Super Rugby

[zer0]

Ridiculous travel demands apply to two of those other expansion teams. The Jaguares, however, have the benefit of basically being the Argentine test side to compensate. That they're still ranked behind a Blues side that has played almost all of their NZ derbies is pretty damning.

[rowan]

Jaguares haven't progressed from last year, I'd say. But certainly no disaster. Let's see how they fare at the business end of the season. Also, I imagine the Pumas are going to benefit enormously from their inclusion in years to come.

[Mikey Brown]

I pop in and out of this thread to see what's going and still don't have a fucking clue how this conference thing works.

[rowan]

I'm to blame for that, actually. I wrote a letter to the competition organizers some years ago, suggesting Super Rugby expand its format along NFL lines with separate geographically-based conferences in order to reduce the travel demands. They wrote back to me and said 'Ta, very muchy, and the following year they'd done precisely as I'd suggested (true story).

[rowan]

To be fair, it wasn't entirely my doing. SANZAAR really lost the plot with the expansion to 18. I tried to warn them - 3 conferences of 6 rather than 5 plus 5 plus 4 plus 4, but this time my recommendations fell upon deaf ears. That and the inclusion of a Northern Hemisphere team were never part of my plans.

[Lizard]

I pop in and out of this thread to see what's going and still don't have a fucking clue how this conference thing works.

It’s really quite simple. There are 4 conferences in 2 groups: Australasian group is NZ (5 teams) & AU (5 teams). African group is SA1 (3xSA teams + Jap), SA2 (3xSA teams plus Arg).

Given the different numbers in the conferences, there are some slight differences but each side plays 15 regular season matches.

NZ/AU conference teams play:
6 intra-conference matches within their conference (home & away against 2 teams, home or away against the other two)
5 cross-conference, intra-group matches against all the teams in the other conference in the group (i.e. NZ teams play home or away against every Aussie team, and vice versa)
4 cross-group matches against each team in only 1 of the African conferences (NZ teams play hone or away against every team in one SA conference, AU plays against the other conference)

SA conference teams play:
6 intra-conference matches within their conference (home & away against all other teams)
4 cross-conference, intra-group matches against all the teams in the other conference in the group (home or away)
5 cross-group matches against each team in only 1 of the Australasian conferences

Each conference maintains its own points table. The Quarter Finalists are the winner of each conference (seeded 1 – 4), plus the next highest points scorer in the SA group and the next three highest points scorers from the Australasian group (seeded 5 – 8). Then there’s straight QF, SF, F playoffs with home advantage determined by seeding.

[rowan]

3 conferences of 6, I said. Do not expand north of the equator, I said. But there was to be no stopping them. They were like mad scientists with a perilous new formula . . .

[Lizard]

So everyone's making a big deal about the Aussie teams having 0 wins against NZ sides. We shouldn't forget that SA, Jap and Arg have only 1 win v NZ between them so far this year.

[rowan]

Yeh, but the Aussie teams have been crap against the Saffas too, broadly speaking. That's why I don't think it's fair to say the Saffas have had such a bad season. At least they're beating the Aussies most of the time.

SA 8-3 Aus, in fact, with one drawn.

[rowan]

Seems I am not alone with this viewpoint, although one thing worth adding is that 3/5 Aussie franchises have won the championship, whereas only 1/6 SA franchises have done so

Cape Town – Continued haplessness by the Australian teams in the latest round of Super Rugby may only fuel discontent in South Africa over the country having to cull two teams from next season.

The collective Aussie “challenge” is looking so shaky in 2017 that it brings into particularly sharp, fresh focus the SANZAAR announcement earlier this month that two SA franchises – still most likely to be the Kings and Cheetahs – and one from Australia would have to go in a reduced 15-team competition.

It would leave a three-conference 2018 tournament with the customary five New Zealand teams in one pool, four each from SA and Oz and with the Jaguares and Sunwolves latched onto the other two conferences respectively.

But South African enthusiasts are highly likely to increasingly question the fairness of two sides from our shores getting the chop, given the unprecedented weakness of the Aussie group this season.

Following completion of round 10 of ordinary season, the ludicrously superior NZ teams – even including their own basement Blues, who beat the Aussie-leading Brumbies away on Sunday – boast a combined 161 log points, for an average per team of 32.2.

South Africa comes in a distant second, with its present six franchises (130 points total) sporting an average of 21.66 table points each.

But that is still a conspicuously superior tally to the bottom-sawyer Aussies (58 points), who have a flimsy average of 11.6 per team among their five.

An especially galling result for Australia this weekend, when three of their teams lost to foreign foes and the Waratahs were lone victors in a derby against the Reds, was the Melbourne Rebels – under threat of the axe, but tipped to survive as the Force may well be the Oz victims – being humiliated 44-3 in Port Elizabeth by the fired-up and pleasingly fast-paced Kings.

It was ironically the first time in their three seasons of Super Rugby that the embattled Eastern Cape franchise have posted back-to-back victories, as it was a follow-up to their Sydney upset of the Waratahs, the 2014 champions.

Those two outcomes go a long way to indicating the extent to which the wheels have come off Aussie rugby, especially at Super Rugby level.

Sadly the abject turnout in the Friendly City, at a time when the brave Kings playing staff and coaches deserve better, would have done little to aid their bid to stave off banishment from the competition; it is desperately hard to historically justify any of the bigger metropolises of Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg or Pretoria losing a franchise.

The fierce debate around which teams should actually be shelved from Super Rugby, even given the widespread acceptance that fewer teams should help restore seriously flagging standards, simultaneously reminds of the monster SANZAAR were effectively guilty of creating with the ill-fated expansion to 18 teams from last year.

