[2019 Super Rugby] Round 17 (7 & 8 June 2019)

[Al Bangor]

The Brumbies are giving the Waratahs a good ol' fashioned butt whoopin'. It's 28-3 at half time.

 

[Al Bangor]

The Waratahs look discombobulated.

/ˌdiskəmˈbäbyəˌlādəd/
adjective
HUMOROUS

1. confused and disconcerted.
   "he is looking a little pained and discombobulated"

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

Brumbies tearing the tahs a new one and destroying my forecast in the process.
Not good for the jaguares either.

 

[Al Bangor]

A very bad day for the Rebels.
66-0

The Rebels were steamrolled and should be embarrassed. 66-0...Yikes!

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Enjoyable game though. Very.

 

[Al Bangor]

Waratahs close the gap, but the Brumbies still get the 35-24 win. No playoffs for NSW this season.

 

[unrated]

Ardie Savea is the best rugby player in the world at the moment.

Also the hurricanes keeps on stealing balls.
Their technique is questionable and really works in the grey area of the law. They start the the stealing process while on their feet as soon as they get their hands on the ball, then a Hurricanes player would intentionally throw himself to the ground and in the process slightly jump over the ball rotate with their back facing the opposition team and push the ball to their team. Ref then holds his hands up and say play on

Other teams would get their hands on the ball, stand with a strong stance and hold on while on their feet waiting for the ref to call a penalty. The Hurricanes seem to start their stealing like this but they almost intentionally fall over as if they feel that 1 or two seconds on your feet while holding the ball means it is now yours and that of an opposition player touches you then you can make a forward roll to protect the ball which is now yours. This is then interpreted by the referee as a tackle and whoever was close to the player when he did the role can't just steal it back as he as the tackler first has to release. It screws teams over.
Hurricanes will win the competition.

 

[unrated]

The Jaguares outplayed us thoroughly. They deserved the win and frankly is the best team in the South African conference for 2019.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Ardie Savea is the best rugby player in the world at the moment.

Also the hurricanes keeps on stealing balls.
Their technique is questionable and really works in the grey area of the law. They start the the stealing process while on their feet as soon as they get their hands on the ball, then a Hurricanes player would intentionally throw himself to the ground and in the process slightly jump over the ball rotate with their back facing the opposition team and push the ball to their team. Ref then holds his hands up and say play on

Other teams would get their hands on the ball, stand with a strong stance and hold on while on their feet waiting for the ref to call a penalty. The Hurricanes seem to start their stealing like this but they almost intentionally fall over as if they feel that 1 or two seconds on your feet while holding the ball means it is now yours and that of an opposition player touches you then you can make a forward roll to protect the ball which is now yours. This is then interpreted by the referee as a tackle and whoever was close to the player when he did the role can't just steal it back as he as the tackler first has to release. It screws teams over.
Hurricanes will win the competition.

He was the best rugby player in the world last year too and got basicallly no recognition for it. If he is a starting all black this year I'd be very surprised if people don't wake up to it and award him world player of the year

Could argue that by the point the canes are doing that they should have been awarded a penalty anyway.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

Another season where the most interesting games are those not at the top of the table, crusaders carry on as usual

 

[petite]

the sharks where suprisingly poor. they did improve when bosch moved to 10.
I wonder how bosch is doing he looked hurt.
I hope he's OK I'll be a mayor blow for the bocks and the WC if he's injured. he and williamse are my favorite SA backs
this one of the most dominant performances by the jags. even with injured players like petti moyano lezana Allemano delguy beltranou tuculet.

 

[TRF_heineken]

the sharks where suprisingly poor. they did improve when bosch moved to 10.
I wonder how bosch is doing he looked hurt.
I hope he's OK I'll be a mayor blow for the bocks and the WC if he's injured. he and williamse are my favorite SA backs
this one of the most dominant performances by the jags. even with injured players like petti moyano lezana Allemano delguy beltranou tuculet.

This. I couldn't believe how poor the Sharks were actually. Their handling at times seemed more like they wanted to give the ball to the Jaguares. Their missed tackling was next level poor. I think Tyler Paul was the only guy making an effort. And what bothered me the most was the Sharks poor tactics when they had the ball. The Jags kept flying in with rush defence, and there was so much space behind, but not once did the Sharks try a kick and chase approach, with Mapimpi and Nkosi they should have at least tried something else than the run around...

