Round 17 of the Super Rugby brought us the Reds toppling the Blues, the Rebels being slaughtered by the Crusaders and the Brumbies with a controlling win over the Waratahs. Check out our team of the week.
[one_third last=”no”]
1. James Slipper (Brumbies)
A nice controlled game from Slipper. Made his tackles (8/8) and scrummed well.
[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
2. Folau Fainga’a (Brumbies)
Big game with ball in hand. Ran 11 times for 53m and scored another try.
[/one_third]
[one_third last=”yes”]
3. Taniela Tupou (Reds)
Has started to bring some fire into his play. Big hits and steaming runs this week and even scored himself a nice try.
[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
4. Rory Arnold (Brumbies)
Another big week for the 2m tall lock. Ran 6 times for 26m and pinched one at lineout time. Another forward that picked up a try this week.
[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
5. Izack Rodda (Reds)
Joining Arnold in the second row – This looks like it will be the Wallabies combination. Rodda has been a master at the lineout and was again this week. He continued his workhorse like approach with 13 runs and 8 tackles.
[/one_third]
[one_third last=”yes”]
6. Lachlan Swinton (Waratahs)
Swinton brings intensity and physically the Waratahs haven’t had since Potgieter. Although he is still young and needs to hone his craft he had another solid week in defence making 11 tackles.
[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
7. Liam Wright (Reds)
Probably the best player on the park for the Reds this week. He didn’t miss a tackle (13/13) and stole the ball time and time again. Most imporantly he made a pilfer at fulltime which allowed the Reds to kick it out.
[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
8. Scott Higginbotham (Reds)
Playing his last game as Suncorp, Higginbotham played a blinder in attack scoring 2 tries and running 75m in the process.
[/one_third]
[one_third last=”yes”]
9. Joe Powell (Brumbies)
Another very strong performance and is finally starting to put his name on the reserve halfback spot for the Wallabies. Did a good job distributing, got through 8 tackles and made 8 runs.
[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
10. Christian Lealiifan0 (Brumbies)
Continued his rich vein of form this weekend and is another Brumbies player that is pushing for a World Cup spot. He got the better of Foley, made all his tackles (6/6) and kicked all 5 conversions. The form number 10 for Australia right now.
[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
11. Toni Pulu (Brumbies)
Finally starting to get his hands on the ball more to show what he is capable of. Pulu ran for 77m with 4 defenders beaten and 3 clean breaks.
[/one_third]
[one_third last=”yes”]
12. Samu Kerevi (Reds)
Kerevi steered the ship this week making sure they followed the gameplan by kicking into the corners. He also made 18 runs for 35m beating 8 defenders.
[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
13. Tevita Kuridrani (Brumbies)
Nothing too flashy this week. Ran hard for his 40m and made 11 tackles.
[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
14. Jock Campbell (Reds)
Campbell has been impressive since he earnt his starting spot on the wing. Another week where he ran for 53m with 3 defenders beaten and 3 clean breaks.
[/one_third]
[one_third last=”yes”]
15. Bryce Hegarty (Reds)
Mr Consistent for the Reds. Plays his supporting role extremely well and made a huge amount of metres this week (94).[/one_third]
On the fringe of selection:
Damien Fitzpartick – A workhorse for the Tahs. Made 14/14 tackles and ran for 22m this week.
Disappointments:
The Rebels – Without a few senior players on the field the Rebels completely fell apart and were put to the sword by the Crusaders. Will need to fix alot of their problems if they want to make finals and push further in the competition.
