Rugby Union 2013 Thread

[Orac Zen]

Jono wrote:

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^ I'm not sure if you're joking or not...

Depends on what part of my post you're talking about. But I'll assume it's the Smith bit, and no, I'm not. Under a league-type salary cap, it would probably be considered just a bit suss - to put it mildly - that someone of his stature has been signed to cover the unfortunate absence of someone no one's ever heard of. But as it is, in all likelihood no one will turn a hair.

[Jono]

Someone did raise the issue, which is why I was wondering.

Looks like the Force were very competitive for 70 mins before getting blown away by two late tries to the Bulls. I feel a bit sorry for them. They have been gutted in the last two seasons with players leaving and because they are over in the west they almost feel like the forgotten Australian team.

[Jono]

Brumbies swept the Tahs away 35 - 6 tonight with a bonus point win. They were better across the park and really the only downside was the serious injury to Pocock at the 13th minute of the match. Looks like he did his ACL and could be out for 6 months, which does make getting Smith back even more fortuitous. The Brumbies discipline at times wasn't great with 2 yellow cards. Carter kept infringing in the ruck and Alexander stamping on a player right in front of the ref was not a smart move and it would lucky that Robinson was going to get binned away or they would have had to play a quarter of the game one man down. Against teams that are clearly off the pace you can get away with this, but against the top NZ or SA teams and they will make you pay.

Brumbies are doing well, but to be fair they have only played Australian sides so it will be interesting to see how they do in SA over the next two weeks. Amazingly they don't meet a NZ side until round 9 when they play the Highlanders away. Hopefully injuries will be kind and the form will stick and the Brumbies will remain to be strong contenders for the finals.

[Orac Zen]

Sounds like pretty standard fare from the Tahs. Cheika will now be aware of the scale of the problem he's dealing with, but I have to hope for the sake of Australian rugby and my sanity that he can find a way.

The Pocock injury, if it's as serious as suspected, is unfortunate but not a disaster. Openside is one of the few areas in which we have any sort of depth, and ACLs have long since ceased to be career-enders. And since Smith has (conveniently) re-signed with them it's not as though Jono's lot will be that badly affected, either.

[NCC1701]

Bad weekend for the NZ conference as all three games against South African sides were losses, the Highlanders getting owned at home by the Cheetahs 19-36, the Chiefs losing away to the Stormers 34-36 (two yellow cards didn't exactly help, either, discipline still seems to be a problem for the Chiefs) and the Blues losing to the Bulls for the first time at Eden Park 21-28. Not sure what JK was thinking making six changes from the team that won the past two weeks, against the Bulls of all teams, I'm sure he had his reasons. At least the Hurricanes managed to win over the Crusaders 29-28 in Wellington. And at least the local teams can all learn from their mistakes and hopefully turn things around next weekend.

[NCC1701]

Another thrillingly close NZ conference game, the Hurricanes beating the Highlanders under the roof at Forsyth-Barr Stadium in Dunedin 23-19. Apart from the final five minutes when Slade missed a crucial kick and the ball being thrown around willy nilly, it was a much improved performance by the southern men compared to last week. Still, they remain winless after three games, the Hurricanes getting their second win of the season.

Now, can the Cheetahs back up their epic performance against the Highlanders last week with a win against the Waratahs, or was it just a one off?

And they can! Probably the most exciting game played in Australia yet - for an outsider at least - the Cheetahs pipped the Waratahs 27-26. So the Tahs shot themselves into the foot again and are relegated to a distant third place in the Australian conference.

And is it just me, or are the Waratahs supporters really obnoxious sore losers? In the last ten minutes of the game, the Cheetahs win their own lineout, the crowd boos; the Cheetahs manage to collect their own high kick and the crowd boos again. It was at that point I started hoping the Cheetahs would win just to shut the crowd up.

[Orac Zen]

Another week, another Waratahs loss - and another Berrick Barnes injury.

Michael Cheika made a decent point about the side's self-belief needing to develop after the abject disaster of last season, and that it'll take time to embrace his philosophy for the team. I just hope all involved, particularly the administration side of things, hold their nerve and give them that time.

Could be another long season, though. Sigh.

[NCC1701]

Crusaders get their season under way with their first win against the Bulls in Christchurch, 41-19 at full time. After a slow first 20 minutes the Cantabrians came out fighting, the boot of Morne Steyn keeping the Bulls in touch until the first try by the Crusaders in the second half. Better stuff there, a lot more difficult game for the Bulls with a few players hobbling off during the 80 minutes. It'll be interesting to see if the Bulls manage to pick up a few more wins across the ditch over the next few weeks at fortress Suncorp and Canberra Stadium.

EDIT: And both the Force and the Brumbies managed wins over the Reds and the Sharks respectively, the score at Brisbane being 19-12 at full time to the visitors and 29-10 to the Brumbies in Durban, meaniing the Brumbies are the only unbeaten team left this year after five rounds, and sitting pretty at 23 points at the top of the table, even with the extra round that's a fantastiv effort!

