Super 14 2009 Discussion and Fantasy League

[TT Boy]

Tough one this week. I was going to go for the Bulls but the Canes are in decent form whilst the Sharks looked dead on their feet last week in Brisbane. Chiefs Blues is the game of the week for me, should be a cracker and both sides play good attacking rugby.

Hurricanes vs Bulls
Highlanders vs Cheetahs
Chiefs vs Blues
Waratahs vs Crusaders
Force vs Sharks
Lions vs Brumbies

 

[Smudge]

Hurricanes vs Bulls
Highlanders vs Cheetahs
Chiefs vs Blues
Waratahs vs Crusaders
Force vs Sharks
Lions vs Brumbies

 

[BoyBrumby]

Hurricanes
Highlanders
Chiefs
Waratahs
Force
Brumbies

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Hurricanes
Highlanders
Chiefs
Crusaders
Force
Brumbies

 

[Johnners]

Hurricanes
Highlanders
Blues
Waratahs
Force
Brumbies

 

[cometer]

Hurricanes vs Bulls
Highlanders vs Cheetahs
Chiefs vs Blues
Waratahs vs Crusaders
Force vs Sharks
Lions vs Brumbies

 

[Somerset]

Bulls win by five in the opening match of the round. Great performance on defence from the Bulls and with Morne Steyn to guide them around the field and kick penalties, they're certainly looking like a title contender. Having Matfield back in the forthcoming weeks is hardly going to weaken their side either...

The match was ruined by Matt Goddard though IMO. Six yellow cards (of which two went to the same player, one of the Bulls' flankers, who was then red carded) was ridiculous. Not sure whether he was trying to prove a point but it just got to the stage that it was excessive and detracted from the match being played. The Bulls' flanker who got the red card fully deserved it - and in fact his spear tackle on Conrad Smith may have been worthy of a straight red anyway - while Eaton's stomping on Bakkies Botha probably warranted a ten minute spell as well. The other four, however, were pedantic decisions and unnecessary. The supporters want to watch rugby being played, not a referee who thinks hes the main attraction - and Goddard was certainly trying to steal the limelight this evening.

 

[Smudge]

Dunno why I selected the Hurricanes here when I selected the Bulls in all my other tipping comps.

 

[Somerset]

Dunno why I selected the Hurricanes here when I selected the Bulls in all my other tipping comps.

I heard a statistic that the Bulls prior to tonight had won only four matches in New Zealand in all Super 12/14 rugby - so whilst this Bulls team is obviously a better outfit than past Bulls sides, I don't think it was that silly to select the Hurricanes TBH.

 

[cometer]

The match was ruined by Matt Goddard though IMO. Six yellow cards (of which two went to the same player, one of the Bulls' flankers, who was then red carded) was ridiculous. Not sure whether he was trying to prove a point but it just got to the stage that it was excessive and detracted from the match being played. The Bulls' flanker who got the red card fully deserved it - and in fact his spear tackle on Conrad Smith may have been worthy of a straight red anyway - while Eaton's stomping on Bakkies Botha probably warranted a ten minute spell as well. The other four, however, were pedantic decisions and unnecessary. The supporters want to watch rugby being played, not a referee who thinks hes the main attraction - and Goddard was certainly trying to steal the limelight this evening.

For what it was worth I actually thought most of the send offs were fair calls and didn't see a lot wrong with it. Thought the Waldrom one was stiff though. What turned the match wasn't Goddard stealing the show but the players of both teams trying to get away with essentially "cheating" by lying in the ruck trying to stop the ball coming out. Happens week in, week out and most referees turn a blind eye and not resorting to cards. Probably looked ugly but Goddard consistently warned them throughout the entire match even from the first warning. Least he was consistent unlike a lot of other referees who turn a blind eye and award nothing.

 

[TT Boy]

Bulls win by five in the opening match of the round. Great performance on defence from the Bulls and with Morne Steyn to guide them around the field and kick penalties, they're certainly looking like a title contender. Having Matfield back in the forthcoming weeks is hardly going to weaken their side either...

The match was ruined by Matt Goddard though IMO. Six yellow cards (of which two went to the same player, one of the Bulls' flankers, who was then red carded) was ridiculous. Not sure whether he was trying to prove a point but it just got to the stage that it was excessive and detracted from the match being played. The Bulls' flanker who got the red card fully deserved it - and in fact his spear tackle on Conrad Smith may have been worthy of a straight red anyway - while Eaton's stomping on Bakkies Botha probably warranted a ten minute spell as well. The other four, however, were pedantic decisions and unnecessary. The supporters want to watch rugby being played, not a referee who thinks hes the main attraction - and Goddard was certainly trying to steal the limelight this evening.

Yeah, Goddard ruined the game big time.

Canes really did **** up though, botched two 'easy' try scoring opportunities and always made the wrong choice of trying to take on the Bulls in the middle of the park when they should use their strength and go wide.

Botha and Dinosaur were immense for the Bulls.

 

[TT Boy]

Blues getting owned. Sivivatu seems to have waken up after a couple of years in hibernation.

 

[Perm]

Bulls to win the comp, been saying it for weeks.

 

[Somerset]

Blues getting owned. Sivivatu seems to have waken up after a couple of years in hibernation.

Yep dominant stuff from the Chiefs, their backline was sensational tonight against a Blues side that really had no answer to the Chiefs' attacking play. Hard to believe that the Blues secured 70% of territory yet managed to conceed more than 60 points.

Good win for the Crusaders over the Tahs too, its certainly not the Crusaders of old but to win in Sydney is a fair effort. And a fairly predictable victory for the Highlanders earlier this evening, even though they managed to trail at halftime to the last placed Cheetahs.

 

[age_master]

Crusaders didn't win at the SFS though

Tah's played badly, managed to stuff up soo many chances, literally running into each other

 

[cometer]

Crusaders didn't win at the SFS though

Tah's played badly, managed to stuff up soo many chances, literally running into each other

Still a loss in Sydney, doesn't matter where you play . The most annoying thing is how the commentators and even those writing the match report stressed it was the first game at ANZ stadium when the Waratahs have played there before and got trashed 51-10 in a semi final iirc. Sure the stadium wasn't named ANZ back then was I think Telstra but even so was still the same ground.

As for the Tah's playing badly, I think it was more then that, I honestly think the Crusaders outplayed the Waratahs.

 

[TT Boy]

Good win by the Sharks. They were really flat first half but the big boys turned on after the break and once they got infront with their defence it was mission impossible for the men in pink.

I've had a mare this week with the predications and just watch the Lions take down the Brumbies now.

 

[TT Boy]

Good win by the Sharks. They were really flat first half but the big boys turned on after the break and once they got infront with their defence it was mission impossible for the men in pink.

I've had a mare this week with the predications and just watch the Lions take down the Brumbies now.

 

[Somerset]

Haha - biggest upset of the competition so far IMO (closely followed by the Reds upsetting the Sharks). Didn't watch either of the games in Perth or Jo'burg so I'll watch the highlights tonight and try and determine what went wrong for the Brumbies.

 

[cometer]

In short, ball handling. We dropped far too much ball and made soft errors causing tries against us. We never seem to play well in South Africa and we don't seem to play too well under Kaplan either, despite Kaplan having a reasonable game in charge. Had a feeling we'd lose once results earlier in the day were falling our way (Waratahs losing, Blues losing, Hurricanes losing the night before). Often happens that we get a favourable week then find a way to blow it. Inconsistency hurts in such a short competition, lucky it was only the Lions and it was an away game. Credit to the Lions though, they responded well to the unusual week they've had.