 

[Dai Perk]

Highlanders and Bulls match ends in a 24-24 draw. That keeps the Bulls playoff hopes alive, but it puts the kibosh to the Highlanders.

Oy. Feels like a lost season for the Highlanders. When you look at the roster, it feels like they should be a lot better than they are, but as Bill Parcells said, "You are who your record says you are."

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

I am very happy except for one thing.
I was watching our game and every single time we defended i kept thinking about the crusaders game. Our rush defence worked very well against a team that tried to open the ball every time. Crusaders, on the other hand, kicked a LOT behind enemy lines and they managed to do that very, very well. I'm afraid that might very well be our kryptonite. Styles make fights, etc. Not sure what our answer will be to that. Hope our management does their homework on this.
Then again, they have to get ass the canes to get to the final, so it wont be a walk through the park for them either.

 

[TRF_heineken]

I am very happy except for one thing.
I was watching our game and every single time we defended i kept thinking about the crusaders game. Our rush defence worked very well against a team that tried to open the ball every time. Crusaders, on the other hand, kicked a LOT behind enemy lines and they managed to do that very, very well. I'm afraid that might very well be our kryptonite. Styles make fights, etc. Not sure what our answer will be to that. Hope our management does their homework on this.
Then again, they have to get ass the canes to get to the final, so it wont be a walk through the park for them either.

The Sharks showed one thing with your Rush Defence, and that is that if you can get past your centres and there's no forwards to assist with the tackling in the corners, teams can gain a lot of territory as your wingers tend to try and rather push the players out than commit on defence. But for that to happen you need to get that ball quickly pass those oncoming rushing defenders.

But yeah, the chip-kick and chase will work very well against your team, I just don't know why nobody is trying it...

 

[SomeOke]

Jaguares are well deserved best team in SA conferece! Hopefully they can go on to win it (best chance if is someone does the Crusaders for them in the quarters or semi's).
That said I'm not too distressed with the SA teams, consistency has remained a concern but non of the teams are utter rubbish like last year, and we've achieved pretty good results against Australian opposition, with a few draws and even a win or two away.
I doubt any Saffer teams are genuine contenders but that's alright, it's basically between the Crusaders/Hurricanes/Jags at this point I'd say, with Crusaders being heavy favourites. We could even bizarrely have all 5 teams in the SA conference go through, along with the Saders/Canes/Aus Conference winners (unlikely but still).

 

[Al Bangor]

Q: The Crusaders have played 16 matches (per the chart below), shouldn't there be another side that has played as many matches as them? All the others are at 15.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Q: The Crusaders have played 16 matches (per the chart below), shouldn't there be another side that has played as many matches as them? All the others are at 15.

15 teams means 7 games a week plus one team has bye

 

[petite]

i was wondering if as phil kearns say jags are a national side, wich players would make it to the bocks if the jags was a SA team.
every week i read the best xv from NZ SA and Au but there is no best team for argentina (ovbiously)
so the closest thing would be to see which one could at least be included if not in the springboks in the SA xv of the week
bonfelli and matera would make it this week cubelli? who else ?

its hard for me to imagine wich of the argies could make it to the bocks

no fist rowers (maybe creevy subtitution to marx?
second row lavanini or petti? after ezebet and de jager or du toit?
3rd: would matera make it ahead of kolisi? vermuleen kolisi du toit sound damm solid
maybe cubelli (hes not better than de klerc maybe over cronje
bonilla over pollard?
de la fuente is having a good season but is he ahead of kriel or Esterhuizen?
moyano? is he better than mapimpi?
bonfelli or le roux ?
opinions?

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

I just don't know why nobody is trying it...

I can only guess but i'd wager it's because if it is not executed properly you are giving our back 3 a chance to counterattack which is what they do best.

Thing is, crusaders do 2 things that would minimize that risk a lot. First, their kicking is being executed very, very accurately. Ridiculously so.
And second, their kicks are not very deep nor tall, but more diagonal. They are not looking for the fb, but almost exclusively the wings.