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Congrats Sharks & Bulls

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Ickon

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If someone had of told me that it would be a all South African final at the beginning of the season I most probably would have laughed. Congrats to both S.A. sides ! :cheers:

My money is on the Bulls!!

Might have to slap a lazy $50 on the Boks ! :D
 
Well at least the wokke bokke are gauranteed a Super 14 Championship this year.

Still though, looking at the table, notice the HUGE gap between the Sharks & Bulls and the Lions, Stormers & Cheetahs.
 
Hey well done and full credit to Sharks and Bulls both teams deserve to be in that final i stayed up and watched both games NZ time first game 1 am followed an half hour nap then the next game at 3am Loved the atmosphere loved the big crowds...

Good for S.A rugby, healthy for Super 14 good luck to both sides
 
If someone had of told me that it would be a all South African final at the beginning of the season I most probably would have laughed. Congrats to both S.A. sides ! :cheers: [/b]

Well most of us thought it would be a great chance for a South African team to finally win a Super ***le, way back last year when Graham Henry planned his re-conditioning programme and just pluck out 22 ABs.

Other than that, huge congratulations not only to the Bulls and Sharks but also to the Republic of South Africa. Great support from the fans, and it has taken 12 hard-working long years to reach this very special achievement.

Well done guys.

Habana and the Bulls to beat the Sharks by 10.

Hopefully you won't beat the ABs...but still put in a good match performance.
 
congrats to the sharks & bulls in making it to the final and securing the first ***le for south africa. I am not overly worried as an abs fan. we rested our top 22 for 7 rounds and still got 2 teams into the semis with the chiefs a bit unlucky not to also make it.

the international arena is very different and I think the nz players will lift playing in the abs while the boks I don't really see them improving as a team from the super 14 much. the aussies will defintely be better to what we saw in the super 14 and will lift.
 
Crikey! Who woulda thought!

I was about to say a few things, but if you've read esoj's post (namely the last paragraph) then you get the idea of what I was going to say lol.
 
aw the blues and crusaders are just munted!! lol i really thought blues had it... till mr toeava got injured!! :(
 
Im sure the boks understand the step up from s14 rugby. They have been part of it since the start. They took longer to settle into professionalism. NZ rugby has been strong and they dominated the S 14. I believe SA has started what will be a era of dominating rugby. I also dont go for the excuse of 22 AB not part of the 1st part of the S14. Are u saying that U have no depth? None of the NZ teams showed form even when the 22 returned

We are hosting a derby final because we improved the most and played the best rugga. Both NZ teams looked like the SA teams of the past. Lacklustre and uneventfull. Look back 3 years into SA rugby. No bqackline play etc.

Suddenly you see it all in our rugby. So to say we wont be able to lift above s14 is plain stupid and un informed. NZ must re-invent themselves or they will become the bokke team of the past. The wallabies wont make the semi's
 
Suddenly you see it all in our rugby. So to say we wont be able to lift above s14 is plain stupid and un informed. NZ must re-invent themselves or they will become the bokke team of the past. The wallabies wont make the semi's
[/b]

that's going a bit far isn't it ?

I don't think NZ have to do ANYTHING, they still played really well during this whole S14 and even had the chance of having 3 teams in the semis.

Comparing NZ now to the boks of four or so years ago is just silly, the all blacks will still most likely chew up any team in the world, just becuase they lost 2 semis doesn't put the whole of NZ rugby in the dark ages.

the Saffa teams just played brilliantly this year, (*well the Sharks and Bulls did*) that's all there is to it, NZ didn't suck, we just played better this year.
 
To be fair Boggle, Boknaai's(love the nickname) right with regards to the Bokke being able to rise above S14 level, Esoj is brave to say that there's no room for improvement as not any of the SA S14 franchises are made up entirely of Springboks and I don't think JW coaches any of the franchises either. I believe the same point was made about NZ's franchises too elsewhere.

