***Official Super 14 2008 Thread***

[TT Boy]

Epi Taione had the worst game ever! He was already universally disliked by most Sharks fans (the national milieu of xenophobia extending to sport…) but I can’t believe he started in front of AJ and Barritt was benched. What a crock of ****.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Yeah he was pretty **** TBH. Paddy Power sucks.

 

[Perm]

Heard on the news today that the South African Rugby Union have passed a motion that South Africans based in Europe are eligible to be picked for the Springboks. Smart move, wish NZ would do the same.

 

[Somerset]

Epi Taione had the worst game ever! He was already universally disliked by most Sharks fans (the national milieu of xenophobia extending to sport…) but I can’t believe he started in front of AJ and Barritt was benched. What a crock of ****.

Agreed, was appalling. I think the statistics showed he made five handling errors (in nigh on perfect conditions).

Good win for the Tahs though a pretty lame effort overall from the Sharks, expected much more from them. I think if NSW can start well against the Crusaders in the final, they'll give themselves half a chance as they seem to have pretty good fitness levels, whereas the Canes seemed to run out of gas for periods in their semi against Canterbury.

 

[Somerset]

Heard on the news today that the South African Rugby Union have passed a motion that South Africans based in Europe are eligible to be picked for the Springboks. Smart move, wish NZ would do the same.

I don't necessarily agree. IMO if a player chooses to break away from the NZRU and join a northern hemisphere side, the current ruling that he foresakes his chance of an All Black jersey is fair enough. We have enough issues at the moment keeping players here with that ruling and allowing our players to feature in northern hemisphere competitions and play for the ABs would destroy the domestic and Super 14 sides in our country.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Agree with Somerset here. Let one All Black go, then you'll be giving carte blanche for them all to go. Frankly, I don't think there should be any exceptions either - if Carter wants to go, let him go. There are replacements for him, its not as if he's playing like the Superman he was a couple of years back at the moment.

 

[James]

Half-time in the final and the Waratahs lead 12-11.

Crusaders should have done more with possesson really, but hats off to what has been some great defending by the Waratahs.

Still think the Crusaders will win it though, would guess 25-18 at full-time.

 

[James]

and the Crusaders win 20-12.

Fantastic final, really enjoyed it.

 

[Johnners]

Well done Crusaders. We'll have Robbie now, thanks.

 

[James]

Agree with Somerset here. Let one All Black go, then you'll be giving carte blanche for them all to go. Frankly, I don't think there should be any exceptions either - if Carter wants to go, let him go. There are replacements for him, its not as if he's playing like the Superman he was a couple of years back at the moment.

and what's wrong with that? Look at football internationally and teams like Brazil, virtually their entire starting eleven and subs are from overseas, likewise with many of the other top football nations too. That's down to IMO because the Brazil football association can't pay the big bucks domestically, just like with NZ Rugby.

I don't see why the same can't apply to Rugby as well

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

I don't see why the same can't apply to Rugby as well

On 'ya mate. Let's give up on seeing high class club rugby on New Zealand soil then, eh?

 

[ohtani's jacket]

Good final.

It's a bit of a worry that the best side in NZ can dominate possession, territory and the set pieces and not put more points on the board, but it was a great defensive effort and I guess the Crusaders have never had the greatest backline even with the new laws.

The Bledisloe Tests are gonna be hard.

Allowing overseas based players into the All Blacks wouldn't help. There's no way they'd get in on form.

 

[cometer]

and what's wrong with that? Look at football internationally and teams like Brazil, virtually their entire starting eleven and subs are from overseas, likewise with many of the other top football nations too. That's down to IMO because the Brazil football association can't pay the big bucks domestically, just like with NZ Rugby.

I don't see why the same can't apply to Rugby as well

But look at the population of Brazil and then consider football is the dominant sport that basically everyone plays.

I just think it opens up too much incentive for going overseas, getting paid large amounts of money then being also eligible to receive more money from national team level whilst the competition itself (super 14 and club rugby) would be lucky to still be anywhere near as strong as it is now. Particularly in Australia, where it's already difficult to obtain players, given all the other sports competing with it.

As for NZ, I'm sure they would be affected, even though rugby is the dominant winter sport. The national team might not be though but domestically I'm sure it would have some impact.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Looks like Carter could be on his way to Toulouse. The best club side in the world for mine.

 

[Smudge]

Looks like Carter could be on his way to Toulouse. The best club side in the world for mine.

Either Toulouse or Toulon - would be money for jam if he went and played for second-division Toulon, whose owner has more money than sense.

 

[Somerset]

I know it was played a few days ago but I really enjoyed the Super 14 final, was hoping that the Tahs would hang in there but the Crusaders' dominance was clear and they deserved to win. Thought the Waratahs were a bit unlucky to have had their try disallowed, as that could've been the spark they required to keep their chances alive. Once Beale was injured and had to be replaced it was basically game over.

In the aftermath of the final, Henry didn't name Kieran Read, who for mine had been one of the best forwards in the competition, in the AB squad, because he'd played too much - personally I'd be absolutely gutted if I was Read, after doing everything required to impress the AB selectors only to be told to have a rest. Few interesting selections in the AB squad, I didn't pick Anthony Boric, Rudi Wulf or Adam Thompson for starters (thought Read, Masaga and Masoe, who all missed out, would've been more likely candidates).

 

[cometer]

The Waratahs had a disallowed try? I know the Crusaders had a try that was called back for the off the ball incident which saw Thorn in the bin but I don't exactly remember a disallowed Waratah try, although I guess I wasn't too focussed as long as they went down.

 

[Somerset]

Pretty sure it was Beale who scored it too...Crusaders had a free kick on their own five metre line but one of the Tahs was called for not being 10 metres back (pretty tight call IMO).

 

[James]

Pretty sure it was Beale who scored it too...Crusaders had a free kick on their own five metre line but one of the Tahs was called for not being 10 metres back (pretty tight call IMO).

yeah that's right, was right at the start of the second half I think.

 

[ohtani's jacket]

I don't remember any disallowed try for the Waratahs. Are you sure he touched down?