Super Rugby - Who's it going to be?

Mick Gold Coast QLD

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="595843" data-time="1468198391">
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Yes it probably is, but threads about Wallabies things don't tend to get a lot of legs here :)
 
It is a good question, and I'm kind of conflicted about how to answer. No doubt, Australian Rugby has failed to a degree to grasp the "national jersey pride" in the same way NZ has. There are a raft of differences at lower levels that makes the two situations distinct of course (rugby league presence being a fairly significant one), and the ARU are trying to address pathways as I said.
 
Ultimately, I think bringing back players in positions where we're light on is a good short-term goal, but ultimately we need to develop those positions ourselves. I'm cautious about the Giteau Rule overall - if it helps us win a Bledisloe then fucking awesome because that is a shot in the arm for the sport. But I didn't honestly think it would make it past RWC as a system.
 
We can't develop players with less professional teams at the moment. We don't have a large enough domestic competition to support players coming through and maturing, and quite a lot of the time even our second tier guys are getting offers overseas, and not always for big money.
 
Its a five- or ten-year process to get the new pathways happening so there are no easy answers. Particularly when you're involved in the pursuit of victory and that isn't always easy with the competition we've got across the ditch.
 
The NZRFU made hard decisions years back about the NPC, and they weren't necessarily popular. That, and the right culture, has ensured the production line continues.
 
The quality of coaching here is also not good, and has resulted in players departing because of bullshit like Richard Graham, which is down to our nepotistic, small-minded attitude to the politics of the sport. This includes club rugby which refuses to acknowledge the primacy of NRC as our chosen professional pathway. But that is a whole 'nother story...
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"our nepotistic, small-minded attitude to the politics of the sport"
 
The internecine warfare at Club, State and National level has been a feature, not a bug, for the whole of my time with the game. I have written about it here at length before, concluding with the observation that the template for improvement and success has already been developed for the ARU - by Eddie McGuire and Mick Malthouse with their successful ten year plan at Collingwood; and by Sir Graham, Steve Tew, a brace of provincial coaches and twenty six (26) unions. That's 26.
 
It is not a difficult task but it is for Australian rugby's two cities, the NSW country union and half a dozen shakers and movers in each of Canberra, Melbourne and Perth. Some of those dinky little outfits have some of the country's most admired players on their boards - for example, John Eales and (for a time) Prince George at the ARU. They are part of the problem and always have been.
 
"bringing back players in positions where we're light on is a good short-term goal, but ultimately we need to develop those positions ourselves"
 
"Selfish" young men pursuing good incomes across the globe has finally infected Australian rugby - the world has changed, it was always going to be so. David Campese's professional sorties in Europe in the '80s were a rare thing, remarkable. When the Mighty Woods lost winger Ian Williams in about 1990 to Japan we were dead set astonished - he'd just assured his place with the Wallabies for Pete's sake! (he prospered over there, and in his career as a solicitor, establishing the first Japanese office to be opened by an Australian legal firm. He eventually ended up back at Eastwood, on the board with Brett Papworth).
 
That was 25 years ago and we (and the other southern hemisphere unions) are still floundering about seeking a solution for something which long since ceased to be a phenomenon.
 
I do wonder about the mythical pot of gold in Europe. Eastwood's own Matt Burke had a stellar post career career in the UK premiership and Scott Johnson became part of the Wales and Scotland coaching crews; and your own Jared Payne (who I rate highly) did well with Ulster and now Ireland.
 
I suspect, however, that most of them find themselves in a much bigger pool enjoying much reduced fame and favour, surrounded by ruthless club owners, distant coaches, indifferent teammates, the unscrupulous and assorted barracudas - all alone and unprepared. A couple of the Wallabies' more recent wunderkind have discovered they are not always selected and don't hit the headlines quite so often and that will have hit their well developed self image like a Mac truck. Rugby is a business and I expect the overseas gig is not dissimilar to an overseas appointment with Citibank, in which one sinks or swims.
 
As I recall the last contracts Sir Richie and Dan Carter signed were for about $650,000 pa, much less than those of the the Wallaby super stars. I thought then and I think now that their decision to spend their most valuable years in New Zealand earned them considerable goodwill and will serve them well for their next ten commercially most productive years.
 
