• Help Support The Rugby Forum :

Super Rugby Preseason and warm up games

unrated

First XV
TRF Legend
Joined
Dec 9, 2010
Messages
2,043
Country Flag
South Africa
Club or Nation
Sharks
12 Weeks of intense preseason has passed for some Super rugby sides.
The warm up games will now come in thick and fast.

The Sharks split up their squad into two teams and played an International team and one of our top universities.

Russia was demolished by the one side 64-14
and the other Sharks side went down to the NWU-Pukke 31-26, This university side hails from the same place as where the Argintine Jaguares used as their base for the Currie Cup.

Next Friday, Russia has a rematch against the Sharks.

How has your teams been preparing?
 
12 Weeks of intense preseason has passed for some Super rugby sides.
The warm up games will now come in thick and fast.

The Sharks split up their squad into two teams and played an International team and one of our top universities.

Russia was demolished by the one side 64-14
and the other Sharks side went down to the NWU-Pukke 31-26, This university side hails from the same place as where the Argintine Jaguares used as their base for the Currie Cup.

Next Friday, Russia has a rematch against the Sharks.

How has your teams been preparing?

Well, the Bulls had their 2 warm-ups this past weekend against TUKS. first game the Bulls won 40-0 and the second game they won 96-5! They also split their teams for these games.
 
The Sharks have now come out and said that the team that lost to NWU-PUKKe was actually an experimental Sharks XV and not the actuall sharks players. They say there were 6 newly graduated schoolboys in the team, a few club players and some reserves.

Apparently their real squad was the one which played Russia, Russia put up a good fight in the first half but could not match the intensity of the Sharks so they dropped off.

We have lost huge amount of physicality this year and its good to hear our coach be candid about this. They will adapt our game.
Maybe we find some young gems who brings the physicality but as of now our only established world class players are in the backline. We are not going to find replacements for the du Preez brothers and company in such a short time so i agree with the coach, lets play a faster game. We all know the saying the forwards wins games, backs decides by how much. Maybe our forwards will come to the party but if we can put more of an emphasis on our backs to keep a fast, intense game going for 80 mins and only ask our forwards to play a facilitating role for the backs to do their thing then i think the coaches are onto something.

Its a time dominated by the rush defence, everyone saw it in the WC, all teams will try to emulate it. Why not then try something out of the box. Pace and intensity, thats the strategy for the Sharks this year, i hope it works better than our dominate the forwards at all cost gameplan of the past 15 years.
 
We tried our centre Marius Louw at openside flank for the game against Russia.

Coach says it went well, he apparently played Flank for SA schools. This weekend he is back at centre vs the Stormers.

Good to know we have another flank option with the lack of depth we have there and especially a fast fetcher option.


Coach says we need to judge team based on the intensity they show against the Stormers this weekend. This has left me wondering, what if we show an amazing intensity but we lose? Does that mean our approach for Super rugby this year is doomed?
 
Sharks are in a interesting position and new coach said a fast game based on the Japanese playing style will be adopted.
Stormers exact opposite this year - brutal strength playing other packs into submission.

Refer world cup, who had the better success in terms of playing style, yes this is not the world cup, but still top class rugby.
Will world rugby steadily shift toward explosive power play and sublime defense, away from tactical brilliance and swift hands and feet?

Time will tell I guess, as things stand now before their warm up game, Stormers look to be the better prospect of the two
 
Sharks are in a interesting position and new coach said a fast game based on the Japanese playing style will be adopted.
Stormers exact opposite this year - brutal strength playing other packs into submission.

Refer world cup, who had the better success in terms of playing style, yes this is not the world cup, but still top class rugby.
Will world rugby steadily shift toward explosive power play and sublime defense, away from tactical brilliance and swift hands and feet?

Time will tell I guess, as things stand now before their warm up game, Stormers look to be the better prospect of the two

I actually think the Stormers are the best propsect out of all 4 SA teams.

