Super Rugby News
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@Damo although our conference being the toughest is better for our rugby long term though
@taniwharugby said in Super Rugby News:
@Damo although our conference being the toughest is better for our rugby long term though
This. The derbies are throwing up a very high standard of rugby in NZ. Look at the Blues vs Clan, currently the two "bottom" teams of the conferences, but a great game and neither team is far away from the other three above them.
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@Stargazer said in Super Rugby News:
Hilarious:
http://twitter.com/tomdecent/status/851226410077310976It seems they need reminding about their behaviour over the years. Of course, you can join our competition ARU, as a thank you for voting for us to host the 2011 RWC.
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@taniwharugby said in Super Rugby News:
@rotated there were numerous flaws with thier criteria and a convenient way of rating some of it for dropping the 2 teams, and as such the plan got rightly shafted.
IIRC Southland should have been dead certs to drop based on the criteria, that should have had them dead last, but somehow they were safe ranked about 9th, think after that it was Northland, Ta$man, Counties and maybe one other on the cusp who had varying 'criteria' that was for/against them.
Absolutely missing the point. It was decided that two teams needed to be moved from the top tier for the betterment of the NZ rugby as a whole. You can quibble on the criteria and what teams deserved a bullet (at least four did for various reasons). But once the decision was made for the benefit of the greater good to move towards a smaller top tier competition they needed to follow through.
The Rebels, Force and even Brumbies depending on how you weigh criteria all could be the team to go. Deciding none of them because there isn't an obvious candidate is not a solution.
@Chris-B. said in Super Rugby News:
@rotated I agree somewhat that it will surprise me if they manage to get rid of any teams - there's certainly no-one I've seen with their hand up saying pick me.
Every time Ta$man picked up the phone to get another cash infusion from the the NZRU in 06-08 they were pretty much begging for it. But as you say Ta$man really is a major success story and once the convoluted contracting structure got straightened out amongst other things they've been a real producer for NZ rugby. Never was a fan of Ta$man being contracted in '08 purely from a geographic perspective, but their financial performance was so egregious at the time they couldn't avoid it.
FWIW Northland and Southland were the best candidates from a redundancy, player quality and financial perspective.
Ultimately though things have worked out pretty well. The NPC is producing better talent, the Unions finances aren't as perilous and at least in the case of Northland we got a happy compromise where their fans got their wish of staying the the Mitre 10 Cup Competition and the NZRU got their wish of seeing them play Heartland-quality rugby for the next decade.
Not that any of that had to do with the main point which is, they've decided now do it even if it has to be Waratahs, Stormers and Bulls.
@rotated I missed no point...your rant implied that the only reason changes didnt happen was because of the teams under the pump moaned about it.
That, is categorically wrong, the changes didn't happen because the criteria was flawed and would not have held up to legal challenge.
Whether there are the same issues for Super rugby, are yet to be seen.
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Crusaders expect to have Read, Mo'unga, Goodhue and Tamanivalu available for the Sunwolves.
But Crotty and Ioane are out.
Be interesting to see quite what team gets named. There might be a temptation to rest a couple like Sam Whitelock and Owen Franks.
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Crusaders expect to have Read, Mo'unga, Goodhue and Tamanivalu available for the Sunwolves.
But Crotty and Ioane are out.
Be interesting to see quite what team gets named. There might be a temptation to rest a couple like Sam Whitelock and Owen Franks.
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@Chris-B. be a good game to start all of the ones back from injury to blow out the cobwebs and gain a bit of confidence, but yeah be interesting with the likes of Sammy & Franks coming off a bye, maybe from the bench
@taniwharugby Should have been an opportunity to give a few guys a week off from training and what not to completely freshen up. I'd imagine there will be several objectives in the Sunwolves' game - reintegrating the injured, resting a few who've had heavy workloads, maybe giving a few debutants a chance - and winning with a bonus point.
Don't forget that one Razor!
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@taniwharugby Should have been an opportunity to give a few guys a week off from training and what not to completely freshen up. I'd imagine there will be several objectives in the Sunwolves' game - reintegrating the injured, resting a few who've had heavy workloads, maybe giving a few debutants a chance - and winning with a bonus point.
Don't forget that one Razor!
