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Super Rugby 2015 – The Best and Worst Conferences 2 views
22 June 2015 by The Swede Eaters
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Which conferences were the best and worst in Super Rugby 2015?
Super Rugby 2015 regular season is over, so Super Rugby Tips has decided to answer once and for all, which conference is the best and worst of Super Rugby 2015?
Each team played 16 games, meaning that each conference played a total of 80, although every team played eight games against the other teams in their conference.
New Zealand had the top three attacking teams in the Crusaders, Hurricanes and Highlanders, while the Brumbies were the best defensive team.
There have been plenty of questions raised about how weak the South African conference was in 2015 with the Stormers finishing as the seventh highest points scorers, but overall in most statistical categories the South African conference was better than the Australian conference, with the exception of points conceded and points differential statistics.
The South African conference was more even than the Australian conference. The South African conference had all five teams finish between 7th and 12th most competition points. The Australian conference had two good teams, the Waratahs and Brumbies who made the Top Six, while the Rebels finished tenth, but the Reds and Force finished 13th and 15th respectively.
Despite these statistics, it is hard to know how South Africa will cope with a sixth team after the fallout of the Rugby World Cup which will see some of their best players like Duane Vermeulen, playing in Europe instead of South Africa. It raises the question of how long Super Rugby can continue without the inclusion of the lucrative European market? Sure, the quality of Super Rugby is probably better, but the money in Europe is what talks.
The best conference in Super Rugby 2015 was the New Zealand conference, with the South African conference second in most categories, leaving Australia as the worst Super Rugby conference despite having two teams in the semi-finals. It all depends on how you define "worst conference" because the Stormers were the best of an average South African conference, but while the Waratahs and Brumbies were good in Super Rugby 2015, the Reds and Force were two of the bottom three teams, meaning the Australian conference lacked depth in 2015.
Which do you think are the best and worst conferences in Super Rugby?
http://www.superrugbytips.com/2015/06/super-rugby-2015-best-and-worst.html
Statistics by conference
Competition total points
New Zealand 233
South Africa 185
Australia 176
Competition wins
New Zealand 47
South Africa 38
Australia 34
Points scored (for)
New Zealand 2043
South Africa 1807
Australia 1589
Points conceded (against)
New Zealand 1686
Australia 1746
South Africa 2007
Points’ differential
New Zealand 357
Australia -157
South Africa -200
Number of teams with positive points’ differential
New Zealand 4
Australia 2
South Africa 2
Number of tries scored
New Zealand 237
South Africa 201
Australia 190
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