Form XV Super XV

[The_Wol]

1. Wyatt Crocket - Playing well
2. Bismarck du Plessis - Named my puppy dog after him
3. James Slipper - Plays for the Reds

4. Nathan Sharpe - Top bloke
5. Andries Bekker - Tall bloke

6. Scott Higginbotham - Is the best 6 in Australia/NZ/SA/world - plays for the Reds
7. David Pocock - Amazing player
8. Radike Samo - Amazing afro

9. Sareal Pretorious - Not Will Genia but I have have some South Africans so I don't look Biased
10. Quade Cooper - Qwazy Quade
11. Lord Digby Ioane of Brisbane - BEST PLAYER OF ALL TIME!!!! <3
12. Luke McAlister - SECOND BEST PLAYER OF ALL TIME!!!! <3
13. Anthony Faingaa - Tackles like a beast, can counter ruck.
14. David Smith - He's so cute with his stumpy legs.
15. Ben Lucas - Tackling so consistantly what a tank.

 

[FlukeArtist]

I have to disagree. Easier to stand out in an underperforming team I guess....
I don't think Bismark has been up to his usual standards either, but I guess we'll find out come international season then

 

[TRF_heineken]

1.Keith mannion

Who the F*** is that?? for which team does this guy play for??

 

[Larksea]

I gotta change my 9 from Sarel Pretorious after seeing he's missed over 40 tackles this season.

Prob have to Pick Jimmy Cowan or Brendon Leonard >.<

 

[Darwin]

I gotta change my 9 from Sarel Pretorious after seeing he's missed over 40 tackles this season.

Prob have to Pick Jimmy Cowan or Brendon Leonard >.<

He may have missed a few games, but I would find it very hard to look past Andy Ellis as the form NZ halfback...

 

[Draggs]

Have to consider either JP Pietersen or Lwazi Mvovo on the wings considering their last few performances.
Lambie over Quade, please

 

[superprop]

Pocock is openside and Thompson is blindside. Also just saying but you have 9 South African players.

 

[superprop]

Who the F*** is that?? for which team does this guy play for??

He is the most amazing player ever thats who.

 

[Rhyer]

1. Wyatt Crocket - Playing well
2. Bismarck du Plessis - Named my puppy dog after him
3. James Slipper - Plays for the Reds

4. Nathan Sharpe - Top bloke
5. Andries Bekker - Tall bloke

6. Scott Higginbotham - Is the best 6 in Australia/NZ/SA/world - plays for the Reds
7. David Pocock - Amazing player
8. Radike Samo - Amazing afro

9. Sareal Pretorious - Not Will Genia but I have have some South Africans so I don't look Biased
10. Quade Cooper - Qwazy Quade
11. Lord Digby Ioane of Brisbane - BEST PLAYER OF ALL TIME!!!! <3
12. Luke McAlister - SECOND BEST PLAYER OF ALL TIME!!!! <3
13. Anthony Faingaa - Tackles like a beast, can counter ruck.
14. David Smith - He's so cute with his stumpy legs.
15. Ben Lucas - Tackling so consistantly what a tank.

What a crap team. It would get bullied off the park with no fire power out wide.

1) Wyatt Crocket
2) Keven Mealamu
3) Owen Franks
4) Nathan Sharpe
5) Ali Williams
6) Jerome Kaino
7) Matt Todd
8) Keiran Read
9) Andy Ellis
10) Dan Carter
11) Digby Ioane
12) James O'Connor
13) Jared Payne
14) Isaia Toeava
15) Kurtley Beale

Now that is a team and a half with some extreme fire power in the backline who could score from anywhere. I don't know how you could pick anyone but the Crusaders prop trio as they have had the best scrum for the past few seasons. Matt Todd has been better than Pocock this season. Matt Todd has the highest breakdown steals this season which is very good considering he has been in and out of the 7 jersey because of Mccaw. Halfback has been the most competitive this year with the following players very close; Jimmy Cowan, Will Genia, Hougaard and Sarel Pretorious.

 

[Rhyer]

He may have missed a few games, but I would find it very hard to look past Andy Ellis as the form NZ halfback...

I know what you mean. That game against the Hurricanes! Jesus christ... Crusaders have really missed him, more so than anyone else I think.

 

[Larksea]

He may have missed a few games, but I would find it very hard to look past Andy Ellis as the form NZ halfback...

Because I dont like him, is that ok?