Boknaai it is just as silly to write of Australia as it is for Boggle to want to become an honourary kiwi :p

Everyone knows what the AB's are packing, and they've been playing their own unique brand of rugby for a while now, it's true they are miles ahead of the pack but do you remember when SA started using the blitz defence? For a little while people had no idea what to do until they figured out a way to capatilize on it. AB's had been at the forefront of change for a while now, but other teams are catching on how to nuetralise certain strengths and turn them into a weakness i.e Mckaw. That's the nature of the ever evolving game, just you ask Doc Craven

Our two top SA franchises are in good, nay, fantastic form. Traditionaly strong Bulls/Stormers sides meant a good Springbok side, now we have a SHark tint to that mix and I believe it will bring some much needed variety, discipline and fun to BOk rugby. Write the boks (quotas and all) off at your own peril
 
Yeah, congrats to both the Bulls and Sharks for making the S14 final, and guaranteeing us a S14 ***le. Very chuffed indeed. Going by the way the 2 sides played their semi`s, I`ll just have to pick the Bulls for the win- even though I`m a mountain goat. They definately played the better, controlled rugby of the 2 sides.

Right, now onto where this puts us wrt the RWC. What I`m really stoked about, is the fact that the SA boys really fronted up on our overseas legs. Playing away from home has never been a SA strong point, but for all our teams(except the Cheetahs) to have stepped up and gotten 40% plus wins in Australasia has been magnificent. This has been a pshycological Rubicon crossed by the SA teams.

But will having 2 SA sides in the S14 final make us the favourites? Heck, if that`s the criteria, I suppose that England will now be joint favourites for producing the 2 HC finalists. You see, IF the Sharks beat the 1st-choice AB`s, and the Bulls the 2nd-choice AB`s, yeah then we could make sweeping statements like that. But neither the Boks, AB`s or Wallabies played as a unit in the S14, so to judge RWC form on S14 form, is just a bit premature.

Write off the AB`s, the pace-setters in world rugby for the last 3 years, at your peril. Write off the Aussies, who always seem to bring it on come RWC time, especially in the NH, at your peril. And write off the Boks, who will be brimful of confidence at a S14 ***le, and good away wins this year, at your peril. Write of the Froggies, at home and able to really turn it on in the big games(1999 semi-fial anyone?) at your peril. Heck, even England, under their new coach(yes, the one who picks Ian Balshaw!) and their status as defending champions can`t be chucked away yet either. Even the Irish, the most consistent team in the NH over the last 3 years, can pull off a big win or 2 at the RWC. So can the Argies. There`s still a lot of rugger to be played before November.

But I`m really stoked by the performances of both the Sharks and the Bulls, and I`ll rather be in the position of having 2 sides in the S14 final than not.
 
Im sure the boks understand the step up from s14 rugby. They have been part of it since the start. They took longer to settle into professionalism. NZ rugby has been strong and they dominated the S 14. I believe SA has started what will be a era of dominating rugby. I also dont go for the excuse of 22 AB not part of the 1st part of the S14. Are u saying that U have no depth? None of the NZ teams showed form even when the 22 returned

We are hosting a derby final because we improved the most and played the best rugga. Both NZ teams looked like the SA teams of the past. Lacklustre and uneventfull. Look back 3 years into SA rugby. No bqackline play etc.

Suddenly you see it all in our rugby. So to say we wont be able to lift above s14 is plain stupid and un informed. NZ must re-invent themselves or they will become the bokke team of the past. The wallabies wont make the semi's
[/b]

I didn't use the 22 abs missing as an excuse you read into my post completely wrong there. I am defintely not saying nz has no depth I was saying it was an achievement that despite resting the top 22 players we still had 2 teams in the semis and one unlucky to miss out. this means that I think nz has depth, to think I meant anything else is cleary being stupid and uninformed

I just think the boks will struggle as a team compared to how the bulls and sharks have performed in the super 14. this always imo seems to be how it has gone recently. an SA team shines in the super 14 but then the boks never seem to get to that level. conversely the abs seem to rise when their talent is put into one team. guys like rokcocko that struggle at super 14 level rise when in the abs.
 
