around, it's also inherently unfair. Get to the play-offs on merit, not by virtue of topping a shitty so-called conference only playing suck-ass failure junky dumpsterfire teams (yeah, I'm looking in your direction, Australia).