Super XV Round 13 Preview and Live Match Thread

[Pete C (Kiwireddevil)]

A round of upsets last weekend has seen the competition table shaken up a bit, with the playoffs picture a lot more open. In New Zealand and Australia the Chiefs and Brumbies have the inside running on Conference Winner’s berths, as both teams have 8-point leads on their nearest domestic rivals; with teams having five or six matches left to play. In South Africa the Bulls and Stormers are fighting tooth and nail for the Conference title, and whoever finishes second in that race faces a tough fight with the Crusaders, Sharks,
Highlanders and Hurricanes over the three wildcard playoff berths.

Match Previews on the Journal are here:
http://www.v2journal.com/super-xv-2012-preview-round-13.html

[aucklandlaurie]

Pretty much agree with Peter cresswell except I am not so sure the Sharks are going to have it all their own way.

Jamie Joseph has put Andrew Hore on the bench and is starting Jason Rutledge,which has got a few here scratching their heads.

[Biltong]

I've picked

Hurricanes over Brumbies
Bulls over highlanders
Crusaders over Blues
Reds over Lions by plenty
Sharks over cheetahs (they will miss Goosen and Sias Ebersohn has also been dropped)
Stormers over waratahs by a few
Rebels over force

[Pete C (Kiwireddevil)]

The Hurricanes lead 15-13 at half-time, but going into the last 5 minutes the Brumbies lead 37-25. Four tries each, but Andre Taylor's boot hasn't matched Zack Holmes's. And it's hailing in Wellington.

[Pete C (Kiwireddevil)]

Final score stays Hurricanes 25 - Brumbies 37. That seriously dents the 'Canes' playoff chances

[Biltong]

And my sportsguru predictions

[Pete C (Kiwireddevil)]

And my sportsguru predictions

Mine too

[AsLongAsBut100ofUs]

And my sportsguru predictions

Mine too

+1

[Pal Joey]

Consolation win for me.
Ironically, if the Canes had scored on that last play instead of losing it over the line I would have hit the mark exactly.

[Biltong]

LB, only because you are an Ozzie, and if in doubt one goes for your own teams.

[Pal Joey]

Problem arises when you have no choice...like the Rebels v Force.

Crusaders absolutely smashing the Blues. 31 zip at HT.

[Pete C (Kiwireddevil)]

Problem arises when you have no choice...like the Rebels v Force.

Crusaders absolutely smashing the Blues. 31 zip at HT.

[chewed_mintie]

I can't fathom what is going wrong at the Blues. There is no collective desire to do the basics well. They have out in a mountain of work on defence but the Crusaders are still finding a way through.

Weepu and Nonu (who has been nonuxistant) must be really despairing over leaving Wellington now....

[aucklandlaurie]

I know the scoreboard gives me absolutely no support in this opinion,but I saw a lot of good things in the Blues performance to night.

Anyway I can hear Greg Glark in the other room, so its off to see how Quade goes.

[kiakahaaotearoa]

Steve Hansen will be sleeping a bit better now. If Crusaders can repeat that performance against a side in form and at the top of the table, then he'll sleep like a baby.

Hopefully this puts to bed the theory that Carter could play at 12. He should only be picked at first five and that alone. Much more venom in the Crusaders pack and Sam Whitelock had a dominant display. Blackadder must have torn strips out of them after that loss to the Rebels.

[Gunner]

Good (great) win for Highlanders today.
Any win ova Nth Transvaal a good one.
Gotta ask why do Bulls play so negative til they are 10 pts down?
They much betta than that.

[Biltong]

Stormers aren't going to win the super XV, they play 40 minutes and then they become pedantic.

Jean de Villiers once again couldn't string one decent pass to a player in space in the whole match.

Aplon, Juan de Jongh and Habana need to be introduced to their 12.

I hope to hell Jean de Villiers isn't selected at 12 for the bok team, sadly with my luck JDV will probably be the captain.

