[2019 Super Rugby] Round 9 (12 & 13 April 2019)

[TRF_heineken]

Friday, 12 April 2019

VS.

Venue: AMI Stadium
Time: 09:35 CAT (SA, GMT+2)

VS.

Venue: AAMI Park
Time: 11:45 CAT (SA, GMT+2)
​

Saturday, 13 April 2019

VS.

Venue: FMG Waikato Stadium
Time: 09:35 CAT (SA, GMT+2)

VS.

Venue: GIO Stadium
Time: 11:45 CAT (SA, GMT+2)

VS.

Venue: Jonsson's Kings Park
Time: 15:05 CAT (SA, GMT+2)

VS.

Venue: Loftus Versfeld
Time: 17:10 CAT (SA, GMT+2)​

 

[unrated]

Crusaders
Rebels (Im gonna go for Stormers on Superbru but rebels must be favourites)
Chiefs
Lions
Sharks
Bulls

 

[SomeOke]

Stormers really need a win if we want to salvage our season at all, coming back to SA 8/3 just feels like too much of a mountain to climb 4/8 having toured still feels recoverable.

Sharks really have momentum now and if they can down the Jags they will have firmly established themselves as contenders for the top of conference if not genuine competitors, I hope to see Bosch starting again.

Bulls loss last week was unfortunate as they rested a couple players AND I still thought they could have pulled off a victory, I'm not writing them off but it's probably going to come down to whether or not they can win any games in Australasia.

Lions I'm really not sure about, at times they seem good, at times they seem poor, I wouldn't write them off.

In short the SA conference is still very much up in the air, while the NZ conference has a favourite (Crusaders) and so does the Aus conference (Rebels), no one has really staked a claim as the best in SA yet.


In Australasia I'm all aboard the Rebels hype train and enjoying them a lot (not this coming week please), and hoping the Blues can continue their current run of form, and maybe even become a playoff force? (dare to dream).

 

[Bull]

Crusaders
Rebels by plenty
Chiefs
Brumbies
Sharks
Bulls

 

[Adakins]

My picks..
Crusaders
Rebels
Chiefs
Brumbies
Sharks
Bulls

 

[SomeOke]

In theory this should be a fairly easy week to pick winners, I think the only non-obvious games where the home team might not win are:
Chiefs v Blues
Brumbies v Lions

In both cases I think the away teams have a decent chance.

 

[User1245]

Crusaders
Rebels (one of the in form teams for sure)
Chiefs
Lions (don't rate the Brumbies this year)
Sharks
Bulls (Reds have too many unproven players to take down the Bulls)

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

Crusaders
Rebels
Chiefs
Lions
?
Bulls

Sharks vs Jaguares is the most difficult game to call imo. We had an appalling first half against the bulls and I dont see us playing as bad again.
I am speculating the sharks might rest a player or two.

 

[SomeOke]

Sharks vs Jaguares is the most difficult game to call imo. We had an appalling first half against the bulls and I dont see us playing as bad again.
I am speculating the sharks might rest a player or two.

I wish your lads luck my friend but I felt like the Jags have struggled in SA this year, went down to the Stormers and Lions, and snuck one against the Bulls at the end.

 

[Oliver Madden]

Predictions:
Crusaders - this could be a long night for the Highlanders unfortunately.
Rebels
Blues - a gamble I know.
Lions
Sharks
Bulls

 

[Kiwiwomble]

...not looking forward to this...yet another friday game! loads of injuries and up against the Crusaders, i have a sinking feeling this will kill our season (if it hasn't already). hard to come back from five loses and storm into the playoffs.....

 

[Kiwiwomble]

as strong a team as we could field with injuries, looks like our only chance is in the forward pack....which is saying something

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

I wish your lads luck my friend but I felt like the Jags have struggled in SA this year, went down to the Stormers and Lions, and snuck one against the Bulls at the end.

Agree. The Lions are our kryptonite, style wise, and against the stormers everything that went wrong did so.