Elis has had a great season no doubt, his best so far I think. But honestly there are aspects of his game I dont like and the fact he plays behind a star studded forward pack and inside the best 10 in history is a factor and it's hard to put his performances in perspective because of that. Looking at the stats he hasn't had to make many tackles compared to other 9's with similar gametime and I dont rate his defense overall. And at times I still think his passing has been very average. That and yes the fact that Elis has spent a number of games on the sideline when Cowan & Leonard have been involved pretty much every game.

I still think people do underrate Leonard, he is in league with the best and looking at his stats he's making more tackles and also linebreaks than most halfbacks. Good example would be compared to Mathewson who some consider NZ's best running 9. Leonard has made more likebreaks and offloads in less gametime than Mathewson and he's also had to make a lot more tackles and his kicking game is far superior.

I know stats dont tell the whole story but they do give a good overall picture.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Pocock is openside and Thompson is blindside. Also just saying but you have 9 South African players.

I can tell you that in South Africa, the 6 is openside, 7 is blindside. A real rugby fan would know that

 

[quins10595]

15. Beale-Outstanding!
14. Basson-Good finishing
13. Tom Carter-Gets through a lot of work./Fourie
12. Nonu, SBW in the first half of season but nonu has looked better late on.
11. Smith-Struggled early on but displayed some awesome finishing late season.
10. Cooper has been an excellent leader for the reds. But also Dan Carter as always.
9. Sarel Pretourious-Does the job but scores a lot of tries.
8. Vito-Consistent throughout.
7. Messam-Again has been consistent but particularly impressive recently.
6. Thompson-Back to his best.
5. Bekker-Brilliant at lineout time this season
4. Matfield or Sharpe
3. Ben or Owen Franks
2. Faiinga...started every game? Very good in defence and lineouts were very accurate this year.
1. Mackintosh-A very commited captain for the highlanders this year. Would be nice if he was in the AB's world cup squad

 

[Darwin]

Because I dont like him, is that ok?

Elis has had a great season no doubt, his best so far I think. But honestly there are aspects of his game I dont like and the fact he plays behind a star studded forward pack and inside the best 10 in history is a factor and it's hard to put his performances in perspective because of that. Looking at the stats he hasn't had to make many tackles compared to other 9's with similar gametime and I dont rate his defense overall. And at times I still think his passing has been very average. That and yes the fact that Elis has spent a number of games on the sideline when Cowan & Leonard have been involved pretty much every game.

I still think people do underrate Leonard, he is in league with the best and looking at his stats he's making more tackles and also linebreaks than most halfbacks. Good example would be compared to Mathewson who some consider NZ's best running 9. Leonard has made more likebreaks and offloads in less gametime than Mathewson and he's also had to make a lot more tackles and his kicking game is far superior.

I know stats dont tell the whole story but they do give a good overall picture.

Collated stats from http://www.ruggastats.com suggest that Leonard makes more offloads, more tackles per game, and slightly more line-breaks than Mathewson, and he undoubtedly has a better kicking game. However Leonard has a worse tackling percentage, and importantly has made well over twice as many errors as Mathewson! Mathewson may have a poor kicking game, but at least he is able to pick the ball up without knocking it on

Like you I do worry a bit about Ellis's defence, but the rest of his game has been outstanding. As I've mentioned before, if it was simply a case of Ellis getting a free ride behind a dominant Crusaders pack you would expect the other Crusaders halfbacks to be equally impressive, but this was far from the case. The Crusaders noticeably missed Ellis when he was out injured, and he's made a huge impact since he returned; his last match against the Hurricanes was probably the best performance I've seen from a halfback all season.

To be honest I don't particularly like Ellis either, but it is hard to argue that he hasn't been in great form this season...

 

[chev.home]

Form XV

I have studied the stats from the super portal, including linebreaks, metres gained, tackles made, ball carries, tackles missed, breakdown steals, rucks hit, offloads, lineout steals, lineouts lost, lineout throw ins % and tries scored and try assists. Here is my League XV

15 Kurtley Beale
14 Bjorn Basson
13 Robert Fruean
12 James O'Connor
11 Rene Ranger
10 Quade Cooper
9 Sarel Pretorius
8 Kieran Read
7 Schalk Burger
6 Adam Thompson
5 Sam Wykes
4 Wikus van Heerden
3 WP Nel
2 Bismarck du Plessis
1 Jamie Mackintosh

