Super XV 2015 General Discussion Thread

sydthebeat

Jesus that's mad stats for ioane.

127m made from 10 runs!
For a flanker! !!

Swiwi.

Kirwan is a poor coach, but his man management seems good. Morale appears to remain high at the blues. A timely result with his coaching future in doubt.

sydthebeat

Swiwi. wrote: »

Kirwan is a poor coach, but his man management seems good. Morale appears to remain high at the blues. A timely result with his coaching future in doubt.

Seems that they are close to clicking, it's just their ball retention and breakdown play is pretty poor.
They've been there or there abouts for a lot of games so i expected a result like this eventually, just a pity about those injuries today when they seem to have turned a corner

stl.ire

Haven't watched much of the Force but what happened to Nick Cummins in Japan? He's totally off the pace. Really disappointing.
Is 7 in the OZ squad the deepest position in Rugby? Hodgson is nowhere near the team and looks excellent.

Swiwi.

Aussie have the most quality 7s in world rugby. Pocock, Hooper, Gill & Hodgson all very good. Yeah Cummins not hitting the heights of last year so far.

Defence a bit optional in this game.

sydthebeat

Bit of a mad game Ted.

65 pointer with a losing try bonus point to the force.

matthew8

I don't think losing teams should be allowed try bonuses. There is no way that Force's effort today is worth as much as the Bulls' effort against the Stormers.

sydthebeat

At this stage has Cummins more or less played 14 months of continuous rugby?

Swiwi.

Nehe time!

sydneybound

Swiwi. wrote: »

He's 19. I hate to be cynical, but I reckon in Ireland that would mean another 4 to 5 years in the academy.

+1

An Irish player is generally 24 before he breaks through. The Welsh love pushing through young players, the Irish players don't seem to be as well developed at a young age.

stl.ire

sydthebeat wrote: »

At this stage has Cummins more or less played 14 months of continuous rugby?

That could explain it. Sad to see such a fun player look completely lost out there.

skippymac6

Swiwi. wrote: »

He's 19. I hate to be cynical, but I reckon in Ireland that would mean another 4 to 5 years in the academy.

Yeah that's fair enough. I agree that because there is so much emphasis on "player welfare", sometimes the IRFU is hesitant to unleash young players on the senior teams.

Interesting game up next. The canes are surely the form team and they'll want to emphasise it today against the old enemy

SuprSi

Great start Crusaders - lovely play by Slade

stl.ire

I guess the Crusaders are fired up!

sydthebeat

Barrett with the after burners. .....

Swiwi.

Beauden Barret is just too slow for a 10 IMO

SuprSi

Oh man, that's a terrible pass attempt from Slade, some pace on Barrett though!

sydthebeat

Ah man that's just beautiful rugby

matthew8

Absolutely sensational from the Hurricanes. Try of the season.

SuprSi

Brilliant from the Hurricanes

stl.ire

Here we go! Already an incredible game!
Great try.

Swiwi.

NMS has the most amazing footwork. Mesmerising.

stl.ire

Canes set pieces have been poor. Their work in broken play is saving them.

SuprSi

That's a really bad miss by Slade

SuprSi

Making up for the bad kicks, great try again - this is some match!

Swiwi.

I dunno why every season the crusaders have to play puke rugby until they are on the point of elimination.

SuprSi

Unbelievable!!

sydthebeat

Sheer bloody mindedness is pulling the crusaders through this half.

stl.ire

Even stevens at the break. Probably about right.
Canes need to fix their lineout. They've worked out the scrum issues though.
Crusaders need to just keep plugging away. If they keep away from broken or loose play the Canes will be stuck.

matthew8

Hurricanes have been on top this half, furious pace finally gets them over the line.

sydthebeat

Hurricanes get their reward for simplifying things a bit.

LuckyGent88

Hurricanes had to score after all that pressure. Some great passing, offloads and lines of running from the Hurricanes

matthew8

What a try. Hurricanes well on top now, winning the second half despite a couple of harsh refereeing decisions.

