RUGBY: Lions supporters thread !

[walterl]

please join my pool at superbru (www.superbru.com) if you are a lions fan! The pool code is batepull

 

[walterl]

Franco named as Super 15 captain

http://www.lionsworld.co.za/news.asp#news02

 

[AlphaBravo]

To get into the S15 final you have to be one of the two top finishers in your country, and if you are second you have to be in the top three second places from all threee countries, very tough indeed. Go lions!!

 

[cr@zydude]

To get into the S15 final you have to be one of the two top finishers in your country, and if you are second you have to be in the top three second places from all threee countries, very tough indeed. Go lions!!

Not true. In theory 4 of the 6 play off places can come from 1 country.

 

[Creag]

Should be a good season for the Lions. Signed some good players in off season.

 

[walterl]

Not true. In theory 4 of the 6 play off places can come from 1 country.

To be sure to qualify you have to either be top of your country, or be in the top 3 finishers that didn't win their conference

 

[cr@zydude]

To qualify you have to either be top of your country, or be in the top 3 finishers that didn't win their conference

That's right. Also the 3 conference winners get rankings 1,2,3 and the other qualifiers get 4,5,6. It is not possible for a non-conference winner to get a ranking higher than 4.

 

[APoc184]

That's right. Also the 3 conference winners get rankings 1,2,3 and the other qualifiers get 4,5,6. It is not possible for a non-conference winner to get a ranking higher than 4.

Yes it is.
If the 2nd team in the NZ conference has more log points than the AUS and RSA conference winners they will place 2nd on the 1,2,3,4,5,6 Log.

After the round robin matches end and the 6 "finalists" are determined, everybody gets tossed into one log again and it is then ranked according to log points earned in the round robin matches.

 

[AlphaBravo]

Yes it is.
If the 2nd team in the NZ conference has more log points than the AUS and RSA conference winners they will place 2nd on the 1,2,3,4,5,6 Log.

After the round robin matches end and the 6 "finalists" are determined, everybody gets tossed into one log again and it is then ranked according to log points earned in the round robin matches.

So you think the Lions has a chance to be one of the top 6 finishers? It means that they have to perform on the same level as the top two teams from each conference.

 

[cr@zydude]

Yes it is.
If the 2nd team in the NZ conference has more log points than the AUS and RSA conference winners they will place 2nd on the 1,2,3,4,5,6 Log.

After the round robin matches end and the 6 "finalists" are determined, everybody gets tossed into one log again and it is then ranked according to log points earned in the round robin matches.

I'll re-check, but I'm quite sure that the conference winners get 1,2,3. This is done to ensure that each country hosts at least 1 play off match. The spots are decided in order, first 1,2,3 for the conference winners, then 4,5,6 for the wild cards.

 

[APoc184]

I'll re-check, but I'm quite sure that the conference winners get 1,2,3. This is done to ensure that each country hosts at least 1 play off match. The spots are decided in order, first 1,2,3 for the conference winners, then 4,5,6 for the wild cards.

You might be right, will also check from my side. All these changes are confusing as hell.

 

[APoc184]

I'll re-check, but I'm quite sure that the conference winners get 1,2,3. This is done to ensure that each country hosts at least 1 play off match. The spots are decided in order, first 1,2,3 for the conference winners, then 4,5,6 for the wild cards.

You might be right, will also check from my side. All these changes are confusing as hell.

I just checked and I apologise. You are correct.

Conference winners get 1,2,3 irrespective of log points. So Australian teams can finish with the lowest log points and still get a play-off spot. And then 4,5,6 goes to next highest on log points irrespective of country.

Eish.

 

[cr@zydude]

I just checked and I apologise. You are correct.

Conference winners get 1,2,3 irrespective of log points. So Australian teams can finish with the lowest log points and still get a play-off spot. And then 4,5,6 goes to next highest on log points irrespective of country.

Eish.

An Aus (or in theory an SA or NZ) team can finish 11th, and still host a home play off. If one country's teams finish 11th to 15th, then their top team (11th) still gets the number 3 ranking.

Another thing to remember is that after the 'round-robin' phase, only rankings matter, not log position. The draw is re-seeded, not fixed bracket, but pairings work only on rankings. As an example, if the numer 3 (a conference winner) was number 11 on the log, and number 4 (number 3 on the log) both make it to the semis then the team ranked 1 would play the team ranked 4 (number 3) on the log, and number 2 would play number 3 (number 11). Even though The number 1 ranked team may be better of playing the number 3 ranked team, due to log position, the ties are based on rankings.

The system is confusing to most people, as this type of system doesn't really get used in SA. Most US sports work like this.

 

[cr@zydude]

This has been report for a while, but is now confirmed:

Speculation that MTN will be the new sponsor of the Lions' Super Rugby team ended on Thursday when the cellular service provided confirmed that it had struck a title sponsorship deal with the Johannesburg franchise.

Officials at the company's offices in Roodepoort would not reveal the cost implications of the new partnership, but earlier reports in the Sunday Times suggested that MTN had committed R20 million a year for three years.

The last time MTN was involved in rugby sponsorship was back in 1998 with the East Rand-based Falcons team.

Times Live

 

[Mephisto_Helix]

Well they'll need all the players and sponsors they can get to not finish wooden spoon again *



*first poke of the season

 

[walterl]

I've added 2 video clips of the 2011 jersey here: http://www.lionsworld.co.za/download.asp and MTN is the new Lions sponsor: http://www.lionsworld.co.za/news.asp#news03

 

[dal2000]

wow you guys have some awesome looking jerseys, sarcasm intended btw. Nice big fat MTN with yellow in the center, looks really disgusting imo

 

[walterl]

Lions name 36-man squad for Neo Africa Tri-Series

http://www.lionsworld.co.za/news.asp#news04

 

[walterl]

So the Lions are playing the Stormers in a pre-season match tomorrow evening...Stormers picked an almost full strength side, Lions just named a 36 man squad. What do you think will happen?

 

[SEF]

Stormers to win by 5 - 10 points.