@Chris-B. They have to work on their points differential, too. That's the reason why the Stormers are now 1st placed and not the Crusaders. Might be crucial at the end of the round robin. Also, always be aware of the banana skin! Nothing worse than underestimating a team and lose when you could have easily won if you had taken the opponent a bit more seriously.
Btw, I'm quite sure the players have had plenty of opportunity to relax last week. I've seen a lot of hunting & fishing photos and photos from guys "at home" (in home province, not being Canterbury).
Edit: haven't plenty of debutants already had their chance? Forced by injuries of others? Hunt, Bridge, Mataele, Heiden Bedwell-Curtis etc etc
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Aus rugby just can't work out how deep in the friend zone they are.
@mariner4life said in Super Rugby News:
Aus rugby just can't work out how deep in the friend zone they are.
This is rather generous. More like person I went to high school with and see at a reunion and agree to catch up some time status.
The tweet is laughable. What possible benefit would there be to an Aus/NZ comp for NZ?
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@pukunui said in Super Rugby News:
Ffs. The biggest problem with super rugby isn't that there are a couple of shit teams. It's the stupid conference system and fucked up finals format where teams don't play the same opposition yet are put into a rankings table as if they do, then come finals time a team can have less points than others but gets a home final.
The new comp will be just as much of a joke. What is the point of over half the teams making the finals?
If you have to have conferences then keep them totally seperate and then have a knock out comp with the top 2 from each conference for the champions cup.I fully expect more shit teams to be added and formats to change in another two years.
It wasn't broke when it was Super 12. Why did the fisheads ( great description btw Norm Hewitt ) feel the need to fix it? I do understand expansion and adding a couple of teams but the convoluted and confusing nature of the competition means it has alienated a shitload of fans which is typified by attendances at games.
@MN5 said in Super Rugby News:
@pukunui said in Super Rugby News:
Ffs. The biggest problem with super rugby isn't that there are a couple of shit teams. It's the stupid conference system and fucked up finals format where teams don't play the same opposition yet are put into a rankings table as if they do, then come finals time a team can have less points than others but gets a home final.
The new comp will be just as much of a joke. What is the point of over half the teams making the finals?
If you have to have conferences then keep them totally seperate and then have a knock out comp with the top 2 from each conference for the champions cup.I fully expect more shit teams to be added and formats to change in another two years.
It wasn't broke when it was Super 12. Why did the fisheads ( great description btw Norm Hewitt ) feel the need to fix it? I do understand expansion and adding a couple of teams but the convoluted and confusing nature of the competition means it has alienated a shitload of fans which is typified by attendances at games.
Yep. When each team played all others once and then the top four went through to semis, was easy. It seems ludicrous that teams can get through playing no NZ teams at all, and the comp now goes for so bloody long I think people get bored.
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@MN5 said in Super Rugby News:
@pukunui said in Super Rugby News:
Ffs. The biggest problem with super rugby isn't that there are a couple of shit teams. It's the stupid conference system and fucked up finals format where teams don't play the same opposition yet are put into a rankings table as if they do, then come finals time a team can have less points than others but gets a home final.
The new comp will be just as much of a joke. What is the point of over half the teams making the finals?
If you have to have conferences then keep them totally seperate and then have a knock out comp with the top 2 from each conference for the champions cup.I fully expect more shit teams to be added and formats to change in another two years.
It wasn't broke when it was Super 12. Why did the fisheads ( great description btw Norm Hewitt ) feel the need to fix it? I do understand expansion and adding a couple of teams but the convoluted and confusing nature of the competition means it has alienated a shitload of fans which is typified by attendances at games.
Yep. When each team played all others once and then the top four went through to semis, was easy. It seems ludicrous that teams can get through playing no NZ teams at all, and the comp now goes for so bloody long I think people get bored.
@Mokey said in Super Rugby News:
@MN5 said in Super Rugby News:
@pukunui said in Super Rugby News:
Ffs. The biggest problem with super rugby isn't that there are a couple of shit teams. It's the stupid conference system and fucked up finals format where teams don't play the same opposition yet are put into a rankings table as if they do, then come finals time a team can have less points than others but gets a home final.
The new comp will be just as much of a joke. What is the point of over half the teams making the finals?
If you have to have conferences then keep them totally seperate and then have a knock out comp with the top 2 from each conference for the champions cup.I fully expect more shit teams to be added and formats to change in another two years.