"no easy answers. Particularly when you're involved in the pursuit of victory"
 
Australian rugby has the worst of relationships with its fans - conditional love. Their primary interest is winning. There are few more desolate places than the 45,000 capacity Sydney Football Stadium when the Waratahs are doing poorly.
 
The corporates discovered rugby in the mid '90s and they will just as readily shift their allegiance to any one of the other codes, swiftly. The traditional club supporter numbers have eroded markedly since my time in Sydney when a dozen mates would unhesitatingly travel to away games each taking our three and four children with us, and encounter our fellow supporters there in numbers, to a point where home games now barely draw a quorum.
 
It is a difficult to digest the reality that Australian rugby does not have the luxury of Sir Graham's or Eddie's ten years of careful pre-planning. I see no other option, however, but to plumb the depths while the game rebuilds into a more robust and responsive being.

hydro11

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="KiwiMurph" data-cid="597486" data-time="1468714652">
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They also look to have the timings wrong for the Brumbies game, that looks to be Aussie Eastern time, surely it is 7.30pm AEST for the Brumbies Highlanders game.
 
EDIT - I take that back - it's a 6pm kickoff local time apparently 
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="KiwiMurph" data-cid="597486" data-time="1468714652">
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They also look to have the timings wrong for the Brumbies game, that looks to be Aussie Eastern time, surely it is 7.30pm AEST for the Brumbies Highlanders game.
 
EDIT - I take that back - it's a 6pm kickoff local time apparently 
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I have no clue why the Hurricanes are kicking off a 17:35 either.
 
EDIT: apparently it is 19:35 in Wellington.

taniwharugby

MySky planner shows build-up at 1900.

canefan

I'll laugh heartily if the Kiwi teams sweep the quarters. The Crusaders have the weakest team but they've only got the Lions so it's definitely possible

Chris B.

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Rocky Rock Rockbottom" data-cid="597490" data-time="1468715490">
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Shit thereâ€™s gonna be some spleen venting this week from NZers after that draw. We knew it was coming but ffs, two shit hot kiwi sides have to travel all the way to fuckin SA to doff their forelocks to their bokke paymasters? GAHH
 
Landers finish 3rd and One Trick Ponies get home quarter despite finishing a half-clueless and slightly completely ratshit bollox 7th?
 
A ribbon for everyone. Here, why not attach yours to your shorts as you join the maul from in front of the fucking ball carrier, FFFFFFFUUU
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Last line made me laugh. :)
 
Without having seen them, the Stormers look equally shithouse - the only top eight team they've beaten all year is the Brumbies at Newlands. They've not played any NZ teams and have racked up losses to the Lions, Sharks, Bulls and Tahs and a momentous draw with the Sunwolves. I'll be very surprised if any of the Canes, Highlanders or Chiefs don't win easily. I'm hoping for three thrashings! :)
 
Crusaders have been pretty clearly 4th in the NZ conference, so I'm not too distraught at having to go to SA - we have a chance to stamp ourselves as the 4th best team in the competition, so to take a leaf out of Brad Thorn's book, "that will be my final". Lions seem to have got better as the year has gone on, so that should be a good game.
 
Not much to suggest that we can come back from SA and beat the Canes and probably Highlanders in consecutive weekends - nor much to suggest the Chiefs can come back and beat the Highlanders (6-0 in recent times?).
 
My assessment is that in terms of winning the comp. the Canes and Chiefs fans should cheer loudly for the Lions, Crusaders and Highlanders fans should cheer loudly for the Crusaders. 
 
However, it would be nice to have four NZ semifinalists.

Frank

Surprising they chose Cully as a commentator. It's not like he is brimming with personality.

Chris B.

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="canefan" data-cid="597494" data-time="1468716448">
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I'll laugh heartily if the Kiwi teams sweep the quarters. The Crusaders have the weakest team but they've only got the Lions so it's definitely possible
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Don't laugh too hard, though. It's probably in your interests that the Highlanders have to go further afield than Canberra, before strolling up to the Caketin for a repeat of last year's final. :)
 
(And a night in pissing rain at the Caketin might just suit Toddy's troops).

broughie

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="canefan" data-cid="597494" data-time="1468716448">
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I'll laugh heartily if the Kiwi teams sweep the quarters. The Crusaders have the weakest team but they've only got the Lions so it's definitely possible
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I am not sure the LIons are a pushover. They have learned to run the ball unlike some of the other SA teams with effectiveness. I think it will be a close game.

