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Opinionated Rugby Commentary - by Fans for Fans
Spill what you really think about events in the rugby world.
Super 15 Rugby Round 11 - 10 Things We Learnt 3 views
27 April 2015 by The Swede Eaters
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Here are 10 things to think about!
Super Rugby Round 11 2015 ANZAC round has finished, here are 10 things we learnt from it;
1) Super Rugby Round 11 was far more predictable than Super Rugby Round 10 and any other round of Super Rugby 2015. In Round 10 there were three extreme upsets, while in Round 11, five from seven games were obvious picks, while the only challenging game which separated the tipsters was the Brumbies vs Highlanders. Most people that picked the winner of that game, would have got 100 percent for the round. About half of the Super Rugby Tips conference on SuperBru got a Grand Slam Bonus point.
2) The Super Rugby table looks interesting, with the Hurricanes leading, while the Chiefs are still unluckily in fourth spot because of the scoring system, is this fair? The Stormers look to be a threat despite not scoring a try against the Bulls at the weekend, given their run home which has them playing most of their games at home. The Brumbies also returned to the winner's circle.
3) What a tough competition Super Rugby is. The bottom placed Force team only lost by eight points to one of the best teams in the competition, the Chiefs. This game was away from home too and they played a large part of the game with only 14 players. The Force have only won one game, but with the exception of a nightmare against the Hurricanes, they have lost the rest of their games by 12 points or less. There is a fine line between pleasure and pain.
4) The average margin in Super Rugby Round 11 was 8.6 points while the overall average winning margin is only 11.1 points. The last three rounds have seen the average the winning margins really drop significantly.
5) The winning margins are tough to pick. Interestingly, many people thought the winning margins were expected to be higher in the Chiefs and Waratahs wins, and lower in the Brumbies win. It is one thing to pick the winners, but in SuperBru, those margin points and being the closest to the actual margin separates the men from the boys.
6) The home team dominance was back in Super Rugby Round 11. Ironically in Round 10 only one team won at home, while in Round 11, only one team won away from home. This means that home teams are winning over 50 percent of games.
7) We want some consistency from referees. The Brumbies for example got their rolling maul working as a weapon against the Highlanders, resulting in three tries, but in other games the defending teams would get away with stopping it questionably, for example against the Rebels in Round 10. What a difference it made!
8) Should the national administrators be allowed to force teams to rest their international players? The Highlanders really suffered without their All Blacks, yet someone like Ben Smith usually plays well if he plays lots of games. It might be beneficial for some players to be rested, I wonder if this rule should depend on the player in question as other players do need the rest. It looked like the Highlanders had almost conceded their match to the Brumbies from their first half performance. Maybe Jamie Joseph should have rested his stars separately or in a home game, although his rationale is that there is a short turnaround before his team hosts the Sharks on Friday night. The problem is that his stars will have to miss one more game.
9) Should scrum offences result in penalties or free kicks? The Stormers vs Bulls match was dominated by the referee's whistle at scrum time, which generally suited the Stormers who had the stronger scrum. The Bulls dominated the lineouts, but had little to show for it. Should scrum offences result in penalties or free kicks? Penalty offences were how the Stormers scored all of their points.
10) Finally, in the Reds vs Hurricanes game, did the man singing the New Zealand national anthem forget the words or just decide to freestyle? Anyway, only New Zealanders probably realised the mistake. It was also funny seeing New Zealand born Queensland Reds player Quade Cooper during the national anthem.
Watch Super Rugby Round 11 video highlights here
What did you learn from Super Rugby Round 11?
http://www.superrugbytips.com/2015/04/super-15-rugby-round-11-10-things-we.html
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