 

[Larksea]

Collated stats from http://www.ruggastats.com suggest that Leonard makes more offloads, more tackles per game, and slightly more line-breaks than Mathewson, and he undoubtedly has a better kicking game. However Leonard has a worse tackling percentage, and importantly has made well over twice as many errors as Mathewson! Mathewson may have a poor kicking game, but at least he is able to pick the ball up without knocking it on

Like you I do worry a bit about Ellis's defence, but the rest of his game has been outstanding. As I've mentioned before, if it was simply a case of Ellis getting a free ride behind a dominant Crusaders pack you would expect the other Crusaders halfbacks to be equally impressive, but this was far from the case. The Crusaders noticeably missed Ellis when he was out injured, and he's made a huge impact since he returned; his last match against the Hurricanes was probably the best performance I've seen from a halfback all season.

To be honest I don't particularly like Ellis either, but it is hard to argue that he hasn't been in great form this season...

Yeah Leonard is maybe a bit more prone to knock on's but it may be because he's more involved in games I dont think his Error rate is "bad" also stats show Leonard has conceded a few less penalties which I think is critical. Leonard does get a bad rap about his defense at times but I think that's also a symptom of his workrate. Leonard often makes huge ground to get to tackles and some of his missed ones will be situations where someone else has missed a tackle and he's made a last gasped attempt to cover. perfect example was in the stormers game where he missed a tackle on Aplon which ended in a try. Leonard saw it was coming and the huge overlap they had and sprinted from a scrum on the other side of the field to attempt a tackle. Most 9's wouldn't have missed that one because they would never even get there to attempt it.

But at least he gets there, some players dont bother to even attempt some tackles for fear if they miss they will be credited with a missed tackle. Brett is a perfect example of that, he will either hide on the short side out of harms way and I've seen him let players run straight past him without even attempting a tackle. And I bet it's to save himself from being credited with missed tackles. I bet the extra 20+ tackles Lenonard makes in a season compared to others and a lot of his misses as well are tackles many halfbacks wouldn't even be in a position to attempt.

If there is one weakness to leonards game compared to others it would be at times he does lack in a bit of creativity on attack. He can spot caps and space and he has the speed to exploit them but he does't use chip ckicks or try and sell a dummy to create space like Elis or Cowan do.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I can tell you that in South Africa, the 6 is openside, 7 is blindside. A real rugby fan would know that

A real rugby team would have their numbers the right way round

 

[The_Wol]

What a crap team. It would get bullied off the park with no fire power out wide.

1) Wyatt Crocket
2) Keven Mealamu
3) Owen Franks
4) Nathan Sharpe
5) Ali Williams
6) Jerome Kaino
7) Matt Todd
8) Keiran Read
9) Andy Ellis
10) Dan Carter
11) Digby Ioane
12) James O'Connor
13) Jared Payne
14) Isaia Toeava
15) Kurtley Beale

Now that is a team and a half with some extreme fire power in the backline who could score from anywhere. I don't know how you could pick anyone but the Crusaders prop trio as they have had the best scrum for the past few seasons. Matt Todd has been better than Pocock this season. Matt Todd has the highest breakdown steals this season which is very good considering he has been in and out of the 7 jersey because of Mccaw. Halfback has been the most competitive this year with the following players very close; Jimmy Cowan, Will Genia, Hougaard and Sarel Pretorious.

That's funny cause my form XV is mostly players from the team that bullied the teams of players you named from the field, good effort though.

 

[Wally]

1. Ben Daley
2. Saia Faingaa
3. James Slipper
4. Rob Simmons
5. James Horwill (C)
6. Scott Higginbotham
7. Beau Robinson
8. Radike Samo
9. Will Genia
10. Quade Cooper
11. Digby Ioane
12. Mike Harris
13. <meta charset="utf-8">Anthony Faingaa
14. Rod Davies
15. Peter Hynes

No homo

 

[The_Wol]

1. Ben Daley
2. Saia Faingaa
3. James Slipper
4. Rob Simmons
5. James Horwill (C)
6. Scott Higginbotham
7. Beau Robinson
8. Radike Samo
9. Will Genia
10. Quade Cooper
11. Digby Ioane
12. Mike Harris
13. <meta charset="utf-8">Anthony Faingaa
14. Rod Davies
15. Peter Hynes

No homo

The ***le said Form XV it's unfair to include a World XV.