Super XV 2014 General Discussion Thread

DDC1990

Unreal catch and counter attack from Falau!

KevIRL

boom boom, Brumbies off to a flier

Kiwi_knock

Some last few minutes for the Brumbies.

Tox56

What?! That was never a try

Swiwi.

Tox56 wrote: »

What?! That was never a try

Nah, I reckon it was. 50/50 call at worst.

DDC1990

I would have said no try, but there was no angle that definitively showed a separation from both hands.

Hard to overturn.

Swiwi.

The Brumbies are fierce in defence

Swiwi.

LOL, commentators apologise for AAC's "spicy" language to the tough judge...

matthew8

25-9 down, penalty 22 metres out straight in front with 25 minutes left and they opt for the scrum. They better have something good up their sleeve.

Swiwi.

Kiwi_knock wrote: »

Some last few minutes for the Brumbies.

R U still watching Kk? Brumbies have looked really clinical. What has happened to Lealiiafano? Ie he injured?

Buer

Utter stupidity from Palu to pick and go off that scrum. They were going to get a push over if not the penalty try.

Kiwi_knock

Tahs are lacking some leadership out there.

Swiwi, Lealiifano is out injured so will not be back for a while.

Buer

Unreal from Folau! Poor defending but his footwork and power was ridiculous!

KevIRL

Great finish in store for second time this morning

Kiwi_knock

Folau does what he does best. Will be a great end to the game.

Buer

Tahs with 6 minutes to win it with a drop goal and playing 14 men.

Swiwi.

73 minutes for Folau to score this week. He should be ashamed of himself. Pretty average try too.

Kiwi_knock

That has to be the game there.

Buer

That'll be game. The feeds on those 3 scrums were all ridiculous. They were so crooked , they were coming out the side as they struggled to reach the middle.

Swiwi.

Buer wrote: »

Unreal from Folau! Poor defending but his footwork and power was ridiculous!

What did you think of the Scarlets defence last night? I get a bit tired of tries in the NH being due to great attack, and in the SH due to poor defence. From what I saw PJ x 2 and Bowe involved some average Scarlets defence too, but reading the match thread, you'd think PJ & Bowe were just utter class.

Swiwi.

Deserved win for the Brumbies, their defence was pretty immaculate all game. These 2 teams, the Sharks, and the Chiefs will provide the eventual winner, all other teams not at the races really.

Buer

Alas I was on the road west and missed all rugby last night. There's no doubt there are massive issues defensively in some NH games also particularly in the Pro12 with regards to commitment from some sides.

I thought there was some outstanding defence from the Brumbies today given they played 20 minutes with a man down.

matthew8

Swiwi. wrote: »

Deserved win for the Brumbies, their defence was pretty immaculate all game. These 2 teams, the Sharks, and the Chiefs will provide the eventual winner, all other teams not at the races really.

It's a bit early in the season to be crowning the champion. You never know with the Crusaders and Reds. Australian conference looks really strong for a change.

Swiwi.

matthew8 wrote: »

It's a bit early in the season to be crowning the champion. You never know with the Crusaders and Reds. Australian conference looks really strong for a change.

Crusaders (my team) are just awful in the backs this year. There is a lack of class, especially with Carter out. I'm not even convinced they'll make the top 6.

From what I've seen of the Reds they don't have the players this season.

But I agree, you should never write either of those sides of just yet, but both (esp Crusaders) need to play much better to have a chance.

Swiwi.

Here's the highlights anyway

Brumbies defeat Tahs, Folau scores a pearler

danthefan

Though the Tahs made some horrible decisions in that game. Penalty on the 22 after 55 mins and they take a scrum? WTF was that?

sydthebeat

Ridiculous decision for try there for the lions.

Clear and obvious knock on every day of the week.
This is an example where tmo slowing things down is an aberration on the facts.

matthew8

sydthebeat wrote: »

Ridiculous decision for try there for the lions.

Clear and obvious knock on every day of the week.
This is an example where tmo showing things down is an aberration on the facts.

I couldn't believe it, absolutely delighted. Go Lions. Really opportunistic try at the end of the first half and 2 good drop goals.

Kiwi_knock

I did not have the sound on for the TMO, how did he try and justify that. Clear knock on every day of the week.

sydthebeat

Kiwi_knock wrote: »

I did not have the sound on for the TMO, how did he try and justify that. Clear knock on every day of the week.

Firstly the ref says that he thinks it's a knock down and not a knock on so please judge the touch down. Then he sees it him self and says to the tmo to check if his interpretation is correct.

Tmo says knock down no knock on and try awarded.

Its physically impossible to knock the ball downward and it end up where it did without going forward of the lions player.

matthew8

Anyone else think the Lions could sneak into the playoffs? There's the big 4, the Reds, the Crusaders and I think the Lions look the next best team. Very nice attacking team and they have a favourable schedule. The next 4 games are all tough and if they can somehow acquire 10 points from the Stormers (away) and the Sharks, Crusaders and Reds (home) they'll be delighted. Then they have the road trip, with 2 games (Chiefs and Waratahs) a write off but they'll fancy their chances against the Highlanders and Western Force. Then they have a very easy run in, home to the Cheetahs, Bulls and Rebels.

