Official Super Rugby 2016 Thread

Lions give Coetzee quota headache

Cape Town - The Lions may be the pride of South Africa right now having booked their spot in Saturday's Super Rugby final, but their success may pose a tricky selection headache for Springbok coach Allister Coetzee.

The Lions, under coach Johan Ackermann, have been the standout South African franchise in this year's competition and proved it once more when they dismantled the defending champion Highlanders in Saturday's semi-final.

As a result, large sections of the South African rugby community have been vocal on their desire to see Coetzee select more Lions players for the upcoming Rugby Championship.

Elton Jantjies, Warren Whiteley, Lionel Mapoe, Faf de Klerk, Ruan Combrinck, Jaco Kriel, Franco Mostert and Julian Redelinghuys were a part of Coetzee's squad for the series against Ireland, but performances from the likes of Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Malcolm Marx and Courtnall Skosan have not gone unnoticed.

But it becomes a bit tricky for Coetzee when one considers the transformation targets he has been given.

By the 2019 Rugby World Cup half (50%) of the Springbok squad will need to be made up of players of colour.

That is the non-negotiable rule laid down by government, and when one casts an eye over the Lions team at the moment they do not look like a bunch that will help Coetzee achieve those goals.

There were just THREE players of colour in the Lions' starting line-up against the Highlanders - Jantjies, Skosan and Mapoe - while there was just ONE player of colour on the bench in the form of Howard Mnisi.

That's a total of four out of 23 - or just over 17%.
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sport24
 
http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/w...t/news-story/a04d37e4999ec5abcda8518b4f0bad9a

Winners and losers from Steve Hansen’s All Blacks squad announcement

STEVE Hansen has announced his 32-man squad for The Rugby Championship, which kicks off with opening Bledisloe Cup match against the Wallabies on August 20.

WINNERS:

- Sonny Bill Williams
- Julian Savea
- Tawera Kerr-Barlow

LOSERS:

- Damian McKenzie
- Seta Tamanivalu
- Brad Shields
- Matt Todd

New Zealand squad

Forwards: Dane Coles, Codie Taylor, Nathan Harris, Wyatt Crockett, Charlie Faumuina, Owen Franks, Joe Moody, Ofa Tu’ungafasi, Brodie Retallick, Luke Romano, Patrick Tuipulotu, Samuel Whitelock, Sam Cane, Elliot Dixon, Jerome Kaino, Kieran Read (captain), Ardie Savea, Liam Squire.

Backs: Tawera Kerr-Barlow, T.J. Perenara, Aaron Smith, Beauden Barrett, Aaron Cruden, Lima Sopoaga, Ryan Crotty, Malakai Fekitoa, George Moala, Sonny Bill Williams, Israel Dagg, Waisake Naholo, Julian Savea, Ben Smith.
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Hansen is making early preparations, McKenzie still not an All Black...

Pic with players:

abssquadhanso.jpg

Hansen on McKenzie,

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/...steve-hansen-defends-axing-of-damian-mckenzie

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen defends axing of Damian McKenzie

Steve Hansen wants Damian McKenzie to feel disappointed.

It would be a fair bet to say there's little chance of him being let down on that score. Chiefs fullback McKenzie must have been gutted when told he had been dropped from the All Blacks' 32-man squad for the Rugby Championship.

All Blacks coach Hansen, speaking at the squad naming in Lincoln on Monday morning, threw McKenzie a bone when he indicated he would feature in his future plans, and a trip to the northern hemisphere for the end-of-season tour seems probable, but for the moment he is out in the cold.

The reasoning is this: the national selectors wanted to include three halfbacks to ensure they have plenty of cover in that position for when they play in South Africa and Argentina.
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The Aussie squad:

http://www.skysports.com/rugby-unio...med-in-australia-squad-for-rugby-championship

Adam Ashley-Cooper and Will Genia - who like Giteau and Mitchell play their club rugby abroad - are also included ahead of the opening Bledisloe Cup Test in Sydney.

"All of our eligible European-based players expressed a desire to play for the Wallabies during The Rugby Championship and that experience is invaluable," Cheika said.

