Super Rugby - 2011 season

I'm gutted about Slade. We're stuck with fucking Donald as a back up for Carter now, surely... I'd much rather to have Brett as a back up. He's been playing well.

Brett looked out of sorts without McAlister last night. hmm...

Rene Ranger was on fire.

Fuck yes.

Highlanders!!!! Good shit.

In other news, lol Hurricanes lol

Awesome performance by the Highlanders!!

Hurricanes come home to play the Reds- another loss.

Actualy really enojoyed the 2nd half of the Higlanders and prefered it to the League on the other channell for once, their tackling was almost 100% accurate in the last 15 mins and its a sure sign canty didnt know what to do about it when Dagg starts putting through weird grubbers. Highlanders =- great story

Yeah the NRL has been a slow-starter this year whereas the Super 15 with its new-found pace and intensity has delivered way more A class viewing.

Highlanders are a great success story this year!

The Blues vs Hurricanes game last night was the worst rugby I've seen in a very long time. Arguably the conditions weren't best for running rugby, but still. The Blues looked fucking average against a very very shit Hurricanes side.

Gutsy effort from the Crusaders. Playing the majority of the game with a flanker on the wing due to losing 4 players to injuries in the 1st half. I actually think they should have won more easily even with the injirues. There was some bad ball handling in good attacking positions that let them down.

And a really odd decision from Berquist to kick the ball to the opposition when there was 10 seconds left. All they had to do was setup a ruck then kick the ball out and it would have been all over.

Highlanders!!! haha...

Blues vs Reds game was so shit, especially considering both sides are competition leaders. So many mistakes... urgh...

Chiefs did a massive favor for both Blues and Crusaders by beating the Stormers. Donald was very happy. lol

lol yeah those little skips he was doing were kind of amusing. I almost forgive the Chiefs for downing the Highlanders for that. Not sure why Richard Turner was doubting the penalty try either? Seemed pretty clear cut to me

Absolutely woeful reffing the the Crusaders/Reds match. I couldn't believe how much was missed.

bad news about the Highlanders, would be dramatic if they somehow got back up to win their last 3 games now.

Just to delve into WC issues... thats 2 weeks in a row now we have watched a safa side pounding an at-home NZ sides tryline with seconds to go and an air of inevitabilty about a try being scored and the game lost. Most talk is about the Wallabies being our greatest threat but I disagree, I think its the filthy yayas.

The Stormers Sharks and Bulls are all looking play offs bound and even the Cheetahs are just off a 4 match winning streak including the beating the Crusaders.... meanwhile at home two of our glamour sides the Canes and Chiefs have been completly awful, The Blues have lost games they shouldnt have and even the benchmark Crusaders have been far from perfect....

Pfffftt, you <3 us! :>

heh ...SOME of you Well actually, in rugby context I do love the Boks, but not to the point I want them to win this WC.

Sad news about Joost too, hopefully he gets some good news soon

The Crusaders were defintely victims of Australian rugby last night. Victims of a country that demands equality when it has neither the expertise, the players or the anything elseto justify being treated as an equal of South Africa and New Zealand and then churns out sub-standard teams (Rebels, Brumbies, Force...) and sub-standard referees.

Stewart Dickenson is woefully unfit - he has got a huge gut on him - and unfit referees can't keep up, miss things and get tired and make mistakes. He is also inconsistant, which when added to the fact he is a whistle happy fool who doesn't understand the rules (for some reason Australian referees, players and coaches don't seem to think they need to understand or even actually read the rugby union rule book) makes him a loose cannon - the results of which we saw last night.

For long periods of last night's game he was a local referee refereeing the visitors and not the locals - he continually pinged the Crusaders at the ruck and then allowed the Red's flanker to blatently come in from the side of the ruck for example. His below par performance last night will have infuriated not just the Crusaders but also the NZRFU. Hopefully they'll quietly finally do something about him.

And SBW clearly decided to have a quiet night ahead of his big fight, what a selfish shirker he was last night - and i am a big fan of his!

The Crusaders looked tired across the park, they are a team playing on fumes and in key positions they are showing the impact of injuries. McCaw is still not there yet, the halfback Hinds was way out his depth and the fullback and one winger (Ward) are merely competent, not match winners who convert half chances into scores.

