Official Super Rugby 2016 Thread

[Mephisto_Helix]

And no news on Sopoaga's shoulder charge that led to injury? I see they got Emery but all hush on the other front.

 

[Fulcrum29]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...invited-to-join-new-zealand-rugby-sevens-team

Lulz,

Rock bottom: Sonny Bill Williams asks Dwayne Johnson to relieve New Zealand's injury woes



Got to love the banter.

 

[Fulcrum29]

I think it is the result of years of biased treatment at the expense of the SA team in any form of the game, be it super rugby, tri nations, world cup, rugby championship - it doesn't matter. The SA team is coming off second best in every single 50/50 call. Hell, even calls that are 100%, we manage to look around in disbelief. Think of Bizzie's double yellow carding a few years back. Think of Bryce Lawrence. In fact, we could lose a day here just recalling examples.

I have seen some nasty calls going towards the Australasian teams. Springbok supporters got all couched up against Richie McCaw, believing that the All Blacks are getting away with everything. Go watch ITM Cup games, then you will have a whole other perspective.

This year, the 2016 Super Rugby. Bad calls were made towards the Kiwis and I’m not talking about dangerous acts here. I can understand quite well why they have called to have neutrals.

Personally, in my opinion, supporters are too biased. I can agree though, 50/50 calls have sunk the Springboks on many occasions.

Since the Sharks has been called out, Gary Gold was wrong and his call was also wrong. Compare this to Michael Cheika which was suspended in 2014, a 6 months’ ban. Case in point.

 

[Fulcrum29]

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/c...adolo-banned-for-4-weeks-20160426-gof2pu.html

Super Rugby 2016: Crusaders' wing Nemani Nadolo banned for 4 weeks

Giant Crusaders winger Nemani Nadolo has been suspended for four weeks for a dangerous tackle during Sunday's record Super Rugby win over the Brumbies.

The ban means both the Queensland Reds and NSW Waratahs avoid having to contend with Nadolo's barnstorming runs and offloads when they face the high-flying Crusaders in coming weeks.

Cited after the game, Nadolo was banned by the SANZAAR judiciary on Tuesday for a lifting tackle on halfback Tomas Cubelli late in the first half of his team's 40-14 win at Canberra's GIO Stadium, the Brumbies' heaviest-ever home defeat.

I’m sure that the Tahs will receive this as good news. They have slowly picked up to show that they are the better Australian team. Should they be able to beat the Stormers, which I’m sure that they are currently capable to do, then the Saders will also be targetable.

Nadolo is a disciplined player, it is good to see that the panel decided on a reckless tackle than a deliberate tackle. Nadolo also plead guilty.

 

[Mephisto_Helix]

Jaco van Heerden the ref for the Bulls vs Force ......... good move by the Bulls to get their own ref touring with them. Master stroke Bullies.

 

[Vrotappel]

SANZAAR works in strange and mysterious ways.

 

[Fulcrum29]

Whooh, queue comments...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11629950

Explained: The Chiefs scrum controversy

New footage from last weekend's controversial Chiefs-Hurricanes Super Rugby match has emerged and is set to fuel claims Dave Rennie's team manipulated the game's rules to ensure depowered scrums at a critical point of the game.

Article and video in the link.

I must say, Namibia was close to pulling this one in the Rugby World Cup against the All Blacks. The Argentines has previously worked their way towards this situation.

Rennie may be honest though...

Asked about Tokolahi's injury, Rennie described it as "a little bit of a twinge in his back".

I have seen stranger cases; even players continue to play with concussions or little things which may turn out to be their last day playing the game.

All-in-all, say they did manipulate the game, then Tokolahi should speak up, also those in disagreement. That is New Zealand rugby, it is about being brothers. A team with no integrity or no morals has no place in Super Rugby.

 

[Fulcrum29]

SANZAAR works in strange and mysterious ways.

Which is largely run by the SA in SANZAAR, also the larger Super Rugby sponsorship has SA written all over it.

 

[Cray]

Whooh, queue comments...
All-in-all, say they did manipulate the game, then Tokolahi should speak up, also those in disagreement. That is New Zealand rugby, it is about being brothers. A team with no integrity or no morals has no place in Super Rugby.

That video looks fairly suspicious, not quite as blatant as the "blood capsule in the mouth" incident but still pretty dodgy.

 

[Fulcrum29]

That video looks fairly suspicious, not quite as blatant as the "blood capsule in the mouth" incident but still pretty dodgy.

It is dodgy, but there is little that the review panel can do about it now. I doubt that their rugby union will acknowledge that they manipulated the game. In my opinion everything medical must be made available to the panel, where these players can be reviewed and being denied to be selectable based on their medical by the panel themselves, similar as to suspensions when a review is called.

All they need to do now is to make Tokolahi unavailable this weekend, and make him selectable again by next weekend. A review could had suspended him another week or two based on medical reasons.

When the Sunwolves toured SA, they pulled two players due to medical reason, Yamada being one. They did not provide any detailed reason as to why they had withdrawn these players.

 

[Fulcrum29]

http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/SuperRugby/co-captains-back-for-stormers-20160428

Teams:

Stormers

15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Juan de Jongh (co-captain), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Schalk Burger, 7 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 6 Nizaam Carr, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Rynhardt Elstadt, 3 Frans Malherbe (co-captain), 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg.

Substitutes: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 JD Schickerling, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Brandon Thomson, 23 Huw Jones

Waratahs

15 Andrew Kellaway, 14 Reece Robinson, 13 Israel Folau, 12 Kurtley Beale, 11 Rob Horne, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Jed Holloway, 7 Michael Hooper (captain), 6 Dean Mumm, 5 Will Skelton, 4 David Dennis, 3 Tom Robertson, 2 Hugh Roach, 1 Paddy Ryan

Substitutes: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Jeremy Tilse, 18 Angus Ta’avao, 19 Sam Lousi, 20 Wycliff Palu, 21 Matt Lucas, 22 David Horwitz, 23 Matt Carraro

I so hope that the Tahs will be competitive, and not snoozing their way through the 80 minutes, because that is one good team. I want to see a battle.

 

[FoXtroT]

Anyone else having difficulty streaming on supersport?

 

[OrbitalDawn]

Anyone else having difficulty streaming on supersport?

I'm not streaming currently but it's pretty much always up to schit.

 

[Stevi]

Are the Chiefs down to 12 men yet?

 

[OrbitalDawn]

Sharks playing well at the moment. Showing some confidence.

 

[bandooq]

Chiefs 15 - Sharks 15 (40th minute)

 

[bandooq]

2 tries apiece.

 

[OrbitalDawn]

The Du Preez brothers are like a bloody brick wall in defence.

 

[Mephisto_Helix]

Coenie just doesn't give a toss, he gives away penalties and all he does is grin

 

[OrbitalDawn]

Anyone else notice how the refs don't seem to give much of a toss about going off your feet at the breakdown anymore?