The Rugby Championship 2014

[waiopehu oldboy]

Pinched from PlanetRugby this morning:


The list of referees to take charge of this year's Rugby Championship clashes has been released, with Jaco Peyper up first in Sydney.

Peyper will officiate the opening match between Australia and New Zealand, as the All Blacks look to break the all-time record for consecutive Test wins.

John Lacey will take charge of the other opening fixture on August 16, South Africa v Argentina, in Pretoria.

Other notable appointments include Wayne Barnes taking charge of this year's clash at Ellis Park between the Springboks and All Blacks, with Jérôme Garcès taking charge for the reverse fixture in Wellington.

August 16

Australia v New Zealand at ANZ Stadium, Sydney
Referee: Jaco Peyper
Assistant Referees: Romain Poite, Stuart Berry
TMO: Shaun Veldsman

South Africa v Argentina at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Referee: John Lacey
Assistant Referees: Steve Walsh, Marius Mitrea
TMO: Simon McDowell

August 23

New Zealand v Australia at Eden Park, Auckland
Referee: Romain Poite
Assistant Referees: Jaco Peyper, Stuart Berry
TMO: Shaun Veldsman

Argentina v South Africa at Padre Ernesto Martearena Stadium, Salta
Referee: Steve Walsh
Assistant Referees: John Lacey, Marius Mitrea
TMO: Vinny Munro

September 6

Australia v South Africa at Patersons Stadium, Perth
Referee: George Clancy
Assistant Referees: Glen Jackson, Mike Fraser
TMO: Ben Skeen

New Zealand v Argentina at McLean Park, Napier
Referee: Pascal Gaüzère
Assistant Referees: Jérôme Garcès, Rohan Hoffmann
TMO: Peter Marshall

September 13

Australia v Argentina at Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast
Referee: Glen Jackson
Assistant Referees: George Clancy, Mike Fraser
TMO: Ben Skeen

New Zealand v South Africa at Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Referee: Jérôme Garcès
Assistant Referees: Pascal Gaüzère, Rohan Hoffmann
TMO: Peter Marshall

September 27

South Africa v Australia at Newlands, Cape Town
Referee: Nigel Owens
Assistant Referees: Wayne Barnes, Mathieu Raynal
TMO: Graham Hughes

Argentina v New Zealand at Estadio Ciudad de La Plata, Buenos Aires
Referee: Craig Joubert
Assistant Referees: Jérôme Garcès, Leighton Hodges
TMO: Deon van Blommestein

October 4

South Africa v New Zealand at Ellis Park, Johannesburg
Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant Referees: Pascal Gaüzère, JP Doyle
TMO: Graham Hughes

Argentina v Australia at Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza
Referee: Nigel Owens
Assistant Referees: Craig Joubert, Leighton Hodges
TMO: Deon van Blommestein

Bledisloe Cup

October 18

Australia v New Zealand at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Referee: Craig Joubert
Assistant Referees: Jaco Peyper, Marius van der Westhuizen
TMO: Shaun Veldsman

 

[Scoey]

Breakdown of games into home and away for each team (countries each game is played in, in brackets).

NZ Away, Home, Home, Home, Away, Away (AUS, NZ, NZ, NZ, ARG, SA)
AUS Home, Away, Home, Home, Away, Away (AUS, NZ, AUS, AUS, SA, ARG)
SA Home, Away, Away, Away, Home, Home (SA, ARG, AUS, NZ, SA, SA)
ARG Away, Home, Away, Away, Home, Home (SA, ARG, NZ, AUS, ARG, ARG)

Not sure who it favours, if anyone, but AUS & NZ have got very little travel early on which could give them a good start and a bit of momentum, although if it's tight towards the pointy end of the comp SA and ARG have the benefit of playing their last games at home and finishing strong.

 

[qwerty51]

Do they ever plan on changing the draw?

 

[Brumby Runner]

Breakdown of games into home and away for each team (countries each game is played in, in brackets).

NZ Away, Home, Home, Home, Away, Away (AUS, NZ, NZ, NZ, ARG, SA)
AUS Home, Away, Home, Home, Away, Away (AUS, NZ, AUS, AUS, SA, ARG)
SA Home, Away, Away, Away, Home, Home (SA, ARG, AUS, NZ, SA, SA)
ARG Away, Home, Away, Away, Home, Home (SA, ARG, NZ, AUS, ARG, ARG)

Not sure who it favours, if anyone, but AUS & NZ have got very little travel early on which could give them a good start and a bit of momentum, although if it's tight towards the pointy end of the comp SA and ARG have the benefit of playing their last games at home and finishing strong.