The Super 15 is one month to long and given the general exhaustion of the NZ teams i think not making the semi's and finals might actually be a good thing!

Was that his belly? I was only idily watching the game and I assumed he had some commuications equipment bulking it up in there

PS So your a SBW fan huh. Tune-changer

Alas, it was his stomach. It is pretty shocking to see such an aged and unfit referee for such a fast game.

I see Dickinson didn't make the RWC refereeing panel, thank God. I am still a SBW fan - but he needs his arse kicked for last nights performance.

I thought the Crusaders tended to do skip passes and miss out SBW quite a bit. Perhaps that was due to how much the Reds were talking about how they were going to contain him, so they tried to use him as a decoy.

Crusaders also pretty much butchered a couple of tries. And involved in those were the third string replacement players.

Serious Q fishy

How can you be a fan of a man who walked out on a legally binding contract?

Stupid fucking set up with home refs allowed to referee their home team's matches. I mean wtf...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/5078313/Stu-Dickinson-on-the-outer-this-weekend

As close as you will ever get to an admission that a referee put in an incompetent display.

I never said I was fan of him personally or the idiot he has as a manager. but as a player - dude, he is a match winner.

The quality of rugby and refereeing has been appalling in the last couple weeks. Fucking Blues don't deserve to be in the finals. All the bs with Hurricanes too. What a circus.

The referees are getting ready to freak out at the world cup and be a bunch of whistle happy ass hats. We will be back to kick-chase-penalty land.

The Highlanders are stuck in Dunedin due to the volcano ash cloud.

Fkn lulz @ Caleb Ralph making super rugby comeback this weekend

I will watch the Reds game just for that!

Fuck Blues are so lucky to get into finals. Although it is good to see two NZ sides there.

Crusaders vs Stormers final?

DIE BLUE BULL

They were out of form for the most of the season tho Maestro. And what's up with you supporting a saffa side anyway? Traitor.

Its *Re-Actions* team WO, pretty suprising result and the finals could have used the drama of their late run.

Good to see Rattue ripping into the Chiefs and Foster today, on the money as always sir

DIE BLOU BULLE you mean

Why are the Blues "lucky" to be there? They were top of the comp at one stage, and have qualified through to the play-offs (including getting a home semi) on results/points... so not sure where the luck is.

Who are the Reds playing. They're surely favourites right? Fuck Quade Cooper scares me.

They're lucky because of the way they played in the second half of the comp.

oh

My attenpt to be all cool and South African failed :/

I have told you so many times its Blou Bulle ... They have had their fare share of injuries this year and all just trying to play a game that I recon everyone now knows. Even with the 6 in a row they won none of them were ever convincing. Sharks have looked the better team and the Stormers have been excellent. Def like their coach, perhaps a bew bok coach if he can take out the Super title. Not that I like Stormer supporters, they are all fucken bogans.

Slowly starting to look forward to the WC. Lets hope NZ win's the Tri-Nations (no team has ever won the Tri-Nations and WC in the same year) hehehehehe

Well if the Sharks win on Saturday it would have to been one of the best efforts in rugby history its taking them 5 days to get to Nelson because of the ash cloud.. They won't arrive in Nelson before Saturday morning.

Ref is absolutely raping the sharks!

Amazing performance from the Crusaders, given that th Stormers is basically the Boks + a few of the Bulls Talismans I hiope Henry and Co are taking note on how to beat the thuggish style the Boks will bring to the Cuop

As for the Blues, well Ive said before Idont rate Pat Lam at this level, I just dont think he is smart enough and besides.....his 1st and last names have exactly the same amount of letters. Thats suspicious

Oh and this .....

Yeah Quade Cooper is carving up. Would be so sick if some Maori dude from Tokoroa helps the Wallabies to WC win in NZ

There's no one better for the Blues than Pat Lam, the last thing the franchise need is some Mooloo/South Island/Taranaki hick feels nothing for the franchise (and probably hates Auckland anyway). Pat Lam is Auckland through and through, and made HUGE improvements this year, give the man a f'n chance. He's also taught them how to play high percentage rugby in poor conditions which is what the Blues have never done in the past to their peril.