I'm not convinced that the Sharks tactics are the best plan to have a successful showing, but maybe they will incorporate some of their own more traditional ways into the foreign style.
 
Jaguares to play 2 warm up games against Georgia XV.
Georgia XV to field a full domestic squad minus their national team players who are training for the Rugby Europe Championship. Very unbalanced results expected.
Starting XV for both teams :

Jaguares
1- Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro - 58 caps
2- Agustin Creevy - 89 caps
3- Santiago Medrano - 18 caps
4- Guido Petti - 53 caps
5- Matias Alemmano - 61 caps
6- Marcos Kremer - 28 caps
7- Francisco Gorrisen
8- Tomas Lezana - 38 caps
9- Tomas Cubelli - 75 caps
10- Joaquin Diaz Bonilla - 4 caps
11- Santiago Carreras - 5 caps
12- Juan Cruz Mallia - 5 caps
13- Matias Moroni - 47 caps
14- Bautista Delguy - 14 caps
15- Emiliano Boffelli - 28 caps

Georgia XV
1- Zurab Eristavi (Batumi)
2- Beka Mamrikishvili (Batumi)
3- Anton Peikrishvili (captain) - 27 caps
4- Mikheil Babunashvili (Aia Kutaisi)
5- Sandro Koiava (Batumi)
6- Guram Shengelia (Aia Kutaisi) - 2 caps
7- Dachi Kopadze (Jiki Gori)
8- Vano Putkaradze (Batumi)
9- Vazha Khutsishvili (Kharebi Rustavi) - 24 caps
10- Revaz Jinchvelashvili (Jiki Gori) - 8 caps
11- Nika Gigauri (Armazi Marneuli)
12- Giorgi Natelashvili (Kharebi Rustavi)
13- Guram Kandaurashvili (Batumi)
14- Anzor Sichinava (Batumi) - 9 caps
15- Irakli Svanidze (Jiki Gori) - 3 caps


Capped players : Jaguares (14) / Georgia (6)
Total caps : Jaguares (523) / Georgia (73)
RWC players : Jaguares (13) / Georgia (0)
 
Just wanted to say that I'm very happy that SupeRugby will be back on ESPN+ again this season. Due to the time difference I rarely get to watch the matches live, but thankfully they also stream replays so I can watch them later. I'm looking forward to seeing the Brumbies gallop their way back into the playoffs again in 2020.

https://brumbies.rugby/fixtures/super-rugby-fixtures?competition=205&team=150&season=2020&ticketed=false

New home and away jerseys this season.

2019-1216-brum-jers-tn.jpg
 
Last edited:
Sharks play against the Stormers at 13:00 local time (UK -2)

The Sharks has 9 Springboks in their starting lineup while the Stormers has 7.

15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Sbu Nkosi, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 André Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Tyler Paul, 6 Henco Venter, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Le Roux Roets, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Kerron van Vuuren, 1 Ox Nche

Substitutes: 16 Dylan Richardson, 17 Mzamo Majola, 18 John-Hubert Meyer, 19 JJ van der Mescht, 20 Ruben van Heerden, 21 James Venter, 22 Tera Mtembu, 23 Sanele Nohamba, 24 Boeta Chamberlain, 25 Jeremy Ward, 26 Marius Louw, 27 Madosh Tambwe, 28 Lwazi Mvovo


Our forwards will lose the battle against the Stormers in all probablity but our backline is proper fire!

These players still neeed to convince me that they are more than Currie Cup players :
Tyler Paul
Sikhumbuzo Notshe
Hyron Andrews

Watch out for the performance of our 19 today. Would have liked to see a bench spot for Thaakir Abrahams today.
 
Didn't see much of Stormers "power play" and Sharks "expansive play style" much (they did score one very good try of a kick chase)
Guess too early to make anything yet
Thought the Bulls/Lions game was way more entertaining
 
Highlights for the matches:



I didn't watch the match but I think Hendricks at 13 will be a good move for him. Solid player.

