Super Rugby Pacific (2024)

[Kiwiwomble]

quite a few exciting games this week, an upset or two, a couple of almost upsets

 

[Welsh Exile]

Patchell doing well for the highlanders. Watched their first game and he was decent but just seen him pull off a world class offload against the Blues for try. Good to see him doing well out there.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Hard to know what to make of things so far, as previously said I missed round one but saw the international preseason games. This week I watched (sort of - reception was bad) Moana vs drua and all the games with NZ teams.

Blues still looking pretty good, chiefs pretty good but that was some poor defence by the brumbies, canes and highlanders not too bad, crusaders awful

Crusaders set piece oriented game plan needs a good kicking game, and they're missing the X factor mounga and jordan could provide (under robertson they were not great whenever mounga wasn't playing).

Canes doing pretty well considering they are missing their looseforward trio from last year plus the guy who came in this year to replace ardie (shields). Iose is getting bigger and stronger every year. Numias scrummaging continues to improve.

Liking ratumautavuki kneepkins fir the highlanders. Hope PPP is ok, was starting to look like he did before his run of injuries. Hoping nareki comes back to his old form too, and Fakatava.

Always liked perofeta at ten with zarn at fullback combo for the blues, they complement each other well.

Thought the reds look a lot better than last year - when they were already starting to show signs of improvement toward the end, at the ruck and on defence. Waratahs not looking too bad either.

Surprised that moana pacifika isn't looking too bad given the players they lost. Drua will take a few games to hit form I think, as they lost quite a few players but ravutaimada is still ripping it up.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Patchell doing well for the highlanders. Watched their first game and he was decent but just seen him pull off a world class offload against the Blues for try. Good to see him doing well out there.

Seems to fit the balance of the team well I reckon.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Seems to fit the balance of the team well I reckon.

He's a very good player but lack of ability was never his problem, staying fit for longer than 5 mins was. Hopefully he stays injury free but if I was a betting man I'd say he'll pick up an injury in the next few weeks. Hope I'm wrong obviously (even though the Chiefs are my team but highlanders are my honoury second team now)

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Some good games this weekend.

Highlanders waratahs was a good contest. Probably neither team will be overly happy with how they played, was a bit scrappy. But everything was contested, both teams did well at disrupting the other.

Blues 6-2 decision seemed like a good idea until it didn't work. Zarn was on fire before he went off. Akira was very good in the carry. Perofeta is one of the most consistent players going around. I love how the canes new coach (has been with the canes as an assistant before) has allowed the team to stick with their dna. When your dna includes free running rugby and keeping the ball alive then you get better as a group the more you play together. So the canes haven't lost what they've been building.

Well done to drua, looked the better team by far. They are even doing well at scrum against All black props. Crusaders not the same without mounga, but as a canes fan I'm not looking forward to next week after they have lost three in a row.

Reds were good again. Chiefs not really looking themselves yet, but I'd expect they will improve through the year.

 

[Dan54]

Some good games this weekend.

Highlanders waratahs was a good contest. Probably neither team will be overly happy with how they played, was a bit scrappy. But everything was contested, both teams did well at disrupting the other.

Blues 6-2 decision seemed like a good idea until it didn't work. Zarn was on fire before he went off. Akira was very good in the carry. Perofeta is one of the most consistent players going around. I love how the canes new coach (has been with the canes as an assistant before) has allowed the team to stick with their dna. When your dna includes free running rugby and keeping the ball alive then you get better as a group the more you play together. So the canes haven't lost what they've been building.

Well done to drua, looked the better team by far. They are even doing well at scrum against All black props. Crusaders not the same without mounga, but as a canes fan I'm not looking forward to next week after they have lost three in a row.

Reds were good again. Chiefs not really looking themselves yet, but I'd expect they will improve through the year.

I was at the Chiefs/Reds game last year at New Plymouth, watching this was very similar. As at last years game, the young fellas in Reds seemed to grow belief as game went on and weren't going to let is slip! Was a very good performance from them again!