... WELL DONE BULLS, AND SHARKS!!!!!

Let's have another big party this weekend, Win or Lose.
 
Im sure the boks understand the step up from s14 rugby. They have been part of it since the start. They took longer to settle into professionalism. NZ rugby has been strong and they dominated the S 14. I believe SA has started what will be a era of dominating rugby. I also dont go for the excuse of 22 AB not part of the 1st part of the S14. Are u saying that U have no depth? None of the NZ teams showed form even when the 22 returned

We are hosting a derby final because we improved the most and played the best rugga. Both NZ teams looked like the SA teams of the past. Lacklustre and uneventfull. Look back 3 years into SA rugby. No bqackline play etc.

Suddenly you see it all in our rugby. So to say we wont be able to lift above s14 is plain stupid and un informed. NZ must re-invent themselves or they will become the bokke team of the past. The wallabies wont make the semi's
[/b]

No depth? Without our top 22 ABs, 5 of our teams finished in the top 9. Who occupied the last 5 places?

As for showing form when the 22 return.. They just can't come back and play high level rugby straight away.. Usually teams have warm up matches.. And then they play a few early rounds to get combinations and rust out, then peak at the end of the tournament.. Something the Crusaders do a lot..

The Springboks already have a strong team, they're tough to beat at home. All Blacks finally cracked them last year. Win 1 Super 12 ***le and now you're going to start a new era? I would've thought the Springboks were the team to beat even if they didn't win the Super14 ***le.

Crusaders won the Super 14 in 1999. Look where the All Blacks ended up at the RWC.
The Blues won the Super 14 in 2003. Look where the All Blacks ended up at the RWC.
Will the Springboks continue this pattern? :p

You want backline play? Which teams scored the most '4 try' bonus points?
NZ teams got 21.
Sth. Africa got 15.
Australia got 7.

As for the no backline play in the semis. Crusaders and the Bulls were both tryless.
The Blues were without McAlister. He's pretty much the general in Auckland. Take him out, and Toeava is a lone ranger.

These aren't excuses for why we lost on the weekend. The Blues were still in with a shot. We just didn't make the most of our opportunities, and you guys did. Good on you. Lucky for us kiwis, we can compete for the Super 14 next year :D
 
No excuse's guy's as Robbie Deans said they had no answer's for them. We lost but lets face there's always next year :) It's not the cup where after at the moment
 
Tickets sold out in 1 hour and 15mins! I wish I could get my hands on one ticket. I would take a week off work, fly across and party all that week.
 
Hey Esoj and Ripper face it guys you lost!! Take a leaf out of Robbie Deans book and be gracious in defeat. Excuses you never had this one or that one BLAH BLAH BLAH.

The All Blacks are still huge favorites ahead of the World cup and should easily win the Tri-Nations. The good thing is that all the teams a,ll around the world are improving! Ireland is a huge example.

Well done the Sharks and the Bulls.

Hey GG we have not heard from you yet after the predictations on the scores of the 2 Semi`s played :p

Chill out Boknaai is oviously winding you up.
 
the All Blacks are still favourates for the RWC by alot. thats no slight on the Boks. the all blacks have preformed so well over the last 2-3 years that they are deservedly fav's. the boks are leading the chasing pack and leading it well. most pundits had them there before the super14 started.

this is great reward for the south african sides who have preformed very well over the course of the comp. dont think it will mean much come RWC time. look at how much times weve won the super14 compaired to the RWC.

congrats to the sharks and the bulls. they deserve to be in the final 100%. hopefully this is a sign that were going to get a even competition now. this is SA time time in the sun so enjoy it...
 
Congratulations to the two finalists. Hope they smash each other in the final.. :p


SHARKS by 10.
 

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