[Mr Fishpaste]

And compare that to the Sharks - Cheetahs match where both backlines were doing plenty of running (and both sets of forwards were doing plenty of bulldozing: Strauss and Bismark in particular)

[aucklandlaurie]

To be honest I think you south African guys should be pretty happy with what we are seeing from your players, The springbok team this year will get back to doing the basics right, and we know what that means!!!

[Biltong]

We have a few positions where Meyer should be pretty excited about, Beast and Coenie at loose head, Bismarck and Strauss at hooker, Bekker, Etzebeh and Kruger at lock in particular

[aucklandlaurie]

biltong

I'm not going to be so presumptious as to tell SA selectors who they should or should not select ,but you gotta admit there are options as to how you play your opposition and selecting a team to carry that out. In fact I can see you guys being a bit of a pain later in the year.

[Biltong]

Laurie the problem is it is very difficult to know what Meyer is thinking. Because he hasn't coached in SA over the past few years I have no idea how he sees a modern day gameplan

[Zander]

We have a few positions where Meyer should be pretty excited about, Beast and Coenie at loose head, Bismarck and Strauss at hooker, Bekker, Etzebeh and Kruger at lock in particular

What about Greyling as well at loose head, or is it not quite up to international standard?

[Biltong]

Greyling needs to work on his scrumming the same as Kitshoff who struggled yesterday against a strong Waratahs Scrum, Kitshoff is only 20 so he has time, Greyling is already mid 20's but he and Werner Kruger didn't do very well in the away leg in NZ last year

[aucklandlaurie]

I dont think SA has to worry about being modern or not, just do what you guys do best.

I've watched the Stormers,Bulls Sharks and Cheetahs this weekend and from those four packs he has all the possession,horsepower and patience to strangle any International team, then add to that backs that will give you points and a bench to maintain momentum and provide impact and you guys will be very hard to beat.

As a Kiwi we have to see how you go about it, so that we can get some ideas as to how to combat it a month or two later.

[aucklandlaurie]

Greyling needs to work on his scrumming the same as Kitshoff who struggled yesterday against a strong Waratahs Scrum, Kitshoff is only 20 so he has time, Greyling is already mid 20's but he and Werner Kruger didn't do very well in the away leg in NZ last year

Biltong, maybe I'm a bit of a fool but Greyling had IMO a very good game last year in the Trintns against Australia.What I like about this guy is the work he does defending your breakdown area.

[Biltong]

Laurie, there is little wrong with his general play, I remember the great dummy and try he scored earlier this season in the super xv, as far as pilfering at the breakdown goes Beast and Coenie in combination with Bismarck is fantastic

[aucklandlaurie]

Biltong

In a game you put down about a dozen scrums (wild guess average0 per game but for every scrum you have three or four breakdowns.. which do you think you should select to dominate? moreover South africa will be more than comfortable holding on to possession via breakdowns as opposed to set piece situations when possession is at large. personally,you cant go wrong.

[Biltong]

True, but I still have very vivid memories of how our Scrum struggled over the past few years when John Smit went to prop, and looking at how England pulverised Ireland during the six nations based on only their Scrum gives me enough pause to not want to go down that route again

[aucklandlaurie]

biltong
I can tell you now that smit wont be propping youre scrum this time next month. in fact no other country on the planet has better options at prop (both sides) than you guys.

[Biltong]

Not sure I will entirly agree with you Laurie, loose head yes there are suddenly half a dosen but tight head is a different story

[Pal Joey]

Got 7/7 this weekend. My best round in a while.

[Biltong]

Saw you got the yellow cap and overtook me.

[Pal Joey]

Saw you got the yellow cap and overtook me.

Love the emoticom... Saffa Q & A? ha ha....

[Biltong]

Saw you got the yellow cap and overtook me.

Love the emoticom... Saffa Q & A? ha ha....

Yeah, and that is what happens at ruck time, imagine what we could do if we had a chair, table, dark room and a spotlight.

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