 

[Kiwiwomble]

i've heard it said a couple of times....best opening 3 rounds in years, teams tipped to be on the bottom have picked up wins, saders are 0-3 (they will come back, had a tough start to the season)

 

[Welsh Exile]

i've heard it said a couple of times....best opening 3 rounds in years, teams tipped to be on the bottom have picked up wins, saders are 0-3 (they will come back, had a tough start to the season)

View attachment 19319

I agree and not to be a Debbie Downer but 4 out of the top 6 all NZ teams is still a bit same old same old but definitely a promising start.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

I agree and not to be a Debbie Downer but 4 out of the top 6 all NZ teams is still a bit same old same old but definitely a promising start.

....but 3 and 4 are aussies and more often in recent years the top 4 would be NZ, and if you look at the games themselves, a lot of teams have played some exciting rugby and only lost close games

 

[Welsh Exile]

....but 3 and 4 are aussies and more often in recent years the top 4 would be NZ, and if you look at the games themselves, a lot of teams have played some exciting rugby and only lost close games

They'll fall off. lol.

Nah you're completely right to be fair and while it was predictable the Crusaders might not be quite as good this year I don't think many thought they'd be where they are now.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

They'll fall off. lol.

Nah you're completely right to be fair and while it was predictable the Crusaders might not be quite as good this year I don't think many thought they'd be where they are now.

I'm not at all surprised tbh, and I'm not even a razor obsessor (which doesn't mean I don't think he's a great coach. But I don't really rate Penney - while he won many provincial ***les for canterbury he had by far the best team, full of super rugby players that did not need coaching, all they needed was a simple game plan to win and that's what they got. Under razor the crusaders often did not look all that flash, they just had a strong set piece and Richie mounga. So many times Richie mounga made miracle plays to save them when they were otherwise looking absolutely dire and on their way to a loss. So many more times no miracle plays were needed because they could win with their kicking game and set piece alone. Of course mounga was a big part of that kicking game. They always struggled without mounga, super rugbys best ever player. So why would that change? To some extent it's not going to. But One reason it might is the crusaders previously didn't get consecutive games without mounga. So it might start to change as the season progresses. But they're not going to be the team they were with mounga.

One thing that has changed as well is the strength of scrums across the competition; while the crusaders previously relied on their scrummaging we are nowseeing some big improvements in other teams - notably the reds, rebels, drua, waratahs (because bell has often been injured in the past). So, while the crusaders are stacked with props, it probably isn't going to be quite the same advantage they used to have. More so at ends of games, but even there some other teams have depth too.

But it's only three games. One was against the team that was the best last year until the final, and one was in fiji where they aren't suited to play.They lost against both those teams last year in pool play (without mounga against drua). And two years ago they lost to the waratahs (the last time they played the waratahs without mounga)

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

Saders 0-4. Jesus Christ. I guess they are about to become rugby's man u.

I wonder what were the betting odds of them losing 4 in a row before the season started.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Crusaders way better at the ruck this week. They nearly beat the top team.

So dumb of them to go with another first five though. Just persevere with your young players.

They still need to work out how to attack.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

results and standings after round 4, not the result the Highlander wanted but scraped a bonus point and are still in the hunt....didn;t feel we were a million miles off it so hopefully it will click soon

 

[Kiwiwomble]

finally we're getting another heritage jersey and its a proper one...will sell out multipe times

hope the rest of us get similar at some point

 

[Umaga's Witness]

So canes making 13 changes to the starting 15 plus one positional change. Big risk, a lot of these players have had little or no game time, up against a rebels team with time and more importantly time together.

 

[Al Bangor]

You gotta' love the passion of the Fijian fans!
This match was even more exciting than the Drua's victory over the Crusaders.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

You gotta' love the passion of the Fijian fans!
View attachment 19411 This match was even more exciting than the Drua's victory over the Crusaders.

Was a good game. I spent ages trying to decide who was going to win this one, then gave up, couldn't split them. How cool to win with a drop goal in extra time, Fijians not renowned for their droppies!

I love the home advantage they're showing

 

[Al Bangor]

Was a good game. I spent ages trying to decide who was going to win this one, then gave up, couldn't split them. How cool to win with a drop goal in extra time, Fijians not renowned for their droppies!

I love the home advantage they're showing