Super XV 2015 General Discussion Thread

sydthebeat

Squeeky bum bum time at the end, by delighted with the 5 pointer over the champs

stl.ire

Tahs Landers was another awesome game after yesterday's Canes Blues. There is such a difference between super rugby and the 6N right now. The off loading is insane! For good and bad results!

I thought the today turned on the yellow card as it got the Waratahs from going after aaron smith. Once he was given fair time to dictate with his passing the whole match changed. It's really interesting to compare him with Murray (the 2 best at the moment probably). Both are world class with Murray maybe better with the boot and defence and smith with pass and decision making. They are almost the perfect NH scrum half vs the perfect SH one.

LuckyGent88

Disappointed I wasn't able to get up for highlanders game. Seems like it was a highly entertaining game. That's a superb victory for the landers against the defending champs. Love to watch the highlanders when the backline is in that form.

Reds playing terrible once again here. Brumbies should go on to get the bonus point.

LuckyGent88

What was liam gill doing with that tackle on nick white??
Serious clean out!! Should take up wrestling

Kiwi_knock

Great WWE move there from Liam Gill. This is a pretty bad game to watch, its a case of when rather than whether the Brumbies will get the bonus point.

testtech05

Surely Moore was straight in from the side there on Horwill at the breakdown before the 4th try was scored!! It was coming though!

Swiwi.

stl.ire wrote: »

Tahs Landers was another awesome game after yesterday's Canes Blues. There is such a difference between super rugby and the 6N right now. The off loading is insane! For good and bad results!

Offloading definitely leads to more tries. Also to more errors. Error free rugby tends to win international games rather than an offloading based style, especially if the players don't have the skill. Interesting international season ahead. I don't see NZ playing an Irish-style game but NZs style typically doesn't work at the business end of knockout rugby tournaments.

Jacovs

Wish I can watch the game right now.

LuckyGent88

Entertaining first half anyway. Stormers up by 3 at the break but Chiefs very much in the game. Scrum is getting dismantled alright and they need to keep the pace of the game up and take the opportunities

LuckyGent88

Magnificent try by the Chiefs. The handling skills were superb.

Chiefs playing some beautiful rugby here but just can't get the points. Turned down a couple of penalty opportunities which may come back to bite them.

Jacovs

Not good losing a game before a bye and going on tour.

Swiwi.

LuckyGent88 wrote: »

Magnificent try by the Chiefs. The handling skills were superb.

Chiefs playing some beautiful rugby here but just can't get the points. Turned down a couple of penalty opportunities which may come back to bite them.

That try from James Lowe. Best of the weekend, just amazing. If Lowe keeps this form up he'll be an AB in 2016.

sydneybound

Eddie Jones to manage the new Japanese Super Rugby team.

The team will be the Japan national team plus five marquee players.

He's quoted as saying "the consistency it will offer the players will be great, what it means is the national side will play 15 Super Rugby matches and 10 Test matches making a season of 25 top class games which will be fantastic"

People on here are generally against the team but if you want the game to develop to a great extent you have to embrace more countries. These matches will be vital for Japan to be competive in 2019.

With the Hong Kong sevens always selling out and more games proposed for Singapore hopefully more inroads will be made in the Asian market.

LuckyGent88

Another good weekend of matches in store.

Pick of the bunch is probably the Sunday morning game between the waratahs and brumbies. Battle for supremacy in the australian conference and the brumbies will want to put a successive defeat on the waratahs.

Should be cracking games between highlanders hurricanes and sharks Chiefs too. If hurricanes can pick up the win away from home, they will be in a tremendous position after the first 6 rounds.
Couple of 50/50 matches which might seperate the men from the boys in the prediction comp

Fixtures Round 6
Friday 20 March
Highlanders v Hurricanes

Rebels v Lions

Saturday 21 March
06:35Crusaders v. Cheetahs

15:05Bulls v. Force

17:10 Sharks v Chiefs

Sunday 22 March
05:05 Waratahs vBrumbies

sydthebeat

Cracking end to end game here.

skippymac6

sydthebeat wrote: »

Cracking end to end game here.

How are the Highlanders level after 35 mins!

sydthebeat

3 - 3 half time.

Hope sopoagas boot doesn't cost us.

sydneybound

The amount of errors in the first 10minutes made me switch it off.

sydthebeat

Can't complain after that, ill take the losing bonus.

eagle eye

Hurricanes look great this season. They won that game by just peeling off the ruck and making ground. Highlanders are better than they looked there, all the injured players certainly made it easier for the canes.

