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[2020 Super Rugby] Round 4 (21-22 February)

TRF_heineken

RIP #J9
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Friday, 21 February 2020

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Venue: Orangetheory Stadium
Time: 08:05 CAT (SA, GMT+2)

Saturday, 22 February 2020

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Venue: Mars Stadium
Time: 05:45 CAT (SA, GMT+2)


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Venue: FMG Stadium Waikato
Time: 08:05 CAT (SA, GMT+2)


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Venue: Suncorp Stadium
Time: 10:15 CAT (SA, GMT+2)


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Venue: DHL Newlands Stadium
Time: 15:05 CAT (SA, GMT+2)


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Venue: Loftus Versfeld
Time: 17:15 CAT (SA, GMT+2)
 
Crusaders
Rebels
Chiefs
Sunwolves
Stormers
Blues
 
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Predictions:
Crusaders v Highlanders - this could be very exciting. a young, fearless Highlanders team playing an expensive style of rugby could really trouble the Crusaders. got a feeling the Landers will push them close. Crusaders may get over the line in the end but could be a great game
Rebels v Sharks - a game that the Sharks should be targeting, and yet these are the kind of matches in which the Sharks have struggled in recent years. really can't pick a winner in this game. picking the better side on paper.
Chiefs v Brumbies - can't see anything but a comfortable win for the Chiefs in this game. the Brumbies are mediocre.
Reds v Sunwolves - an absolute must-win game for the Reds and I think they will sneak it at home. loads of points In this game.
Stormers v Jaguares - the Stormers will want to put a massive marker down against their likely conference rivals. I can see a home win by 15-20 points.
Bulls v Blues - this may not be a pretty watch. even though I think the Bulls are poor I think they'll scrape a win here.
 
Crusaders vs Highlanders - This is easy, Crusaders at home what did you think was gonna happen?

Rebels v Sharks - Sharks to spank the obedience back into the Rebels until they become a Melbourne based pro government lobby group. Bosch is back, Mapimpi and Chamberlain is out with concussion. We have an SA ref for this game too, so hopefully we can now have a ref who understands that Scrums are not a lottery that should be won by the home team by default. Watch out for Fassi again he is playing this game with kids at the moment.

Chiefs v Brumbies - Chiefs looking good, cant see them running away with it. They will get more drilled under Gatland albeit their creativity will be coached out of them. Chiefs can be ***le contenders with a structured, rigid defensive system.

Reds v Sunwolves - Reds to take it with lots of trouble, effort , sweat and teary complaints to the ref.

Stormers v Jaguares - This is game of the round. Going to be brutal. The Jags probably have the best attack in the SA conference while Stormers are by far the best defensive team in the comp. Scrums will be targeted by the Stormers. I can see the Stormers winning by more than 15 points in the end. I trust Cruz when he said poorly placed cones defend better than the Jags players so based on that i envision Senatla, Nel and co to score a number of tries while keeping the Jags to a very low score.

Bulls v Blues - Bulls at home should take it against a Blues side that is well a Blues side. Blues should ask BB if he can ask his two other pro brothers to come join him in the capital. Then i would predict a Blues win.
 
saders
sharks
chiefs
reds
stormers
blues
 
Predictions:
Crusaders v Highlanders - this could be very exciting. a young, fearless Highlanders team playing an expensive style of rugby could really trouble the Crusaders. got a feeling the Landers will push them close. Crusaders may get over the line in the end but could be a great game
Rebels v Sharks - a game that the Sharks should be targeting, and yet these are the kind of matches in which the Sharks have struggled in recent years. really can't pick a winner in this game. picking the better side on paper.
Chiefs v Brumbies - can't see anything but a comfortable win for the Chiefs in this game. the Brumbies are mediocre.
Reds v Sunwolves - an absolute must-win game for the Reds and I think they will sneak it at home. loads of points In this game.
Stormers v Jaguares - the Stormers will want to put a massive marker down against their likely conference rivals. I can see a home win by 15-20 points.
Bulls v Blues - this may not be a pretty watch. even though I think the Bulls are poor I think they'll scrape a win here.

sadly i dont think young and hungry has ever beaten the Crusaders clinical

early team announcement, sticking with hunt / Ioane , they most see something in it, getting a lot of hate on line, if it was just Mauger making the call i would have my doubts but with Brownie running the attack i choose to defer to a higher authority

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Crusaders
sharks
Chiefs
reds
jaguares. (we do better away)
Blues
 
Oh yeah, this is just what the Brumbies need right now...
https://www.espn.com/rugby/story/_/id/28733941/mumps-outbreak-ravages-brumbies-camp