Swiwi.

matthew8 wrote: »

Anyone else think the Lions could sneak into the playoffs? There's the big 4, the Reds, the Crusaders and I think the Lions look the next best team. Very nice attacking team and they have a favourable schedule. The next 4 games are all tough and if they can somehow acquire 10 points from the Stormers (away) and the Sharks, Crusaders and Reds (home) they'll be delighted. Then they have the road trip, with 2 games (Chiefs and Waratahs) a write off but they'll fancy their chances against the Highlanders and Western Force. Then they have a very easy run in, home to the Cheetahs, Bulls and Rebels.

Firstly, the decision to award the Lions a try off a clear knock-on makes a mockery of the whinging in the other Ire v Fra thread, where the calls were much more 50/50.

In answer to your Q, usually 2 sides qualify from each conference, so it's a question of whether the Lions can finish 2nd behind the Sharks, which I think they potentially can. Occasionally 3 sides progress, and I could see a scenario where only the Chiefs qualify from the NZ conference at the benefit of a SA or Aus team.

I expect them to lose to the Sharks, Chiefs and Waratahs, but the other games are all very winnable on current form.

Sharks must be shortening by the minute to finally win a title, and another Chiefs v Sharks final is certainly envisagable.

Journeyman_1

I've only looked at the results and the scores, but some of the games this weekend looked absolutely fantastic! Brumbies Waratahs the pick of them?

Swiwi.

Journeyman_1 wrote: »

I've only looked at the results and the scores, but some of the games this weekend looked absolutely fantastic! Brumbies Waratahs the pick of them?

This was the only game I saw in its entirety, and it was decent: both teams are among the better in Super Rugby. The Brumbies defended very well, in particular they shut down Kurtley Beale very nicely. Folau needed to up his workrate, but nevertheless still managed to get his weekly try. The Brumbies have pretty much been a model of consistency over the years, and are never easy to beat at home. I reckon the Tahs might just go a bit further this season, especially if they don't ship injuries to their loose forward trio.

LuckyGent88

Another highly entertaining game here between the highlanders and hurricanes.

Some brilliant counter attacking tries.
Ben smith is just outrageously good in broken play.

Highlanders just hang onto the win but tried there best to throw it away.

pickarooney

How did Beauden go today?

sydthebeat

Highlanders look such a different team than last year, great to see

danthefan

Not sure who's gone off there for the Rebels but he looked in serious amounts of pain.

pickarooney

Two tries and 6/7 kicks. Not too shabby. This guy will be starting at 10 in the WC I reckon.

Buer

pickarooney wrote: »

Two tries and 6/7 kicks. Not too shabby. This guy will be starting at 10 in the WC I reckon.

I think it's conceivable that Carter won't be in the 23 in the RWC (although I would still consider it very likely).

pickarooney

It's definitely a possibility. Also, anyone who thinks Sexton is the second best 10 in the world needs to watch more Super rugby.

.ak

pickarooney wrote: »

It's definitely a possibility. Also, anyone who thinks Sexton is the second best 10 in the world needs to watch more Super rugby.

You can't really compare SXV to international rugby. I think Sexton is the 2nd best OH in the world right now, but it's tight between himself and Cruden. And I watch plenty of SXV.

Buer

pickarooney wrote: »

It's definitely a possibility. Also, anyone who thinks Sexton is the second best 10 in the world needs to watch more Super rugby.

True, NZ produce some superb outhalves. With that said, I think the dynamic nature of S15 is set up for their type of rugby and reflects well on them. I don't think they'd have the same impact if the style of rugby was different. I think Sexton would flourish in S15 also. It's all pie in the sky stuff though as we'll never know.

I think I'd probably have Barrett and Cruden in the top 5 outhalves in the world though.

matthew8

Waratahs looking very sloppy. Playing like a team that feels it only needs to show up to win the game.

Tox56

I know we all love a straightforward ranking but Carter, Sexton, Cooper, Cruden and maybe Barrett are so close in right now and are mostly completely different players, each better at completely different things. An outhalf is tasked with so many responsibilities and there are so many ways to play the position I don't think it's possible or fair to have a straight forward 1, 2, 3 when they are all so close. X may be better for one team in one environment but Y is better suited to another team

pickarooney

.ak wrote: »

You can't really compare SXV to international rugby. I think Sexton is the 2nd best OH in the world right now, but it's tight between himself and Cruden. And I watch plenty of SXV.

Any time he takes to the pitch for the all blacks he just makes things happen, even when shunted out to full-back. I love Cruden but I think he has a lower limit than Barrett.

danthefan

Tox56 wrote: »

I know we all love a straightforward ranking but Carter, Sexton, Cooper, Cruden and maybe Barrett are so close in right now and are mostly completely different players, each better at completely different things. An outhalf is tasked with so many responsibilities and there are so many ways to play the position I don't think it's possible or fair to have a straight forward 1, 2, 3 when they are all so close. X may be better for one team in one environment but Y is better suited to another team

I think that's a fair comment, and also why in his pomp Carter was head and shoulders above everyone, because he was just outrageously good at basically everything.

Buer

danthefan wrote: »

I think that's a fair comment, and also why in his pomp Carter was head and shoulders above everyone, because he was just outrageously good at basically everything.

Absolutely. Carter, at his best, is probably the best player I've ever seen in my opinion. For his position, I'd have considered him to be in the top 2 or 3 at every aspect of the game and number 1 in several. I don't think any other top player had an all round game near that level. There were games when he looked like it was a 6th year playing with a group of 1st years, going through the motions.

matthew8

Folau scores a lovely try but it was Beale who made it with a good run and a pass into the space. Good awareness.

matthew8

Israel in again! This try scoring is getting absurd! Beale again makes it.