Super XV 2015 General Discussion Thread

LuckyGent88

Finally getting a chance to catch up on some of the games.

Superb start from the Bulls. 2 tries scored after 10 mins. Bulls 12 crusaders 0

LuckyGent88

Superb read by the Bulls lock to intercept carters pass. Was probably telegraphed a little but well finished by him

Hagz

Just saw the Slade try that was ruled forward. What an utterly rubbish call.

sydneybound

Scrum resets already a pain in this mornings match. The sooner they bring in a 30-45 second scrum reset time limit the better cause frankly it's just a joke and boring spectators.

sydthebeat

Skudder is turning into a bit of a try machine. How many had he now in 7 games?

stl.ire

Ref having a dodgy start to the game but that was very smart play by the Canes to chip to the corner. Milner-Skudder is just fun to watch.

sydthebeat

And he breaks the line again! Exciting player!

stl.ire

sydthebeat wrote: »

And he breaks the line again! Exciting player!

All Black WC bolter if Piutau's excluded? He's in cracking form for sure.

sydthebeat

Hard to argue against that.
I'd certainly have him above piutau currently.

I haven't seen much of him in the wing, but as a utility he certainly could warrant a squad place.

stl.ire

Skudder again! Maybe a touch forward (the stormers will not be happy with the ref's big decisions so far) but what a break!

Just give them try of the year for that. The whole Hurricanes team. Good lord.

sydneybound

Unbelievable no way back for the stomers now

stl.ire

Could get ugly now. Stormers needed an arm wrestle and the Canes tactics are perfect. What a counter attack try.

sydthebeat

Even at this stage of the season the canes are head and shoulders above everybody else

stl.ire

sydthebeat wrote: »

Even at this stage of the season the canes are head and shoulders above everybody else

They have a nice schedule coming up too. Home for most of their games and 2 of their away ones are the blues and reds. Toughest is probably the chiefs away and that's the last game of the season.

sydthebeat

That's one for the laws thread

"Changing lanes" in a rolling maul ??

skippymac6

sydthebeat wrote: »

That's one for the laws thread

"Changing lanes" in a rolling maul ??

Brutal call. Sure they were still engaged with a couple of hurricane players. Ref has been fairly pants today.

If the Stormers can get back up to the canes half and the canes give away a silly peno, a yellow card could bring the Stormers right back into it

sydneybound

God between calling repeated scrubs, taking ages with the TMO and now this the ref has been shocking IMO. He just doesn't look confident out there, shame as both sides are trying to play.

They need Nigel out there.

stl.ire

Stormers right back in this. Ref has been shocking.

stl.ire

Good game. First half the Stormers dominated possession but got cut up by the Canes in broken play. The second half the Stormers simply smothered the Canes. Great win for the Canes against a decent side, particularly with how poor they were in the second half.
One of the worst performances by a ref in super rugby for a while. He was indecisive and made some puzzling decisions, many of them for trys or in the build up to trys.
Burger and Skudder motm's for me.
Barrett's kicking from hand was woeful. He needs a sharp improvement of the Canes will get caught out in big games. You can't seriously trust him in the NZ shirt on this kind of form.

stl.ire

Good game. First half the Stormers dominated possession but got cut up by the Canes in broken play. The second half the Stormers simply smothered the Canes. Great win for the Canes against a decent side, particularly with how poor they were in the second half.
One of the worst performances by a ref in super rugby for a while. He was indecisive and made some puzzling decisions, many of them for trys or in the build up to trys.
Burger and Skudder motm's for me.
Barrett's kicking from hand was woeful. He needs a sharp improvement or the Canes will get caught out in big games. You can't seriously trust him in the NZ shirt on this kind of form.

eagle eye

Hurricanes hung on in the end. I would love to know what happened to them at half time. They were awful and really lucky to hang on to the win. A couple of decisions in the first half cost the Stormers that game. Worst refereeing performance I have witnessed in a Super Rugby game in all my years watching it.

Schalk Burger is still and awesome player. I remember mentioning him in a losing performance only a couple of weeks ago. Nehe Milner-Skudder has now announced himself as a serious contender for an All-Black place. He is just getting better every week and while this is his first season in Super Rugby I just think he is too good to not get an opportunity before the World Cup.

Kiwi_knock

Reds start well, and go ahead 12-3. Horwill then gets himself sent off for a needless swinging arm to the head on 20 mins. Rebels should go on to win from here.

CatFromHue

What's going on here, the Canes are good now?

Just looked and they only won 8 games last season and 6 the season before. They've won 7 this season!

matthew8

CatFromHue wrote: »

What's going on here, the Canes are good now?

Just looked and they only won 8 games last season and 6 the season before. They've won 7 this season!

Very simple explanation, Mark Hammett gone. Shows what a difference a coach can make.

