2017 Super Rugby fixtures announced.

[Cruz_del_Sur]

http://www.sanzarrugby.com/superrugby/news/2017-super-rugby-schedule-announced1/

Jaguares to play against Australian teams this season!
Our first game will be the Kings away.

Not a bad way to end the day.
Cheers all.

From a imparcial pov this will distort our performance when anyone tries to benchmark it against 2016. I can see people claiming we've improved when we just switched playing nz teams for australian ones.

 

[FNS]

If jags plays decently like against SA then we can win 7/8 matches.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Well the Bulls have a nice draw. They only play 2 games in NZ against the Blues and the Chiefs. Then they host the Crusaders, Hurricanes and Highlanders at Loftus.

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

Jaguares' ones

Over the envelope estimation (out of 15 games)
Must wins (6)
Kings away
Cheetahs at home
Reds at home
Sunwolves at home
Force at home
Kings at home

We could win on a good day (5). Lets say we win 1-2 of these 5. Agains the sharks at home will be a deal breaker.
Sharks away
Bulls away
Sharks at home
Brumbies at home
Rebels away

We might scratch a few others, but i do not wanna get carried away.

My guess is this will be a close race between the Sharks and us for the second in our RSA conf 2 (assuming the lions keep up playing like they do).
South African conference 1's second will have to pay the price of playing against NZ teams.

Not sure if we'll make it to the play offs but at least we won't be out by game 4.

**** me, months away and i'm already drooling.

 

[unrated]

Jaguares' ones

My guess is this will be a close race between the Sharks and us for the second in our RSA conf 2 (assuming the lions keep up playing like they do).
.

Yea even if the lions play with their current form (which i believe they will do) they wont necessarily be assured of first place. Historically the sharks have always been a class above the lions and sooner or later our rightful place atop the standings will be reclaimed. We will make some good signings half of those signings wont pitch or will be injured but that's not the point. The Sharks will get to play Australian sides as well so both teams will rack up a lot of wins. It might be a three horse race between The Jags, The Lions and The Sharks the conference will be decided by the games against each other.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Pardon my ignorance but are the Kings even going to be playing given their off field difficulties?

 

[TRF_heineken]

Pardon my ignorance but are the Kings even going to be playing given their off field difficulties?

It seems to be the case yes.

The question is however how the team will be compiled and if it will still be registered as the Kings.

All we know for sure is that SA will have 6 teams playing again in the Super Rugby, but the chance is there that the team, the venue and the name could still change before the start of the Super Rugby 2017.

 

[TheOvalBall]

Tooooo much rugby.... (YAWN)

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Stormers vs Bulls
S vs Jaguares
Kings vs S
bye

Assuming we start well as we usually do and manage two tricky games at home we should be 3/0. I won't get hopeful again as we were 5/0 at the start of 2016 weren't we? Or we might've dropped one but we were doing well in the wins column until De Allende came back from injury and we lost our 1st choice halfbacks.

Sunwolves vs Stormers (Singapore)
S vs Cheetahs
S vs Chiefs (the one where the wheels come off)
S vs Lions
Crusaders vs S
Highlanders vs S
Hurricanes vs S
bye

I don't understand why we can't go on tour straight from Singapore but rather have to come back for 3 games and then bugger off East again. I suppose its a must, not willing to put in the effort to produce an algorythm to see if it can't be done better. Not only do we play only NZ teams, we play 3 in NZ and only 2 at home. Suppose we had it easy this year so 'fair's fair' or at least as 'fair' as it can be given the ridiculous format. I have to say though it will be good to face NZ sides again even if I expect losses. I think we have win % against all but the Crusaders and Chiefs though on recent form the 'Canes and Highlanders will probably be heavy favorites against us and the disparity in class we had in the forwards against those two sides in the past has disappeared. In fact they probably have better packs than our own now we are without Vermeulen, Burger, any semblence of an openside, no Koch, no Kitshoff and essentially no hooker. Our pack is essentially two world class locks (of which we are probably bound to have together as a combo for all of 2 games) and 6 passengers. But I digress.

We tend to slump in the middle in any case so in a sense we might as well slump when facing teams that would be heavy favorites against us in any case. We won't be competing for top spot and would be lucky to make the play-offs again- that is our only (semi) realistic goal for 2017. Luckily we only have the Bulls (and in effect the Lions, Sharks and Jaguares) as competition for a play-off spot. I don't think we should count on 2 teams from SA 1 going through so I almost want to say our only competition is the Bulls and I expect them to have it over us for a few reasons; Pollard might be fit? They play the majority of their tougher games at home while ours is on the road.

Stormers vs Blues
Sharks vs S
Cheetahs vs S (50/50- I expect us to have to play for so I say Stormers win)
S vs Sunwolves
Bulls vs S (the potential make or break)

Those first two tricky matches and the one against the Sharks (and Lions if they might have a hang-over season) are our make or break matches along with of course the final Bulls derby. Hopefully we manage the Blues as well and maybe ambush one of the other NZ sides but by the same token we are probably more likely to go down to say the Jaguares and Cheetahs (surely we won't get ambushed and draw.. or even lose! to the Sunwolves again..).