We did tear a full strength bulls squad a new one in buenos aires tho. And i dont think localism plays a big role for us. We've had good streaks away and have been awful at home quite a few times.

I think styles can make games (not always) and in that sense our style matches the bulls and the sharks' much better than the Lions or the Stormers.

I do agree with you that the sharks are favourites, but i think it's far from the landslide the predictions in this thread depict (everyone said the sharks will win). Just have a look at last rounds prediction and how many people predicted us beating the bulls.

 

[Bull]

Bulls – 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Johnny Kotze, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Jade Stighling, 10 Handré Pollard (c), 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Paul Schoeman, 7 Hanro Liebenberg, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Jannes Kirsten, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Lizo Gqoboka.
Subs: 16 Corniel Els, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Wiehan Herbst, 19 Thembelani Bholi, 20 Roelof Smit, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Divan Rossouw

 

[Bull]

Agree. The Lions are our kryptonite, style wise, and against the stormers everything that went wrong did so.

We did tear a full strength bulls squad a new one in buenos aires tho. And i dont think localism plays a big role for us. We've had good streaks away and have been awful at home quite a few times.

I think styles can make games (not always) and in that sense our style matches the bulls and the sharks' much better than the Lions or the Stormers.

I do agree with you that the sharks are favourites, but i think it's far from the landslide the predictions in this thread depict (everyone said the sharks will win). Just have a look at last rounds prediction and how many people predicted us beating the bulls.

I hear what you're saying, the Bulls however did make a number of changes as did the Jags for the past weekends match. While the Jags never gave up and deserved to win in the end the Bulls did their part in handing the game over somewhat.

Over to this week, although I think the Sharks are undercover scum they'll beat the Jags if both teams stick to the relative same squads for this round. I would like the Jags to win though.

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

I guess the differencie lies in how read last weekend's game. I can understand how it looks like we came from behind and managed to barely steal victory from the jaws of defeat. I have a very different view and insight from it thou: i dont think we should never have been in that position if it werent for our FH's 1H performance. I really cant see him play worse. Maybe i am being too harsh but it was painful to watch. Half of the bulls' points came from his unforced errors.
We ll see. Best of luck

 

[Bull]

I guess the differencie lies in how read last weekend's game. I can understand how it looks like we came from behind and managed to barely steal victory from the jaws of defeat. I have a very different view and insight from it thou: i dont think we should never have been in that position if it werent for our FH's 1H performance. I really cant see him play worse. Maybe i am being too harsh but it was painful to watch. Half of the bulls' points came from his unforced errors.
We ll see. Best of luck

All the best, I hope the Jags win.

 

[Dai Perk]

I feel like i'm getting a pretty good handle on these teams at this point... although SBW seems to be missing a lot of time with the Blues, is it because of his efforts in Christchurch? They're obviously a different team without him...

In any event, my picks:

CRU 28 HIG 18
REB 18 STO 16
CHI 20 BLU 24
BRU 12 LIO 14 (They really need a bounce-back after last week)
SHA 18 JAG 10
BUL 8 RED 12

 

[TRF_heineken]

Bulls – 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Johnny Kotze, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Jade Stighling, 10 Handré Pollard (c), 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Paul Schoeman, 7 Hanro Liebenberg, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Jannes Kirsten, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Lizo Gqoboka.
Subs: 16 Corniel Els, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Wiehan Herbst, 19 Thembelani Bholi, 20 Roelof Smit, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Divan Rossouw

So glad to see 4 Springboks return from injury for the Bulls. Gelant, van Staden, Snyman and Smit.

Plus we got Wiehan Herbst from Ulster to bolster our scrum.

Here's hoping they all have a blinder!

 

[SomeOke]

Also Pollard and Kriel back from being rested last week, should be a much stronger Bulls team ALSO the reds look a little depleted they are without Naivalu/Daugunu/Petaia so their backline has lost a lot of it's power.
To call this a must win for the Bulls is under-stating things.