Super Rugby General Chat

[Wilson]

Alrighty, nearly kick off for the season. I'm going to put in my predictions for the final ladder:

1. Crusaders - bleak but they'll win again with Levi Aumua literally murdering people in the midfield, not too much change to the roster
2. Hurricanes - Lost Ardie Savea? bummer dude but still got cattle
3. Chiefs - lost too many players to challenge top 2
4. Blues
5. Rebels - backs against the wall, best and final season. If Carter goes down we boned.
6. Highlanders
7. Reds - Got the Kiss of life
8. Drua - Get into the finals by never losing a home match, lose game immediately away from home in finals
9. Brumbies
10. 'Tahs Finish off strong but losing streak of 6 games at the start of the season too much to overcome
11. Force - White & Donaldson to form most boring pairing in Australia, questions form why they renewed coach early
12. Moana - lost their one good player to the Crusaders

That's a lot of faith in Jamie Joseph to turn things around at the Highlanders after they lost something like a full 23 from their squad...

I'm having a hell of a time placing the kiwi teams though, coaching change at all but the chiefs and a lot of tip end player movement. None of the squads look too weakened given their recruitment (maybe the Chiefs and I really don't know about the Cane's without Ardie) but I think it might be a slow start for all of them as they fit the pieces back together with the new coaches in charge. The early weeks of the draw could have a huge bearing on how it all shakes out.

 

[Dctarget]

might have to bump down the Rebels from 11th to 12th after news they're running on a skeleton crew this year. So grim. Might go volunteer my camera services now.

 

[Wilson]

might have to bump down the Rebels from 11th to 12th after news they're running on a skeleton crew this year. So grim. Might go volunteer my camera services now.

That's going to be the killer. I think they might start strong, backs to the wall, but with no money or staff there's not going to be much ability to adapt to any of the challenges that come up in season. They don't have the benefit of balanced books, a rich backer and a clear external enemy the force had in their dead man walking year.

 

[Wilson]

Huge if true:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1757678943782764632

All super rugby teams to be named on Wednesday, big tick of approval from me for the new super rugby commission so far.

 

[RugbyReg]

With the greatest of respect, I trust the rebels graphic designer was one of the ones made redundant.

 

[LeCheese]

With the greatest of respect, I trust the rebels graphic designer was one of the ones made redundant.

I don't care if it's scribbles on a sheet of paper photographed with a 2005 Motorola Razr tbh, I just want teams uploaded

 

[Spamnoodle]

BIt exclusionary for the poor old Indian Ocean facing Force though....

Adds to the conspiracy theories they love to love.

 

[dusk]

Alrighty, nearly kick off for the season. I'm going to put in my predictions for the final ladder:

1. Crusaders - bleak but they'll win again with Levi Aumua literally murdering people in the midfield, not too much change to the roster
2. Hurricanes - Lost Ardie Savea? bummer dude but still got cattle
3. Chiefs - lost too many players to challenge top 2
4. Blues
5. Rebels - backs against the wall, best and final season. If Carter goes down we boned.
6. Highlanders
7. Reds - Got the Kiss of life
8. Drua - Get into the finals by never losing a home match, lose game immediately away from home in finals
9. Brumbies
10. 'Tahs Finish off strong but losing streak of 6 games at the start of the season too much to overcome
11. Force - White & Donaldson to form most boring pairing in Australia, questions form why they renewed coach early
12. Moana - lost their one good player to the Crusaders

Honestly, from the past 2 trial matches Donaldson has been playing pretty well. Also, Issak will be starting with White to finish off the match.

 

[Dan54]

Alrighty, nearly kick off for the season. I'm going to put in my predictions for the final ladder:

1. Crusaders - bleak but they'll win again with Levi Aumua literally murdering people in the midfield, not too much change to the roster
2. Hurricanes - Lost Ardie Savea? bummer dude but still got cattle
3. Chiefs - lost too many players to challenge top 2
4. Blues
5. Rebels - backs against the wall, best and final season. If Carter goes down we boned.
6. Highlanders
7. Reds - Got the Kiss of life
8. Drua - Get into the finals by never losing a home match, lose game immediately away from home in finals
9. Brumbies
10. 'Tahs Finish off strong but losing streak of 6 games at the start of the season too much to overcome
11. Force - White & Donaldson to form most boring pairing in Australia, questions form why they renewed coach early
12. Moana - lost their one good player to the Crusaders

I struggling to work it out really Dc perhaps I will go crazy and suggest
Blues/ Like the look of their pack and coach
Chiefs (lost a few but still got a fair few.
Crusaders, they have genuinely lost some telling players,no big Sam, Richie etc,Codie out for most , and very iffy at 10 for first part of comp
Canes -because they my team, lost Ardie but we still got bloody good loosies
Brumbies-make no pretence on knowing a hell of a lot about Aussie teams, haven't really studied them as yet.
Reds
Drua -got a feeling these boys will keep getting better
Rebels do think they have a good line up from what I seen
Clan, this is a team that needs a couple of years, very much invested in youth
Tahs
MP (Moana Pasifika)
Force
I really believe top 6 places could swap around as well as bottom 6. And have no confidence I am right, maybe a bit of picking with heart too.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Alrighty, nearly kick off for the season. I'm going to put in my predictions for the final ladder:

1. Crusaders - bleak but they'll win again with Levi Aumua literally murdering people in the midfield, not too much change to the roster
2. Hurricanes - Lost Ardie Savea? bummer dude but still got cattle
3. Chiefs - lost too many players to challenge top 2
4. Blues
5. Rebels - backs against the wall, best and final season. If Carter goes down we boned.
6. Highlanders
7. Reds - Got the Kiss of life
8. Drua - Get into the finals by never losing a home match, lose game immediately away from home in finals
9. Brumbies
10. 'Tahs Finish off strong but losing streak of 6 games at the start of the season too much to overcome
11. Force - White & Donaldson to form most boring pairing in Australia, questions form why they renewed coach early
12. Moana - lost their one good player to the Crusaders

Not too outrageous.