SBW will f'n smash Quaid btw, and Freun on the cut back will trample him. Feels weird wantign the Crusaders to win but they deserve it after playing the seasosn without a home ground and having to come through the toughest group, whereas the Reds only toped the table due to piss weak Aussie section handing them 3 byes late on.

Dear Pat Lam, please explain

# Starting that barely NPC class Lachie Munroe in front of Ranger when we already have 2 world class kickers

# Subbing Alby off for Smylie

You could be right that theres no one better..
Luke McAlister was Aucklands best, but no one mentions him when he plays a good game..

Nothing wrong with Pat Lam. Let's not forget that this is Blues' first finals appearance since 2007, and before then in 2003 when they won it. Give him one more year I reckon.

Ranger shouldn't even have been put on the bench. He had fucked hamstring. I would however play Stowers instead of Munroe, purely for gas. That Davies guy runs 10.2 secs 100 meters, so it would have helped to play someone a lot more quicker to cover him than Munroe.

McAlister was nearly invisible the whole game Maestro, so I'm sure which game you were watching. Apart from that awesome penalty kick, he did nothing. Same goes for Rococoko. Fucking useless cunt as far as I'm concerned. He has tones of speed and instead of going around people, he runs into them! WTF!?

Crusaders should win this one. They will not make the same mistakes the Blues did.

Cooper is a shit defender. Carter will run circles around him, given that his forwards will smash the Reds. Tis going to be an awesome game!

McCrap didn't do anything exciting on the field that I saw.

To Quade's credit- O pretty sure he made a tackle on Saturday night!!!!



Granted Carter is a far superior defender and kicker- I wouldn't be surprised to see Quade sneak past him a few times.

In a way, it's a little scary to think how good Quade could be if he didn't defend lkie Grant Fox and could actually kick

I didnt say he did anything exciting, I said he was their best and he was. Certainly in the backs. Papers back me as they they critisise every other Auckland back except Luke who was reported as "played well". haters just have blinkers

This as well, I dont think we have seen such an intrigueing Final between two such exciting and well performing sides in years. What with this final and SBW and the WC looming Rugby is suddenly interesting agian

Wasnt last years final between 2 safa sides come to think of it?

O RLY!?

CONFOUND IT JUST READ THAT

Quade Cooper defends way at the back now (ie. so as to not be exploited midfield) but I really hope SBW does get a chance to line him up...

I hope Cooper has his stupid cunt face broken!



gc.

So... SBW for wing or not? With Nonu, Smith and SBW on the field... could make for some interesting attack options.

SBW is not really fast enough to be a winger. And wouldn't they want to utilise his ball distribution skills in the midfield where he'd have the others running off him?

If you're gonna shift one of those 3 to the wing it would have to be Nonu but the whole idea is pretty ridiculous really...

Cooper will smash those peddo's from down south on Saturday night.

SBW on the wing is crazy talk.

The future is probably Sonny Bill with 8 on his back

Quaid Cooper will cut back to avoid SBW, where he will run into the tender ministrations of Mssrs. McCaw and Read. And ocne they've dealt with him he'll be more gun shy than Alasdair Thompson in a tampon factory.

I just realised the tri nations is coming up, and the WC starts in 2 months. Wot a fkn scheduling joke

Whats more funny is that PDV is playing second string Springboks through the Tri Nations.

seems pretty sensible.... I cant imagine our Crusader AB's will see much action. or will they? Who cares about thre Tri nations this year anyway?
Didnt I also sight something about the NPC starting soon? Seriously what a stupid overkill of rugby

^ Yeah, makes sense. Bit easier for us as the WC is all home games for us...

NPC starts next week, with rugby games played every night, except for Mondays, to fit into WC schedule.

Oh boy...