Hurricanes perhaps let off the hook by poor refereeing decisions today, then again they may just have taken their foot off the gas. Stormers looking decent but need some results. Reds defense was absolutely porous today, even allowing for the red card. They seemed to lose all attacking intent with the man sent off.

Yeah_Right

Wow! Horwill's career has really gone off the rails. A couple of years ago he was the Wallaby captain and now he's getting his second red card of the season and it's not even half way through.

Might be time to head overseas.

Kiwi_knock

Yeah_Right wrote: »

Wow! Horwill's career has really gone off the rails. A couple of years ago he was the Wallaby captain and now he's getting his second red card of the season and it's not even half way through.

Might be time to head overseas.

He is heading overseas, to Harlequins. It has been some decline for himself and Will Genia over the last few years. Both will struggle to make the 23 for the WC.

DC1860

I never really rated Horwill so his decline while surprising is not shocking.
Genia I can't understand. Around the Lions tour he was arguably the best in the world. His decline has been dramatic. He's never come back from that injury.

RugbyLover123

Bar the first Lions test Genia has been pretty poor since 2011 RWC. I get the feeling he thinks he's too good for the teams he's played in and just gives up easily.

On the plus side for Aussie rugby, I watched the Reds/Rebels game today and Liam Gill and Sean McMahon were very impressive.

stl.ire

Tough tough loss for the Blues. They looked so good in parts against a very good team but their discipline and breakdown play cost them in the end. For the Chiefs it was a terrible game. Apart from the scrum and the steals they were poor with their key guys quiet. They were a little lucky to have this blip come against the Blues while at home.
Kaino was immense as usual, you have to feel for him with how this season is going as the defeats pile up and talent keeps fleeing for europe.

Bridge93

Sharks putting in the most pathetic performance I've seen in years. 21-3 down after 20 mins. All 3 tries embarrassing.

Should be a fourth, this is shameful stuff.

Yeah_Right

Bridge93 wrote: »

Sharks putting in the most pathetic performance I've seen in years. 21-3 down after 20 mins. All 3 tries embarrassing.

Should be a fourth, this is shameful stuff.

Yeah the Crusaders are destroying them.

Yeah_Right

The Crusaders are such a nice bunch of lads. Build up a 25 point lead, get the bonus point and then go down to 13 men to see if the Sharks can make it interesting.

Make that 12 players!!

Del.Monte

Crusaders - without Dan Carter - beat Sharks 52-10 effortlessly. Great stuff. The bookies had Sharks -1 as the handicap.

DDC1990

Decent game on at the moment, Blues and Brumbies.

Blues totally dominated the first half, and dominated the Brumbies 13 -0 at Half Time

Brumbies exploded out in the second and have dominated, 14-13 to the Brumbies now.

Kiwi_knock

Great kick by West.

Yeah_Right

Blues leading 16-14 with 2 minutes to go.

DDC1990

Ballsy kick from the touchline, but a beauty.

Brumbies mess up their next attack so if the Blues can secure the scrum they are safe.

EDIT: They give away a penalty, straight in front just near the halfway.

Yeah_Right

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you.

DDC1990

Nick White misses, Blues win.

Blues have lost so many like it, finally they get the bit of luck.

sydthebeat

had to happen, glad to see a lot of our predictors saw this happening today

LuckyGent88

Ahh, going to finally loose my lead in the predictor comp.

matthew8

Didn't think the referee did great this morning, missed a fair bit and went on to call some pretty marginal stuff. Thought there was also a big case for a Brumbies penalty try. Still 5 metres out but the maul was absolutely rumbling and all the Brumbies players were still on their feet. Brumbies didn't look like world beaters, Blues did their best to throw another game away. Pocock looked very much back to his best which is absolutely huge for Australian rugby.

Kiwi_knock

Pocock was a one man team in the second half. Nice dilemma for Cheika on how to include him and Hooper in a team.

sydthebeat

id love to see the stats on reset scrums so far this season

seems like all the good work of 2-3 years ago is being lost

LuckyGent88

Nice start to the sporting weekend with crusaders highlanders on now.

Lovely play by slade and great offload by nandolo to set up the first crusaders try

LuckyGent88

Lovely counter from the highlanders. Great break from sopoanga.

14-13 to crusaders at half time

LuckyGent88

What a massive win for the highlanders.

Crusaders will have to win next week at home against the Chiefs. No easy task

matthew8

Crusaders a bit Jekyll and Hyde, will mean they have to go away in the playoffs to win it. Waratahs have had the only good piece of play in this game but sloppiness giving the Stormers a 13-5 lead.

Kiwi_knock

Stormers get the 4 try bonus point. Great defensive performance from the Stormers. The Tahs don't look close to retaining their title.