LuckyGent88

Superb counter try from the Hurricanes.

Thought they would have a look at the possible interference with the kick chase

stl.ire

Barrett down! Knee concerns. The NZ World Cup fly half curse continues?

matthew8

Beauden Barrett off injured, problem with his leg but he walks off. I think he's very much the front runner now for the All Black 10 spot. Best in general play and his goal kicking is acceptable.

Buer

Crusarders a mile off at that turnover. Player than snagged it was standing at side of ruck when it was formed, almost on Canes side.

LuckyGent88

is stephen Donald still playing??? At the rate fly halfs are getting injured again he might be needed for the all blacks for the World Cup.

matthew8

Buer wrote: »

Crusarders a mile off at that turnover. Player than snagged it was standing at side of ruck when it was formed, almost on Canes side.

Yep, and Ma'a Nonu got a yellow for the same thing earlier in the game. Several players going for it may have convinced the ref it was out.

Buer

Great work on the deck there from Hurricanes to set up that attack. Penalty to kill game and deny Crusarders the LBP.

EDIT: Bloody harsh penalty, though.

matthew8

Buer wrote: »

Great work on the deck there from Hurricanes to set up that attack. Penalty to kill game and deny Crusarders the LBP.

EDIT: Bloody harsh penalty, though.

I think the referee has missed an awful lot tonight, couldn't see the logic behind that penalty it barely even went forward seemed like he wanted to knock it back. Couldn't blame the ref if he was out of breath after 10 minutes of it though.

Buer

"Hi, I'm Todd Blackadder. I've a team packed with international stars who are underperforming and they're not able to break other teams down".

"Welcome to the support group, Todd. I'm Matt, lets be friends".

LuckyGent88

Deserve win from the hurricanes. Playing some brilliant rugby.

Another loss for the crusaders. Very tough for them to make the playoffs now. Will have to win every game left now at least.

stl.ire

matthew8 wrote: »

Beauden Barrett off injured, problem with his leg but he walks off. I think he's very much the front runner now for the All Black 10 spot. Best in general play and his goal kicking is acceptable.

Barrett probably is the leader at 10 if he's fit. My problem with him is that he rarely controls a game. The Canes don't often use him as the first receiver on attack, usually he enters the line like a full back from deep. That's why he can look so devastating bursting through wholes. Maybe it doesn't matter when you've Aaron Smith at 9.

stl.ire

Great win for the Canes. Really good to see them stick at it and grind out Crusaders and enforce their style of game. Nonu and Shields had huge games again. M-Skudder is just fun.

Crusaders are probably out of it now. Focus should now be on getting their AB's prepared for the world cup. Tom Taylor was brilliant tonight, Slade pretty decent too.

Buer

stl.ire wrote: »

Crusaders are probably out of it now. Focus should now be on getting their AB's prepared for the world cup. Tom Taylor was brilliant tonight, Slade pretty decent too.

Will take a minor miracle for them to progress at this point. Chiefs, Highlanders and 'Tahs are all 11, 7 and 5 points ahead of them respectively with a game in hand. Bulls are also ahead of them with a game in hand.

They'll need to win all of their last 5 games and hope one of them loses 3 of their last 6. They still have to go to the Brumbies and Waratahs also and I can see them winning one of those, maybe, but not both.

matthew8

This would be the first time since 2001 that the Crusaders don't make the semi finals. I think Blackadder has had enough time and he ought to go. Today's match wasn't bad but the performances this year against the Rebels, Highlanders (home) and Chiefs (home and away) were abject and it's costing them. Kirwan has to go too, but they might keep him if the Blues have a late season surge towards mid table which would be a big mistake.

matthew8

Debreczeni has an absolute monster boot, 57m kick no wind sea level.

Kiwi_knock

Debreczeni has a good boot on him.

Kiwi_knock

Stupid by Lowe, don't think it was a try either he looked a shade ahead of the kicker.