I expect us to lose out on a finals berth by 2 log points to the Bulls but then if we can do 9 wins( 8 at a stretch if the Bulls also have a horror season) it might be enough because even if last year says you need 10 wins at least to go on we only need to beat the Bulls though I think they have the drop on us unless we manage a few good signings or our 1st team manages to stay fit or even on form. A guy like De Allende *could* actually be a benefit if he gets it together again. Our backline could/should look hugely different than from 2016 and TBH we missed a lot of quality there where our forwards laid a decent platform more often than not;

1 Kebble
2 Ntubeni
3 Malherbe
4 Etzebeth
5 Du Toit
6 Kolisi
7 Notshe
8 Carr
9 Vermaak? (not sure if he might retire)
10 Du Preez
11 Senatla (back from Rio
12 De Allende
13 De Jongh (back from Rio)
14 Hendricks? (if he can overcome chronic illness)
15 Kolbe (back from Rio)

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Apart from the Stormers I think 2017 will look a lot like 2016 apart from that I think NZ will be more dominant and Aus teams will suffer more because I doubt NZ will drop as many games to the Bulls and Stormers as they did against the Lions and Sharks and I think the Aus conference will struggle more with the trio of Jaguares, Lions and Sharks than they did (or didn't) with the Bulls and Stormers.

There are still 5 SA conference teams trying to squeeze into 3 play-off places (counting the jaguares as SA of course). Whether its the Bulls or Stormers from SA 1 or the Jaguares or Sharks from SA 2 won't matter, none of those will probably get passed a QF anyway. And I also can't see the 2nd best Aus side sneak in ahead of NZ's 4th best. Last year they had a better chance IMO because;

Lions > Stormers
Sharks >/= Bulls
Jaguares > Cheetahs
Kings >/= Sunwolves

I leaning towards the Kings > Sunwolves because there will be plenty of changes at the <Kings> and I think they can only become more competitive.

 

[unrated]

My wishes have been answered! The sharks have dropped the dead weight that was Gary Gold. Robert du Preez will now take over. Gary Gold was a special coach who had the ability to take a team who finished first on the log to the gutters and destroy all positive structures. He will be remembered for his contributions. With Robert du Preez we now have an exciting coach with lots of good ideas to help us play attractive rugby. This move now also takes us in line with other Super Rugby franchises who has the same coach for the Currie Cup and Super Rugby. This breeds greater continuity. Just look at Johan Ackerman (lions) and Franco Smith (Cheetahs).

 

[TRF_heineken]

My wishes have been answered! The sharks have dropped the dead weight that was Gary Gold. Robert du Preez will now take over. Gary Gold was a special coach who had the ability to take a team who finished first on the log to the gutters and destroy all positive structures. He will be remembered for his contributions. With Robert du Preez we now have an exciting coach with lots of good ideas to help us play attractive rugby. This move now also takes us in line with other Super Rugby franchises who has the same coach for the Currie Cup and Super Rugby. This breeds greater continuity. Just look at Johan Ackerman (lions) and Franco Smith (Cheetahs).

Gary Gold quit, the Sharks didn't drop him: http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/SuperRugby/shock-as-gary-gold-quits-sharks-20161027

Gary Teichmann, the Sharks CEO, stated: “We respect Gary’s decision to move closer to home to pursue this opportunity and we thank him for his positive contribution and efforts during a period of transition with the Sharks. During this time there have been some Sharks stalwarts who moved on while a young and exciting squad has been assembled, opening up a new phase in our history.”

Closer to home? does that mean he's moving to Cape Town??

 

[unrated]

Yes. They say he "quit". This makes him look better. I wont be surprised if they had a board meeting and decided he was not the right guy. They probably gave him the chance to "quit" to make it more honorable.
In the corporate field. When someone has made a critical mistake they often give that person the option to resign as opposed to firing him.
Gary Gold was not a good coach and he did not deliver results. There is much more in this than the sharks would reveal (and the media would know).

 

[TRF_heineken]

Yes. They say he "quit". This makes him look better. I wont be surprised if they had a board meeting and decided he was not the right guy. They probably gave him the chance to "quit" to make it more honorable.
In the corporate field. When someone has made a critical mistake they often give that person the option to resign as opposed to firing him.
Gary Gold was not a good coach and he did not deliver results. There is much more in this than the sharks would reveal (and the media would know).

Maybe, But I will find it strange as the Sharks basically head-hunted him this same month in 2014. Gold has had anger issues though, especially this year, so it could be that they reached some amicable solution that would benefit both Gold and the Sharks.

But what has to be said is that if I was affiliated with the Sharks, I'd start to worry, they are hiring and firing at a rapid rate. And that at the high positions such as head coach, director of rugby and CEO...