And yeah, not really worried about Tri Nations tbh. I hope we lose every game actually. hehe...

hmm let's just throw AWAY possession, because that's how you win games - not

that was pretty bloody awful

without Dan Carter, there wouldn't have been much to praise in that Crusaders performance at all

Grats to Roman for picking the winner in the OP, pretty rare that soemone does a decent job of that around here

Id be worried about this result for the WC if QLands style of rugby was at all relevant, but it wont be in night games in the middle of winter. Quade was quite nicely looked after. Fruen was horrible and missed tackle after tackle, sif he is an AllBlack vadz... what the hell is wrong with you boy

Is Queensland's style really that dangerous? They seemed happy to rely on box kicks anytime they were outside either 22, and were helped by how terrible the Crusaders were. Biggest concern for me is a complete lack of big game bottle displayed here by a lot of players who will form the backbone of the World Cup side. They probably have a right to be annoyed at how poorly the scrums were refereed with Lawrence content to ignore collapsed front rows if the ball came out fast enough which obviously played into the Reds hand as their biggest weakness became much harder to expose - that and the lack of penalties/turnovers for collapsing the scrum or screwing it well past the 180.

But yeah they were let down in every other area by poor handling, poor decisions, and complete inaccuracy in the line out (I'm glad Corey Flynn has reminded everyone he's not All Black material before the squad was announced). That said the Reds defended well and took their chances, not something you could say of the Crusaders and Brad Thorn especially - when there are two unmarked backs outside you, don't try and crash through the three players in front you massive mong!

Well done to Roman on picking it though.

Aldso why did they stop the pick and go? They would make 20 metres to get into a dangerous position then spread it when the rumble was still gaining ground. When your backs have tits for hands during a match don't let them near the ball, sure the Reds made it harder at the breakdowns than most Aussie sides generally do and McCaw got owned by the Red's loosies but when they set about a proper rumble they gained ground and generally kept the ball protected, yet they were amost compelled by some unwritten law of NZ rugby to give it to the backs after a certain number of pick and gos.

The Reds began to threaten last season. It was just a matter of time before they started to win, especially with McKenzie in charge.

As far as Crusaders go, this was the worst game I've ever seen them play this season. Kinda backwards, considering that game was the most important game to win.

Guildford was rubbish, Maitland failed to fire and even Carter looked like he was playing with himself, rather with the team. Maybe all this travel finally got to them? Who knows really.

One thing I got out of this game, that Cooper is a little bitch who hates pressure. Crusaders shut him down, but kinda forgot about other 14 guys on the field. So there needs to be a balance. The other thing, I think it's a very good result for a rookie coach (Blackadder). I think it shows that Canterbury Rugby union has very special people behind it to be able to keep producing results. With that in mind, we'll see what Deans is capable to master up from what seems to be a very comprehensive Aussie side (apart from Samo, I mean wtf!? :lol.

I have huge doubts about how Aussie will muscle up against European packs though, when they're faced with a referee that is able to make calls on scrums they crumble. When the ref is lenient or doesn't notice them engaging early they struggle and generally lose.

agree with Wipeout, Reds have looked dangerous for some time now, Quade Cooper is just one factor in that

after his performance on Saturday night, bit worried Zac Guildford has been selected for the Trinations squad, even though I know he has done some good work lately

Yeah, agree with justhanging on that note about Guildford. Yeah he has done well lately but if his performance on saturday showed how he copes under pressure with a big game then he could also choke in the AB's. Guess we'll find out soon enough

Here is my take on the Super 15 finals: The Sharks played their final when they beat the Bulls. The Crusdaers played their final when they went all the way to South Africa and beat the Sharks. the Reds played their final during the final. The question, why is that so?

The Whole Super 15 set up this year with its "loca darbys" has in my opinion been deliberately gerrymandered to ensure that the best Aussie team got an armchair ride into the finals. There is no way the weak as piss Aussie teams like the Force, the Rebels and the especially pathetic Brumbies bashed each other about in the same way the South African and NZ teams did during the competition rounds. The Reds benefited from this very deliberate Super 15 jack-up by arriving at the finals round with the fresher team and home advantage. This meant they were able to peak for just two big games.

The whole Super 15 in 2011 was gerrymandered to ensure that faltering interest in rugby in Australia was arrested. it has succeeded in doing that. But the RWC won't be so kind to the Aussies rugby team.

Oh and I suspect Guilford is back in favour because fear of being penalised at the breakdown will see the return of a lot more kicking at the world cup. Guilford is exceptionally fast, and may be regarded as the ideal kick chase player.