Rebels looked like a great team for the first 20 minutes of this one against the Lions and went up 13-0 and should have been up by a lot more. Lions got a penalty and then made a few mistakes themselves late on or they could have scored a try. 13-3 at halftime.

You just know that the Rebels will make it tough for themselves and probably hang on to win by 3 points or less. I certainly wouldn't rule out the Lions coming back and winning it.

Kiwi_knock

Shocking defence by the Rebels again. Bad day at the tee for Mikey Harris as well.

eagle eye

Surprise, surprise the Lions came back and won it.

matthew8

Watched the recording of the Hurricanes game there, can't believe the late tackle on Smith didn't get a yellow, nor the cynical penalty right on the Hurricanes line when a try looked imminent. Such stupid play by the Highlanders player to deny them the try though at the end of the first half. What was he thinking? Couldn't stick watching the Rebels play Lions after such a poor game with so many errors. I can never get my head around how poor the goal kicking is in Australia and New Zealand either.

Swiwi.

sydneybound wrote: »

The amount of errors in the first 10minutes made me switch it off.

matthew8 wrote: »

Watched the recording of the Hurricanes game there, can't believe the late tackle on Smith didn't get a yellow, nor the cynical penalty right on the Hurricanes line when a try looked imminent. Such stupid play by the Highlanders player to deny them the try though at the end of the first half. What was he thinking? Couldn't stick watching the Rebels play Lions after such a poor game with so many errors. I can never get my head around how poor the goal kicking is in Australia and New Zealand either.

The joy of living in Switzerland: I can go all day, and no chance of someone spoiling it by leaking the score. Just have to avoid this thread for 12 hours till I get home from work...

Yeah, the first 10 minutes was pretty shocking for unforced errors, Aaron Smith with 3 consecutive kicks out on the full :eek: But it improved after that. Nevertheless, if NZ have designs on winning at international rugby this season, the error rate will have to come way way down.

Compared to the NH which mostly seems to favour throwing to the front and mauling, NZ teams love that quick ball off the back with a SH cutout to midfield and attack off 2nd phase.

I agree about a YC for the late tackle on Smith, and the YC for cynical play on the goalline, ref a bit lenient there.

And yes, goalkicking from NZ's premier flyhlaves has been woeful this season, BB running at 60% I think, I would think the NZ selectors will be genuinely concerned. In saying that, Carter was on song last week, so we see how he goes tomorrow.

The Canes would historically lose that type of game, so they will be happy with the win, and likewise the Landers to at least get a losing BP. Pity that last pass was forward (and it was forward IMO).

Finally, they are kind of the Italy of Super Rugby, about as thrilling to watch as paint dry, but the Lions with 2 wins so far on the road (admittedly the Blues and Rebels, but still) should be pleased with themselves.

stl.ire

Just got to watch the Highlanders Hurricanes (I'm in the US so am thankfully spoiler free too!). It was almost 6 nations-ish at times, particularly the Canes with their submission game of possession and pounding the ball up around the sides of the ruck on attack. It was very Wales/Ireland at times from them - with offloads of course!

I was disappointed the Highlanders couldn't really get their key guys into the game. Fekitoa had Nonu all over him, Aaron smith was pretty poor, although he had limited ball compared to perenara and really only Ben Smith impressed. It was probably a combination of the Canes defence targeting them and the lack of top quality around them.

Nonu's was a beast, he's lost a step but when he's on he's as good as ever. Ben Smith is just all around quality, best full back about.

As for flyhalfs NZ need someone to stand up this year. Cruden is all over the place, I'd worry about a carter, nonu and smith 10,12,13 being to slow and injury prone right now and Barrett is just not a good enough tactical player for me (with the possession the Canes had last night he should have been far more prominent instead of leaning on perenara again). Can Slade be the guy? Surely NZ can do better than a utility back?

stl.ire

Setting up for a cracking 2nd half. Crusaders dominating, although lucky to have only got a yellow for that tackle in the sir, but stupid mistakes have got the Cheetahs interested in actually showing up. Should be a fun one.

Brussow is right back to his best by the look of it. Excellent performance so far. Great to see.

Kiwi_knock

Great few minutes for the Crusaders, bonus point secured.

sydneybound

Nemani Nadolo is great to watch delighted we'll get to watch him for Fiji in the WC.

stl.ire

Crusaders taking the Cheetahs apart. Insane point swing with Le Roux in the bin. Nandolo is just silly powerful for a wing.

Swiwi.

There is an area that is really concerning me in Super Rugby at the moment.



WTF is up with the reverse mullet? Hurricanes are the worst offenders. I trust Steve Hansen will have a quiet word to some of the prime culprits (that would be you Cory Jane)