It wasn't broke when it was Super 12. Why did the fisheads ( great description btw Norm Hewitt ) feel the need to fix it? I do understand expansion and adding a couple of teams but the convoluted and confusing nature of the competition means it has alienated a shitload of fans which is typified by attendances at games.
Yep. When each team played all others once and then the top four went through to semis, was easy. It seems ludicrous that teams can get through playing no NZ teams at all, and the comp now goes for so bloody long I think people get bored.
I get bored before it even starts and I used to watch it pretty religiously.
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@Bones said in Super Rugby News:
MN5 bored by modern rugby in shock revelation.
Yep. More to my life than growing rats tails and watching rugby first thing in the morning bro.
But I'm not the only one as the hordes of people choosing the couch over flat warm shit beer and stodgy overpriced food will attest.
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@Bones said in Super Rugby News:
MN5 bored by modern rugby in shock revelation.
Anything after 1999 5N?
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@Bones said in Super Rugby News:
MN5 bored by modern rugby in shock revelation.
Yep. More to my life than growing rats tails and watching rugby first thing in the morning bro.
But I'm not the only one as the hordes of people choosing the couch over flat warm shit beer and stodgy overpriced food will attest.
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@Bones said in Super Rugby News:
MN5 bored by modern rugby in shock revelation.
Anything after 1999 5N?
@antipodean said in Super Rugby News:
@Bones said in Super Rugby News:
MN5 bored by modern rugby in shock revelation.
Anything after 1999 5N?
- They lost a game in 1999.
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@Stargazer said in Super Rugby News:
Hilarious:
http://twitter.com/tomdecent/status/851226410077310976It seems they need reminding about their behaviour over the years. Of course, you can join our competition ARU, as a thank you for voting for us to host the 2011 RWC.
@antipodean said in Super Rugby News:
@Stargazer said in Super Rugby News:
Hilarious:
http://twitter.com/tomdecent/status/851226410077310976It seems they need reminding about their behaviour over the years. Of course, you can join our competition ARU, as a thank you for voting for us to host the 2011 RWC.
I can imagine the conversation, " here , we've poured you a big warm cup of go fuck yourselves. Drink up , there's plenty more where that came from ".
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according to the news, Aus are still hopeful they can get a trans- Ta$man comp going...maybe a 2nd tier comp like the old CANZ Series would work...
Aus are in a dark place right now, little to no bargaining power...also heard the ARU had pumped $30 mill into Super rugby since the expansion foresaking grass roots.
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I don't know what the reasoning behind the expansion of Aus teams was, whether it was greed or just plain arrogance, but it was massively flawed. They never had the player numbers or feeder systems in place to support five Super-level teams.
The only way you have strong Super rugby, is by having strong club rugby, then strong provincial rugby. It doesn't matter how much cash you pump into Super, if it is built on a house of cards, the threat of collapse was always just a puff of wind away.
NZ rugby is strong because it is built on rock solid feeder systems with strong community support. Again, another issue with Aussie rugby. You can't just say, hey state, this is your team YOU WILL LOVE AND SUPPORT THEM. The public will quite rightly say 'who are these guys? What are their credentials? What connection between me and them is there' - eg same club, same town, same school, same Uni, whatever. No connection = superficial support, at best. And they won't stand by you in bad times. It's a lot harder to hate on someone you think could be a mate. But a glossed up show pony who drifts in, plays, then is whisked away? Easiest thing in the world.
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@Chris-B. They have to work on their points differential, too. That's the reason why the Stormers are now 1st placed and not the Crusaders. Might be crucial at the end of the round robin. Also, always be aware of the banana skin! Nothing worse than underestimating a team and lose when you could have easily won if you had taken the opponent a bit more seriously.
Btw, I'm quite sure the players have had plenty of opportunity to relax last week. I've seen a lot of hunting & fishing photos and photos from guys "at home" (in home province, not being Canterbury).
Edit: haven't plenty of debutants already had their chance? Forced by injuries of others? Hunt, Bridge, Mataele, Heiden Bedwell-Curtis etc etc
@Stargazer Still a few debutants who haven't had a run and there won't be any easier games to give them a few minutes...but, I definitely agree on banana skins.
The Bulls found that out!