"We have a very clear purpose in this team and we are prepared to work very hard to respect that purpose."

Squad: Allan Alaalatoa, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Adam Coleman, Quade Cooper, Kane Douglas, Scott Fardy, Israel Folau, Bernard Foley, Nick Frisby, Will Genia, Matt Giteau, James Hanson, Dane Haylett-Petty, Reece Hodge, Michael Hooper, Rob Horne, Sekope Kepu, Samu Kerevi, Tevita Kuridrani, Ben McCalman, Sean McMahon, Drew Mitchell, Luke Morahan, Stephen Moore, Dean Mumm, Nick Phipps, David Pocock, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Tom Robertson, Rob Simmons, Scott Sio, Will Skelton, James Slipper, Toby Smith, Lopeti Timani, Matt Toomua
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Snorre v2.0 will name his squad on Saturday.
 
^Think we need an Official International Rugby thread. The cricketers have one, so why not us normal people? :p
 
Week needs to get done with now, waiting for this final is just killing me.

Already put my superbru pick in as well.
 
thestaggy said:
During the Lions-Highlanders game the shock to me was seeing All Black-calibre players bent over and sucking air with 10-minutes still to play. And as Ben Smith conceded, altitude was no excuse. They were run off of their feet and one does not see that happen to a NZ side.
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Players won't readily admit it but the travel and altitude will have influenced them a lot. But the high pace the Lions like to play at will have exacerbated it.
 
Speaking of that, the travel will have an impact on the lions but won't that be offset a bit by going from a high altitude to a lower one?
 
Arzy said:
Speaking of that, the travel will have an impact on the lions but won't that be offset a bit by going from a high altitude to a lower one?
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It will certainly help in a high paced game, similar effect to endurace athetes training at altitude before a big race. It will take a while before those extra red blood cells leave their system...
 
http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/SuperRugby/super-rugby-final-sold-out-20160802-2

Super Rugby final sold out

Wellington - The Super Rugby final between the Hurricanes and Lions at Westpac Stadium on Saturday has sold out.
For the second year in a row the Hurricanes will play to a full house on their home ground in Wellington where there will be 36 500 fans in the stands at a venue the club has dubbed Our House this season.

Tickets were snapped up by the public after going on sale at midday on Tuesday including more than 2000 temporary seats installed by Westpac Stadium for the final.

Hurricanes chief executive Avan Lee said the response from fans had been fantastic.

"We've had great support all season and the team can't wait to play in front of a packed house on Saturday," he told the Hurricanes' official website.
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I see that there is rain predicted on Saturday, high temperature at 8 and a low at 6, and swirling winds.
 
Silly Lions could have had all that revenue and no stress of travelling ......... that was a dunce move in an otherwise awesome season for the team.
 
NZ_Wellington.PNG

Saturday 6 Aug 19:35 (NZ) / Saturday 6 Aug 09:35 (SA)

The temp is marked at 8 between 19:00-22:00, precipitation at 42%-37% and the wind at 31km/h-39km/h. This may obviously change between then and now.
 
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/...s-gift-boots-after-loss-to-Lions-in-semifinal

The Highlanders may have lost their Super Rugby semifinal but they won themselves some fans with their post-match actions.

After losing 42-30 to the Lions at Ellis Park on Sunday morning (NZ time), the team removed their boots and presented them to children in the crowd.

South African Facebook user Thinus Wentzel said the majority of the Highlanders' team took part in the gesture.

"These gents, or at least the vast majority of them, took off their rugby boots and gave it to children in the crowd," he posted on Facebook. "Some even shared their socks.

"I do not know the full history of this gesture, if it has symbolic intent or if it was just a spur of the moment thing. It did, however, earn them the respect of the 20,000 Lions supporters on our side of the stands."

Others commented that they had seen players taking their boots off, but were not sure what for. A spokesperson for the Highlanders told Fairfax on Tuesday the team had decided to give their boots away if they failed to advance to the final.
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No crying over spilt milk. My view on this is simply that if the Lions want to be viewed as the best they need to be able to win against any side no matter where they are playing.

The NZ teams came over here and were able to knock over other SA teams despite traveling etc. and we should be able to do the same.
 
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