Super 14's VS Heineken Euro Rugby!

Ronan|Raven

Just posting this up,

living down in New Zealand the last while now and have been watching and going to a lot of the Super 14 games on offer! Super 14 setup here in NZ, AUS and SA with teams from all countries. It is a real attacking style of rugby they play, very few low scoring matches and always lots of great attacking play, the players have great passing while tackled techniques and it really makes of the backs to give some great performances!

Their passing seems so much to what I have seen back home (euro) in the last while.

Im not blowing the trumpet of super 14's they do enough of that themselves! but what are your opinions in those of you who may have seen some of the games on sky?

I would love to see the Crusaders play Munster some time it would be really interesting to see two different styles meet.

RuggieBear

Super 12/14 is fun but look at how the refs allow the attacking teams away with murder at the breakdown. They'd be blown off the park if they tried that up here.

On the other hand the constant possesion allows them to develop better handling skills

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

k974

2 complelty different styles, from a supporters point of view there is no comparsion, very little away support due to distance and no atmosphere at them.

i dont take much interest in it due to the franchise system, i much rather watching the npc where there are genuine 100 year rivalaries.

heineken cup is dogged hard rugby, super 14 can be like a game of 7's some of the reffing is a joke also. in comparsion. a game doesnt necessarliy have to be 45-47 to be entertaining, games which are often 12-9 can be just as good.


i cant warm to super 14 at all, i cant see how you just form a new club for example western force and get excited bout them, heineken cup has clubs with tradition and history.

[Jackass]

For quality of rugby though, do you not think S14 is better?

I much prefer HEC to watch because of atmosphere and a much higher personal interest.

If there was a joint competition I think with the exception of 4 or so sides all of the european teams would be blown away. (1/Leinster 2/Toulouse 3/Munster 4/Biaritz...my top 4 euro teams...in that order )

mloc

gotta say i really like Super 12s, the fast pace is refreshingly different to the way HEC sometimes get tied down over inches. They both have thier merits though, don't think one is neccessarily better than the other.

JuliusFranco

a world club competition would be great!

zAbbo

The Super Series is great to watch, I love catching the early morning weekend game, and the highlights in Guiness Rugby magazine show on SKY. But for the great attacking play, the referring is unreal. As mentioned the attacking teams at the breakdown get away with murder for the sake of a good attacking spectacle.

That said, you do have some great teams in there, but one critisim is the lack of promotion/relegation. Some of the teams couldn't give a toss midway through the season.

Heno for me, especially with the local interest now.

We need World Club Championship like EA Rugby 2006

// Hello Ronan

Crash

I prefer the style of rugby in the heineken cup, personally. you get some amazing free flowing attacking play in the super match's alright, but nothing quite gets me going as much as the HC really - nothing else sends the same shiver down my spine

Ronan|Raven

It would be interesting to see the top four teams from both competitions meet could make for osme great games. The Crusaders here seem to be odds on to retain the title again they are a really good side and have the machine that is Dan Carter a great player to watch his ability to kick amazingly well with both feet is impressive. I have adopted the hurricanes as my team over here due to the fact Im living in Wellington. Tana Umaga (Brian O'DS!) good old buddy! made his comeback from injury at the weekend against the Highlanders.

//Hello zabbo

foxtail

hey ronan over the years i've also become a hurricanes supporter. i love their style of play, you can't ever forget the sight of christian cullen in full flight. great to see toeava carrying on the fine tradition of counter-attacking fullbacks.

what do you think the chances of a semi and home semi are? i'd my doubts when conrad smith had his leg broken and tana went out...but hope's rising again - line out much improved after disaster on SA tour, tana back and brumbies losing larkham.

on HEC rugby, i think some matches are great for tension and drama. blunt attack, wet conditions/slow pitches and conservative approach often favour drudgery at the expense of inventiveness. it can be dour to watch. the worst games i've seen in many many years were leicester/wasps (powergen semi) and leicester/bath (HEC 1/4) last month. i'm sure the supporters thought it was great, i just don't think they made a great advert for rugby union.

the only teams i consistently watch in the NH are leinster, northampton (thanks to carlos spencer) and a few of the french teams. sometimes munster. the rest i find pretty pedestrian.

foxtail

hey ronan over the years i've also become a hurricanes supporter. i love their style of play, you can't ever forget the sight of christian cullen in full flight. great to see toeava carrying on the fine tradition of counter-attacking fullbacks.

what do you think the chances of a semi and home semi are? i'd my doubts when conrad smith had his leg broken and tana went out...but hope's rising again - line out much improved after disaster on SA tour, tana back and brumbies losing larkham.

on HEC rugby, i think some matches are great for tension and drama. blunt attack, wet conditions/slow pitches and conservative approach often favour drudgery at the expense of inventiveness. it can be dour to watch. the worst games i've seen in many many years were leicester/wasps (powergen semi) and leicester/bath (HEC 1/4) last month. i'm sure the supporters thought it was great, i just don't think they made a great advert for rugby union.

the only teams i consistently watch in the NH are leinster, northampton (thanks to carlos spencer) and a few of the french teams. sometimes munster. the rest i find pretty pedestrian.

Ronan|Raven

Larkham is a huge loss for the Brumbies and they also have a few other injury worries. Will be a hard match but should come out on top. Need to vastly improve the kicking though, in last weeks match against the Highlanders to say it was poor was an understatement!

Next weeks match against the Chiefs will be another interesting one I got tickets so all is well!

Ronan|Raven

Wasnt as huge a loss as it should have been. Were terrible against the Brumbies Foxtail. Dont know if you caught the highlights but an awful lot of handling errors ended up costing the match.

Home Semi is looking a lot less likely now. Chiefs are the next team up, they are missing a lot of their front line in a must win game for them to have any chance of the Semi's

foxtail

hey ronan, i watched the whole match - frustrating minute by frustrating minute. boys just didn't seem mentally prepared for the fierce defence brumbies put up, and couldn't adjust to not being able to make as many offloads in the tackle as per usual game plan.
yep too many handling errors, and of course the 6 breakdown penalties in the first half didn't help. our loose trio should have had the wood over george smith+co and that we didn't is where most of the game was lost.

i was worried also by inability to build a score...kicking for lineouts instead of posts backfired in 2nd half.

not sure about the holwell/gopperth situation...gopperth definitely fired up the backs a bit more and i couldn't help wondering what would have happened if he'd come in while tana was still there. holwell does keep the scoreboard ticking over, but some teams just don't give away penalties easily so not always the best option (how abt the waratahs in the crusaders match - 1 penalty conceded in the whole game!!!!). i think holwell for the chiefs game and gopperth for the tah's. what do you think?

Ronan|Raven

I would agree with you on that. Will need the more reliable kicking of Holwell for the Chiefs match. Gopperth can be really frustrating at times as well. Collins may miss the game as he isnt feeling the best, he was saying how his body is feeling a bit beat up at the moment! so he may well be rested.

Will post some pics from the game up after it for you.