KiwiMurph

Atmosphere should be interesting at Ellis Park - poor Lions fans havent had much to cheer about in Super Rugby - I believe thia will be their first ever home playoff game. You'd think they'd be able to pull a big crowd

taniwharugby

well resting the players for a week could be good fo rthem, or having a week off might be bad, some teams come off a bye week worse for it.
 
Crusaders should be fine too, they spent alot of last night watching the Canes :fishing:

canefan

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="broughie" data-cid="597499" data-time="1468717298">I am not sure the LIons are a pushover. They have learned to run the ball unlike some of the other SA teams with effectiveness. I think it will be a close game. </blockquote>They are playing the Saders so both teams come into the game off losses, albeit from teams at vastly different positions on the table. Given their history I wouldn't bet on the Lions but the Saders will need to really step it up

nzzp

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="canefan" data-cid="597507" data-time="1468718407">
They are playing the Saders so both teams come into the game off losses, albeit from teams at vastly different positions on the table. Given their history I wouldn't bet on the Lions but the Saders will need to really step it up</blockquote><a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.superxv.com/2016-super-rugby-play-offs-confirmed/">http://www.superxv.com/2016-super-rugby-play-offs-confirmed/</a> 
Just confirmation of times and venues 
Highlanders Friday half edit: seven 
Canes Saturday half seven 
Saders half two in the goddamn 
Chefs night dark five hundred 
Going to be a busy Sunday morning. How sweet would it be for all the Kiwis to win! 
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

GM1

Was trying to figure out who might get to host the final if they make it that far. Canes obviously if they keep winning. Haven't done every single combination but I think these would be the semi finals assuming both Hurricanes and Highlanders win their quarters. Travel factor before the final will be huge.
 
Hurricanes 1 v Crusaders 7
Highlanders 5 v Chiefs 6
 
Hurricanes 1 v Chiefs 6
Lions 2 v Highlanders 5
 
Hurricanes 1 v Crusaders 7
Stormers 3 v Highlanders 5
 
Hurricanes 1 v Highlanders 5
Lions 2 v Stormers 3

antipodean

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="nzzp" data-cid="597510" data-time="1468718947"><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.superxv.com/2016-super-rugby-play-offs-confirmed/'>http://www.superxv.com/2016-super-rugby-play-offs-confirmed/</a> Just confirmation of times and venues Highlanders Friday half nine</blockquote> That's half seven.

nzzp

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="antipodean" data-cid="597514" data-time="1468719552">That's half seven.</blockquote>
That is some crazy shit. Thanks for the tip... Six pm kick off in Canberra is half seven NZ time. I am amazed. Broadcasters own this competition. 
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

antipodean

Seems all a bit odd. Canberra is two hours behind.

Stargazer

This was posted on Twitter saying that it comes from the SANZAAR website. I checked and it does.
 
Times are NZ Times:
<img src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cnh9ujHVMAARHtV.jpg" alt="Cnh9ujHVMAARHtV.jpg">

Higgins

Think the problem in Canberra is that all three of the Raiders teams are playing at home on the Saturday afternoon with the first game (either Reserve Grade or Holden Cup) kicking of at something like 10.00am. The ground staff need as much time as possible to erase the Super Rugby advertising painted on the field and replace it with the NRL equivalent. I suppose the same goes for the electronic advertising hordings around the grounds as well.

Crash

I still can't farking belive that for all the NZ teams dominance throughout - we are rewarded with one home quarter :Bang_Head:

Nepia

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Crash" data-cid="597541" data-time="1468723217">
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I still can't farking belive that for all the NZ teams dominance throughout - we are rewarded with one home quarter :Bang_Head:
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Yep, it hasn't really dawned on me until just now (I've been catching up on the weekend's rugby as I was flying and then at a wedding Friday and Saturday) how stupid the finals of this conference are. It reminds me of 1994 when top qualifying HB had to travel down to a cold, wet, muddy and windswept Invercargill to play a final despite finishing top of the table because the idiotic NZRU decided that the top of the ladder doesn't get a home final it's just a reverse of the round robin game.
 
If they wanted to have conferences, and ensure SA teams make the final then just have conference play offs, then semis and then final.

The Silver Fern

Super Rugby - Who&#39;s it going to be?

Super Rugby - Who's it going to be?