I'd have the Force higher. I think they will be very hard to beat and home and have built a bit of squad depth through important positions.

Brumbies above the Reds. I just think they know how to win close games and will accumulate Ws.

Rebels are on a knifes edge. They have the players to be a good side (lacking a really good 9) but so much depends on the organisation and their future. Have seen it in so many sports around the world that off field distractions as much as they love to say where just worried about the game can and will derail a season like nothing else.

 

[KiwiM]

That's a lot of faith in Jamie Joseph to turn things around at the Highlanders after they lost something like a full 23 from their squad...

I'm having a hell of a time placing the kiwi teams though, coaching change at all but the chiefs

Highlanders haven't changed coaches. It's still Clarke Dermody. Jamie Joseph's role is head of rugby looking at recruitment etc

 

[Dan54]

Highlanders haven't changed coaches. It's still Clarke Dermody. Jamie Joseph's role is head of rugby looking at recruitment etc

Seems he working with coaches too mate, helping them plan and game plans etc. But as you say, not really head coach etc, just quietly pulling strings in background.

 

[Wilson]

Highlanders haven't changed coaches. It's still Clarke Dermody. Jamie Joseph's role is head of rugby looking at recruitment etc

It's less of a change yes, but I suspect he's going to be pretty involved coming in. Bringing in a highly credentialed former coach as director of rugby still looks like a coaching change to me. But for them it's probably more the number of players they've lost, including a bunch of their stars like Smith and Frizell.

For what it's worth I do think the changes are mostly positive and they'll improve this year, I just think it'll take them a while to put it all together and I don't expect them to rocket up the table quite so much.

 

[Strewthcobber]

For what it's worth - here is a really basic "strength of schedule" based on each team's number of wins in Super Rugby last year (includes finals)

MP (Moana Pasifika) and Waratahs have the hardest schedule - in aggregate, they play teams who had the most wins last year

Drua/Brumbies have the easiest

Team	Total - opponent wins last year
Moana Pasifika	116​
NSW Waratahs	114​
Hurricanes	113​
Crusaders	110​
Melbourne Rebels	109​
Western Force	108​
Blues	107​
Highlanders	107​
Queensland Reds	101​
Chiefs	99​
ACT Brumbies	95​
Fijian Drua	95​

 

[Wilson]

A few updates on the Wednesday team naming:
- Teams will be named at 11AM AWST/1pm AEST/2pm AEDT/4pm NZST (will be 2pm AEST when daylight savings ends)
- New Stan show on Wednesday night called "The Call Up" with McArdle and Turinui to go through them.

 

[The Marketing Pigeon]

A few updates on the Wednesday team naming:
- Teams will be named at 11AM AWST/1pm AEST/2pm AEDT/4pm NZST (will be 2pm AEST when daylight savings ends)
- New Stan show on Wednesday night called "The Call Up" with McArdle and Turinui to go through them.

Excellent upgrade on the content on offer and fan engagement

 

[Tomthumb]

Highlanders haven't changed coaches. It's still Clarke Dermody. Jamie Joseph's role is head of rugby looking at recruitment etc

They wouldn't have brought him back if they thought Dermody was doing a good job

 

[Rob42]

A few updates on the Wednesday team naming:
- Teams will be named at 11AM AWST/1pm AEST/2pm AEDT/4pm NZST (will be 2pm AEST when daylight savings ends)
- New Stan show on Wednesday night called "The Call Up" with McArdle and Turinui to go through them.

This is good, though I suspect with the earlier publication of teams, we'll see some more bracketing of players, or "TBC", either due to injuries or coaches wanting to obfuscate.

 

[Wilson]

This is good, though I suspect with the earlier publication of teams, we'll see some more bracketing of players, or "TBC", either due to injuries or coaches wanting to obfuscate.

There was never much of that when the Australian teams were all committed to this schedule, only the occasional legitimate late changes. Some coaches might try and fox a bit but I doubt it will be a significant problem. Injuries otherwise happen but again they're a relatively small percentage of the players named.

Most injury enforced changes happen during the warm up and recovering players are already often given until the last possible moment to prove fitness, so I don't see the Wednesday team naming changing much there compared to the previous ~48 hours before the match.

 

[Dan54]

This is good, though I suspect with the earlier publication of teams, we'll see some more bracketing of players, or "TBC", either due to injuries or coaches wanting to obfuscate.

I think naming teams for Sunday games on a Wednesdayis probably be where there will be most chnages, but really doesn't worry me when they named. If they make it Wednesday and it going to somehow get more people watching good on them.