What you can add to your little rant is the fact Qland play half there games on rock hard grounds which are conjusive to attacking bonus point maulings

Above all I think their week off vs the Crusaders long haul was the crucial thing, it was a pretty close game too

And why did they get a week off? because the dog's breakfast of a points system they used in the Super 15 meant the "top" team in all the conferences was the one with the most points, regardless of the quality of the opposition. While the Bulls and the Stormers and the Sharks and the Blues and Highlanders and Crusaders were playing hard games, Queensland were largely able to coast along against the rubbish teams in the rest of Aussie.

if they are going to keep this system, they are going to have to bring in some sort of handicap system.

Put it this way, the Reds played the Rebels twice, the Crusaders didn't play them once, they didn't play the Cats either. The two worst teams int he comp and the Crusaders didn't get to play either of them.

Australia has benfitted HUGELY from the Super comp, and the NZRU have made a giant cock up on the situation. Imgaine if they instead ran the NPC with one Aussie team invited and marketed it globally as rugbys version of the premier league, with teams allowed a few imports etc.

If te NRLcan sell their comp for a billions dollars .... what could a much more global comp like NZ's NPC get.... selling it to Europe, SA, Aus, Japan etc etc etc

you are taking the piss right? in order to sell something you need something and the NPC and local NZ rugby is a joke. No one, not even the locals are interested in it why do you think the overseas world would be?

The locals arent interested because its now a 3rd rate comp, behind international and Super rugby. But if Super rugby wasnt a reality, then it would be the worlds premier domestic competition, with far better players and more exciting matches than for example...the Currie Cup or Heineken Cup. Once we stated attracted good non-kiwi players, there would be a snowballing effect, and everyone in the world knows the AllBlacks are the greatest team in the history of rugby. It would work, but its probably too late now

The difference was the NSWRL had kiwi and the odd pom to generate overseas interest, barring Pacific Islanders (most of whom want to play for the ABs) the NPC has always been kiwis. The Pacific Islands don't provide anyting in the wa of TV revenue, in order to go down your path Maestro we'd need to ghave had a core of Aussies in the NPC which would've been impossible as it was an amateur comp, even if it would've been made easier by the lack of national comp in Aussie. Even if we'd brought over a lot of South Africans during apartheid the time zones mean it would be difficult to generate massive interest.

Plus where is this billions of dollars come from? Just in Aussie or worldwide? I find it diffcult to believe a sport played in three and half countries professionally (half being France) that is not considered the national sport of any country (barring maybe PNG) is generating bigger international TV deals than the Super 15 is generating in NZ, Oz, and SA combined... Bigger than the deal Sky has for the English Premier League rights in Britain.

I should admit at this point I dont really know what Im taling about, just regurgitaing a convincing sounding rant of Matt Gunns

But suure....revenue from the Super comp is good, but we are splitting it with the yaya's and Aussies who are clearly inferior when it could have been all ours....OURS

hahahaha wtf are you talking about Maestro... surely most of the viewership for the S15 comes from RSA?

And the Currie Cup is a far superior comp to the NPC. People still care about it -- probably because provincialism is alive and well in SA -- and crowds dwarf the numbers NZ gets for the NPC.

Yeah he is talking out of his ass as per usual.

like he's the only one round here who talks out of his ass

Few things amuse me more than trolling the safas, theyre so.....indignant

Fucking idiot. Auckland 1990 would smash ANY Currie Cup champion ever.

Bless :>

They probably would but that's irrelevant, Ajax in in the early 70s and 1994/95 could probably beat any other European Cup winner, yet no one claims the Dutch League is the best in the world.

Naas Botha is only fit to gargle Grant Fox's nuts

And until Super fucking rugby came along, the NPC was the world's premier competition. full stop

WB VADINHO

I LOVED Naas Botha, he started my mini obsession with the Boks. But I havnt seen those games since I was a kid so not sure how good he really was. ...pretty sure though he was better than Allan Hewson though

SAMOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lulz, fuck yes!

Those big bully Samoans, they were to big! They should be playing in a higher grade!