You have the quite laughable situation, at least as things stand, of the Brumbies (three wins from nine starts) artificially still being deemed “second” -- for knockout seeding purposes -- in the 10-strong greater Australasian group, although they are a yawning 23 points behind the still-unbeaten Crusaders.

The Brumbies have a mere 18 points, which in reality should see them as low as sixth in the group: the Chiefs have 37, Hurricanes 33, Highlanders 28 and Blues 22.

If you use form in round 10 as a yardstick, too, there may be further suffering for Aussie sides next weekend in games against teams from other countries.

The Rebels, decimated by injuries before and then again during the Port Elizabeth thrashing, have to fly back across the Indian Ocean to tackle a Lions outfit who held their nerve admirably to earn a bonus-point win against the gritty Force in Perth.

Meanwhile the Reds may struggle to get any joy out of their trip to NZ to play the Chiefs, and the Force will be in South Africa to play a Sharks team greatly revitalised by their splendid 33-25 dismantling of the Jaguares in Buenos Aires – an outcome that is a priceless boost for their playoffs chances.

Robert du Preez’s charges were much more vibrant and energetic on attack this week, and several of their pack bruisers – including prop juggernauts Thomas du Toit and Coenie Oosthuizen, and utility forward Etienne Oosthuizen – also shone for consistent physical endeavour as the Jaguares’ home-town passion was solidly repelled.

Meanwhile 19-year-old versatile footballer Curwin Bosch continued to tick boxes, earning the accolade from SuperSport expert and Bok legend Naas Botha that he put in a “proper flyhalf’s performance” en route to the triumph in a pressure-cooker environment.

http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/SuperRug ... t-20170430

[rowan]

Stormers win the early 0-3 lead against the Canes. I'd really like to see the non-Kiwi teams start to knock over some of the Kiwi teams for the sake of the competition, but I'd rather they didn't do it against MY team & even as I write that Canes cross. 7-3 after 10 mins...

Jordie scores one himself. 14-3 20 mins...

Barretts are running riot out there! But the conversion attempt is wide. 17-3 after 25 . . .

22-16 HT. 4 tries to 1. But Stormers hanging in there. Canes should be a little concerned that they haven't managed to take a bigger lead than six points into the break.

Absolutely ridiculous from the Canes. 4 tries to one, all over the Stormers earlier on, and now they're reduced to a 3-point lead early in the second half. Another Stormers penalty makes it 22-19. Canes looking anything but prospective champs right now.

& now they're level. surreal. But the Stormers have staged a magnificent comeback here.22-22 midway 2nd half, visitors with the momentum

Canes seal it with 2 late tries, including another for Jordie on fulltime. 41-22 is a flattering scoreline. Canes looking like the 4th best Kiwi team right now, and not likely to defend their title. That's not just on the basis of this game. It's been apparent for some time now. Anyway, kudos to the tourists on a much-improved showing on last week's humiliation - when my own comments in support of SA rugby appeared to put the hex on them . . .

[cashead]

The Stormers defence combined with the Hurricanes' inability to convert enough opportunities has pretty much gifted the Stormers an unlikely chance. The Stormers would also be determined to prove a point tonight too - one which has probably been proven.

Having a dead-eye Dick at 15 has also helped the Stormers. Neither Barrett have really covered themselves in glory tonight when it comes to kicking from the tee.

[Spy]

It's been an exhibition of cross field kicking from Barrett. 3 beautiful tries, the last one from inside his own 22.

Tries 7-1. If the Canes could kick goals it wouldn't have been close.

[rowan]

Next week will tell us a LOT more about the Canes when they travel to Christchurch. They'll at least want a tight game if they expect to progress very far this year. If the Saders pull through, as I suspect they will, their clash with the Chiefs the following week will probably determine the tournament favourite at this point, though the Landers are very much in the mix, of course. They commence their mini-tour against the Cheetahs later today, then have a tough one at Pretoria the following week...

[rowan]

Canes go to the air more often than you're average NFL team! I'm not complaining. It's good stuff; just surprised how inept their opponents are at defending it...

[rowan]

Heartbreak for the Cheetahs as they concede 3 late tries, including a length-of-the-field effort on fulltime, to lose 41-45 to the Highlanders. Still, if you let those ones get away, you deserve to lose !!

[cashead]

It's been an exhibition of cross field kicking from Barrett. 3 beautiful tries, the last one from inside his own 22.

Tries 7-1. If the Canes could kick goals it wouldn't have been close.

And poor discipline under pressure, but it's a case of 'twas ever thus with the Hurricanes. The Stormers got as close as they did from a shitload of penalties.

[rowan]

Lions look like the one team which might break the Kiwi stanglehold. Rebels are surely on their way out...

[Len]

The NZ rugby machine rolls forward

[zer0]

It was good to see Ngatai back when it seemed as though his career was over.

[jared_7]

Bloos 26-0 up at HT versus the Tahs

[jared_7]

And now back to the standard ill-discipline, pushed passes and general all round stupidity that I've come to expect from the Blues.

[zer0]

It's infuriating. The rain seemed to curb their more spastic offloading tendencies in the first half, but it certainly looks as though the old Blues have turned up for the second half.

[zer0]

An exceedingly poor second half from the Blues considering the context of both the match and competition. Even their defence fell apart at the end.

[rowan]

Couldn't be more clear cut now: NZ division 1, SA division 2, Australia division 3, & this degree of predictability is terrible for the competition.