Pretty much the same draw as last year, and imo gives a very strong preference to NZ. By the time they play away, allowing that Sydney is almost a home game anyway, they could well have the championship wrapped up. I'd like to see it changed but I recognise that would also mean the Aus program would be more difficult.

And I see that the Aus scrum will again be penalised off the park in Auckland. Who, in their right mind, woulkd appoint Poite to referee any game at all?

 

[qwerty51]

It is the same draw.. in fact it's mostly the same stadiums too. For the past 2 years.

 

[BDA]

Agree re Poite. he appears to go into games with the preconception that the Wallabies are aiming to collapse every scrum.

 

[Pfitzy]

Agree re Poite. he appears to go into games with the preconception that the Wallabies are aiming to collapse every scrum.

Poite the twat can get fucked. If us busting the frogs a new one doesn't change perceptions, nothing will.

 

[BDA]

Romain Poite will probably be doing the same thing from the sideline in the first bledisloe

 

[qwerty51]

Poite the twat can get fucked. If us busting the frogs a new one doesn't change perceptions, nothing will.

That probably didn't help, towelling up his side's scrum, must've done it illegally!

 

[barbarian]

I'm more worried about Stuart Berry being within 1000km of a test match. What is fucking wrong with the world?

 

[Sully]

How does Berry still have a gig?

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

[Pfitzy]

Well, being in South Africa he's probably making moves like these two:

http://blackpeopleloveus.com/

 

[Scoey]

Pretty much the same draw as last year, and imo gives a very strong preference to NZ. By the time they play away, allowing that Sydney is almost a home game anyway, they could well have the championship wrapped up. I'd like to see it changed but I recognise that would also mean the Aus program would be more difficult.

NZ do have a strong advantage but it's less to do with the draw and more to do with the fact that they are probably the better team in the comp - the draw just helps. AUS and NZ's draw is pretty much the same. I would say if the first AUS v NZ game was in Brisbane over Sydney then it would be the same draw as Suncorp tends to be our best ground in the same way that Eden Park is for the AB's.

For a team other than NZ to win the RC then I'm pretty sure they will need to beat the AB's in NZ.

Having said all of that, changing the draw each year is probably a good idea.

 

[Braveheart81]

I wonder if part of the reason behind the scheduling not changing is the ARU doesn't want to have Wallaby home games on the weekends of the AFL and NRL Grand Finals.

They are the weekends we are playing away in South Africa and Argentina.

 

[Train Without a Station]

It's a 4 team competition that tries to capture cross continental tours the least convenient way for each team. How much can they change exactly? Does it really matter anyway?

 

[Braveheart81]

It's a 4 team competition that tries to capture cross continental tours the least convenient way for each team. How much can they change exactly? Does it really matter anyway?

You'd need to keep the tours together (i.e. Australia going to SA then Argentina whilst NZ goes to Arg then SA) but you could flip the order around quite easily.

Aside from the NRL/AFL grand finals, the three Bledisloes would then be clumped together but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Yeah that was my thought. The only real potential change would be to just reverse the schedule.

Probably benefits Australia to maintain profile immediately after the season with the Bledisloe and home tests. If we kicked off with 2 tests in different time zones people would likely lost interest and drop off for the home tests slightly.

 

[MajorlyRagerly]

We open up vs the form team of the june tours, in their home ground full of 80,000 people with a referee who has proven he ain't a big fan of us, and we have some sort of advantage? Then goto finish up consecutive weekends at La Plata, followed by Ellis farking park?

If we were opening at Eden Park with Craig Joubert... I'd see a point. But we are bookended with probably 2 of the 3 toughest games it's possible for us to play (Poms at Twix the other).

 

[Dan54]

Don't start making sense MR, it easier to just suggest it is s skewed in ABs favour.
I was under the impression that ARU had an agreement with NSW government that first Bledisloe would be played in Sydney for 5 years or so?? And imagine if the home tests were played when finals of other codes were on, perhaps there would be a little bit of whinging then too! Good to see the Refs are copping it already too!

 

[BDA]

Yeh I don't see how the Bleck get any advantage. Although Australia have in recent years been notoriously slow starters so I would prefer not to face the blecks first.