Wales belted England 30-3 in Cardiff as well to take the 6 Nations for this year, nice! I thought this England team was supposed to be the best in the world since beating the All Blacks last year?

[Orac Zen]

Good to see an Australian side win in SA and just as good to see the Force snag a win.

The Wales win might have been the most satisfying of the lot, though. And of course England are always the best team in the world, at everything. Until they lose.

[Jono]

Haven't watched the game yet but pleased with the Brumbies result. Sounds like a good first half and another solid defensive second half was behind the victory. Saw there are a few injury concerns, so I'm hoping they aren't anything too serious.

Did watch the last 25 minutes of the Reds v Force and glad to see the Force get the win. The Force were tough and the Reds bent their line plenty of times towards the end but to their credit the Force kept it up and won a narrow victory. Cooper is continuing his average form...there must be a toxic atmosphere at the Reds.

Edit: Finally watched the game. The first half was impressive and brought back memories of the glory years. They blew the Sharks away with speed and power. The Sharks also didn't help themselves with sloppy play either, giving the Brumbies easy territory. There was even one of the rarest of Australian rugby beasts, a try off a scrum win against the feed.

The Sharks did come back well in the second half and kept the Brumbies to just 3 points and cross the line themselves. At first I thought it might be that the Brumbies faded, but they didn't really. The weather got bad and they tried to keep up their expansive play and unfortunately their handling wasn't up to it. They also ignored the easy points early in the 2nd for lineouts. They still looked in control for most of that second half, which was very good to see. Another good performance, but they still have a big hurdle to go through before they return to Australia.

[NCC1701]

The Chiefs win a scrappy game against the Highlanders in Hamilton 19-7. Plenty of handling errors on both sides, the travel factor for the Chiefs who have just returned from South Africa this week, as well as a yellow card for the Highlanders meant we got what was probably the most average NZ conference game so far, the Chiefs coming away with the win and the Highlanders, for the fourth game in a row, going home to Dunedin with absolutely nothing to show for it.

[NCC1701]

The Crusaders won against the Kings as expected, 55-20 at full time, although a few niggling injuries to Israel Dagg - who didn't play, leading to Zac Guildford starting his first game after his alcohol rehabilitation - Ben Franks and Kieran Read could make the next two games in South Africa against the Stormers and the Sharks a bit more difficult.

The Reds also won a close game against the Bulls, who looked predictable and tired until a few minutes from half time when they finally ran the ball from their own half - shock horror ! Quade Cooper was pretty good at leading the Reds last night - double shock horror - and I didn't feel the Bulls deserved to draw with a miracle try attempt at the death after generally boring play for the previous 78 minutes, 23-18 at full time.

The Cheetahs also managed their third win on the road against the Force, 19-10 at full time, while the Sharks slaughtered the Rebels in Durban 64-7, and the Stormers caused the Brumbies their first loss of the season in Cape Town 35-22.

About five hours to go now until the Blues take on the Waratahs in Sydney. Hopefully the same Blues lineup that won the first two rounds will be good enough to win against a Waratahs side that will be desperate to turn their season around after a dreadful start to this year's competition!

[Jono]

Brumbies came up against an aggressive and strong side last night. The Brumbies lost the majority of the collisions and were a bit too tall going into contact and often lost ground rather than getting over the advantage line. The only place the Brumbies shaded the Stormers was in the breakdown with Smith again standing tall and in the second half it was the breakdown were they got the penalties that kept them in the game.

As with the second half last week they lacked a bit of polish and passes didn't stick and there was a bit of lost ball that didn't help them, but quite a bit of credit for that would also go to the Stormers pressure building rock solid defence. A crazy pass from Kimlin in the last 5 minutes resulted in an intercept try that ended their chances of a bonus point, which they did well to bring themselves back into contention for due to just how physical the Stormers were all game.

They'll be on their way back for a couple of home games where hopefully they will put together more games that were like the first half of the Sharks game rather than the Stormers game.

[NCC1701]

Waratahs won a see-saw battle against the Blues with a penalty kick at the death 30-27. The Waratahs had a good comeback after trailing 24-10 at half time, the Blues never looked like they were in the game in the second half and silly errors didn't exactly help their cause. With a game at Mt Maunganui against the Chiefs next week it really doesn't get easier from here for the Blues.

[Orac Zen]

Great to see the Waratahs have recorded a win, battling back against decent opposition to boot. It's going to be a slow process to turn things around but hopefully this is the start of something better. Then again, my cheerful "long season" remark above seems just as likely an outcome. Oh well, time will tell.

Apparently good ol' Kurtley Beale has distinguished himself yet again, this time allegedly punching a team mate in the wake of the Rebels' record flogging by the Sharks. If it's true, what an imbecile. I hope the rumours he wants to return to the Tahs aren't true or, if they are, that Cheika and co. ignore him.