Great win by the Highlanders last weekend, but gimme:
CRUSADERS by quite a lot
SHARKS over the hapless Rebs
CHIEFS win big and hopefully don't catch anything from the Brumbies
REDS in a close one with the totally unpredictable Sunwolves
STORMERS take care of business at home vs. Jags
BULLS handle the Blues
 
saders
sharks
chiefs
reds
blues

Been thinking a lot about this round and our game. Think this wont be a popular opinion.
Stormers vs Jaguares, heart says Jags, but head says Stormers. Although what petite mentioned is true, it is also true that that statistic comes from a ridiculously high success rate in Australia/NZ and a mediocre one in south africa, and particularly bad against the Stormers. I think fixed formations will be key, and i see the stormers having an edge there. I see our attack being slightly better but their defence being considerably better.
One of the reasons our back 3 weren't exposed the last two seasons was because of the phenomenal job Orlando and de la Fuente (and occasionally Moroni) did on defense at the centre. They were always where they were supposed to be, they rushed their guy fast, hardly missed a tackle and got up and recovered very fast to support the back 3. That worked wonders the last 2 seasons and helped to cover holes in our defence. Well, that has not happened in 2020. I dare anyone here to show me a video of Boffelli making a try-saving tackle. Just one. He is a full back ffs.

Jaguares style with Quesada was nothing extraordinary. Cohesive defence, no silly mistakes, a lot of pressure, wait for the opponent to make a mistake, make him pay. Repeat. Get the fundamentals right, leave the fancy stuff for when we are 3 tries ahead. We copy-pasted the Lions' driving maul thingie, fixed a mayor scrum issue and then had a something strong to bring to the table.
But, look at the the first building block again: if our defence is not strong our entire style will collapse.

Jaguares' strengths and weaknesses are crystal clear if you look at our seasons: Offensively, our first two seasons were the best. Yet our defence was a disaster and we ended up not even qualifying.
Our last two seasons a ridiculous amount of our points came from forcing the opposition to commit errors as opposed to creating the chances ourselves (hope the difference is clear). That led us to the final. We need to tweak things here and there to adjust for the opposition and new players, but what works and what doesn't.
We were a team of few mistakes that transformed others' into points. Now the Reds scores us three tries in 30 minutes. At home.

My main concern before the season started was lacking the strength to break the advantage line that Matera and Lavanini brought to the table. That is not even in my top 3 concerns now.

I really, really wish i am wrong about half of this.
 
Oh yeah, this is just what the Brumbies need right now...
https://www.espn.com/rugby/story/_/id/28733941/mumps-outbreak-ravages-brumbies-camp

Great win by the Highlanders last weekend, but gimme:
CRUSADERS by quite a lot
SHARKS over the hapless Rebs
CHIEFS win big and hopefully don't catch anything from the Brumbies
REDS in a close one with the totally unpredictable Sunwolves
STORMERS take care of business at home vs. Jags
BULLS handle the Blues

When it rains, it pours. First the Brumbies had to move thieir pre-season practice facilities because of the Australian bush fires and now a mumps outbreak. That's too bad. o_O
 
First the Brumbies had to move thieir pre-season practice facilities because of the Australian bush fires and now a mumps outbreak.
We clearly need to start calling them The Mumpies...

Hey, look at me, I made the bench! I'm bin juice!
 
I don't want this thread to go all MLR, but believe me, I'm prepared!

What SupeRugby team do you follow? I'm a Sunwolves fan, but will probably follow the Highlanders next season when the Sunwolves leave. Visiting New Zealand is on my bucket list and that stadium in Dunedin looks really nice.
 
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Well, my rugby mentor introduced me to Super Rugby, and she is a lifelong Crusaders fan... So, I thought, "I gotta pick a different team," and randomly selected the Highlanders. I even have a couple banners and some gear, but they're definitely struggling right now. However, as a Patriots fan, it's a nice change to root for a team that doesn't win absolutely everything over a 20 year dynasty... :)
 
My best memory of the Higlanders is Malakai Fekitoa ripping up every defensive pattern created by opposition teams during one of his last seasons at the Landers.
The Landers from a Sharks perspective is a like-able team. They are mercurial, almost like the french but with better consistency. Unfortunately for you guys they wont be winning any silverware any time soon. They will be lucky to even be a top 10 side this year.
 
My best memory of the Higlanders is Malakai Fekitoa ripping up every defensive pattern created by opposition teams during one of his last seasons at the Landers.
The Landers from a Sharks perspective is a like-able team. They are mercurial, almost like the french but with better consistency. Unfortunately for you guys they wont be winning any silverware any time soon. They will be lucky to even be a top 10 side this year.
....in your opinion

is there some sort of award I'm unaware of for bagging our chances of winning anything? We're not obvious to our new and inexperienced squad...stating we're not going to win anything like its an irrefutable fact is just getting a little tiresome
 
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