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Opinionated Rugby Commentary - by Fans for Fans
Spill what you really think about events in the rugby world.
Super Rugby Round 14 Review 10 views
17 May 2015 by The Swede Eaters
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10 Things We Learnt in Super Rugby Round 14. Do you agree?
Super Rugby Round 14 Review – 10 Things We Learnt
Super Rugby Round 14 2014 gave us plenty of talking points, here are 10 thing we learnt!
1) One look at the Super Rugby 2015 ladder tells us several things. The Hurricanes are going to be hard to beat from here, especially once Beauden Barrett returns.
2) Who are the main threats from Australia and South Africa? It looks to be a two horse race in both South Africa and Australia, with the Bulls vs Stormers in South Africa, although the Lions can mathematically make it. In Australia it is the Brumbies vs Waratahs, with the Rebels still having an outside chance.
Both of these conferences are really only fighting for the minor placings at this stage and are only being helped by the conference system which must have only one team from each country in the top three, despite three New Zealand teams having the most points.
3) There are always upsets. In Super Rugby Round 14, the first two games were upset wins for the Blues and Reds at home. This is a tough competition when the Blues and Reds can knock over two good teams in the Bulls and Rebels. Things got easier for most tipsters, for the rest of the weekend, with the exception of the Brumbies win over the Lions which split the tipsters. In every round there are approximately two upsets.
4) The home teams are dominating. Going into Round 14, the previous 20 games (three rounds) had seen 18/20 games won by the home team. In Round 14, 4/6 games were won by the home team. It definitely pays to tip some lower ranked home teams to cause an upset at home.
5) The average winning margin in Super Rugby Round 14 was 12 points, with only two out of the six games yielding bonus points for the losers. The Highlanders, Reds and Waratahs won by more than what most people predicted. The overall average winning margin in Super Rugby 2015 is 11.3 points.
6) Did the TMO cost the Chiefs the win against the Hurricanes? Chiefs coach Dave Rennie seems to think so. Every week there are problems with poor refereeing decisions, although how Rennie commented on that without getting in trouble is a mystery. Should more referees be stood down, or red carded like players are, or is it simply because the laws of the game are so complicated?
7) As a fantasy rugby manager, I am getting sick of teams naming players to start, and then the day of or before the game, players are withdrawn through injury. The Chiefs backline that took the field against the Hurricanes, barely resembled the one named earlier in the week. This means lower scores for fantasy rugby managers.
8) It is interesting to see some teams still not blooding younger players in Super Rugby. With injuries to some stars like Beauden Barrett, Aaron Cruden, Brodie Retallick etc. it is interesting to see some teams reluctant to blood young players, while other teams are using younger players with a view to 2016. It depends on if the teams are still in contention or not and which position it is and of course, how good the young talent is. I would like to see Otere Black given some gametime at the Hurricanes for example.
9) When will the Highlanders rest their star trio of All Blacks? They rested all three against the Brumbies with terrible consequences. Will coach Jamie Joseph rest them one at a time or collectively? The Highlanders good performances in 2015 have been helped by the lack of injuries to their squad so far, but it will be interesting since the star trio of Aaron and Ben Smith, and Malakai Fekitoa, are so influential. I thought the Cheetahs would be a good team to rest one of the trio against, because the Highlanders have some tough, but hugely important derby matches left this season.
10) What a poor weekend for South African teams in Super Rugby 2015. The Sharks and Bulls both lost on tour, while the Lions and Cheetahs were beaten on their home turf. The Stormers had the bye, rounding out a winless weekend of games for the South African teams.
What did you learn from Super Rugby Round 14 2015?
http://www.superrugbytips.com/2015/05/super-15-rugby-round-14-review-10.html
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