 
It was very typical of these warm-up matches. Lots of errors, few scrums, and just a proper "koppestamp" type match.

I did however enjoy the skills showed by the players, and especially the forwards showing some great hands and footwork and not just bashing into the first opponent in front of them.

I never read too much into these matches as it's not a clear indication at all of how the teams will play or do in the tournament.
 
Is it a bit strange to see so little NZ fan interest this year in the buildup to the competition?
 
The previous highlights of Jaguares v Georgia XV


In a few moments will start the second match.
http://www.americasrugbynews.com/2020/01/23/match-preview-jaguares-vs-georgia-xv-2/

JAGUARES
1 Mayco Vivas, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Lucio Sordoni, 4 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 5 Lucas Paulos, 6 Javier Ortega Desio, 7 Rodrigo Bruni, 8 Santiago Montagner, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Tomás Albornoz, 11 Mateo Carreras, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 13 Matías Orlando, 14 Sebastián Cancelliere, 15 Joaquín Tuculet

Replacements: 16 Santiago Socino, 17 Javier Díaz, 18 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 19 Ignacio Calas, 20 Santiago Grondona, 21 Felipe Ezcurra, 22 Domingo Miotti, 23 Joël Sclavi, 24 Bautista Pedemonte, 25 Francisco Gorrissen, 26 Lucas Mensa, 27 Emiliano Boffelli, 28 Bautista Delguy, 29 Santiago Carreras

GEORGIA XV
1 Zura Eristavi, 2 Beka Mamrikishvili, 3 Anton Peikrishvili (capt.), 4 Mikheil Babunashvili, 5 Sandro Koiava, 6 Guram Shengelia, 7 Koba Jimsheleishvili, 8 Giorgi Mchedlishvili, 9 Koba Bujiashvili, 10 Rezi Jinchvelashvili, 11 Nika Gigauri, 12 Giorgi Natelashvili, 13 Sandro Mamamtavrishvili, 14 Anzor Sichinava, 15 Davit Modzgvrishvili

Replacements: 16 Goga Khuroshvili, 17 Beka Gvaramia, 18 Nika Pataraia, 19 Dachi Kopadze, 20 Vano Putkaradze, 21 Vazha Khutsishvili, 22 Giorgi Babunashvili, 23 Guram Kandaurashvili, 24 Giorgi Chuadze, 25 Archil Abesadze, 26 Tornike Kiknadze

Date: Friday, January 24
Venue: San Isidro Club, Buenos Aires
Kickoff: 16:45 local (14:45 Eastern)
Broadcasts: ESPN
 
Since Super Rugby starts ahead of the Six Nations even by one day, it is great that big rugby is back. And this is going to be another bumper year.
 
Is it a bit strange to see so little NZ fan interest this year in the buildup to the competition?

Not really, no.

They tend to start popping up after the first round when there is something worthwhile to discuss.

I think overall the forum has been a bit quiet since the World Cup ended. Which is understandable, as most posters are disappointed that their team didn't win the cup, and obviously this leads to the posters being a bit more distant until their team(s) starts to play/win again.
 
This has always been my gripe about NZ rugby. They have basically just come of their golden age which lasted almost more than a decade of winning everything. But their public seemed very fragile towards events in the rugby community. Their stadiums which is much smaller than our stadiums (yes their population is smaller so they compensate with smaller stadiums) were consistenty kinda empty in Super rugby. Despite their teams winning almost everyone. I said it then, this is concerning because if they are like this in a golden age then how will they be once another team starts dominating? We as South Africans has endured a tough last 10 years rugby union wise but the sudden rugby euphoria has awakened many people again, but even in the lack of world cup success we have consistently been posting the highest TV and match attendance numbers in the comp. And please don't say we have a much larger population because we don't. The demographics who actually watch rugby in SA numbers far less than the population of NZ.

We will soon see how strong the rugby culture in NZ truly is, and the determining factor won't come from team performance but rather support at the gates of their stadiums.
 

Latest posts

Top