Brisbane Tens Day 1 - Winners and Losers
Day 1 of the Brisbane Tens saw low crowds take away the headlines from some of the action-packed displays of rugby. There are suggestions the Tens could be headed to New Zealand after just 11,430 supporters showed up on Friday at Suncorp Stadium.
The Chiefs, Crusaders, and Blues went unbeaten to top each of their Pools while the Hurricanes and Highlanders finished with one win and one loss each.
The Chiefs look formidable with Tim Nanai-Williams showing his class throughout the day. He looks like a favourite to take home the MVP award if the Chiefs have another successful run on day two. A controversial no-try helped them overcome the Highlanders 17-12 before they pasted the French club Pau 31-7.
The Hurricanes were a major disappointment in an error-ridden display first up against a clinical Crusaders side who punished them 22-0. The Hurricanes squeaked past Fiji 12-5 in their final match of the day while the Crusaders then put the Brumbies to the sword 31-7.
The hometown Reds went winless on the day, after getting thumped by the Blues 29-7 before losing at the death against the Rebels 21-17 after their captain Samu Kerevi was yellow carded for a high shot. The Aussie derby saw an impressive performance from Izaia Perese.
The Waratahs were the most impressive Australian side, beating French visitors Pau 31-5 in their opening match, and pushing the Highlanders all the way to lose on a last-gasp try 12-10. The Brumbies were handsomely beaten by the Crusaders and just managed to outlast Fiji while the Rebels were beaten by Japan’s Panasonic Wild Knights before a last-gasp win over the Reds.
The Blues up-and-comers Jordan Trainor, Caleb Clarke, and Dalton Papalii were impressive while the Crusaders wings George Bridge and Manasa Mataele were dangerous. Their execution of team-play was a cut above the rest, and their underrated squad looks good to push for finals contention.
Day 2 will start with the final round-robin clashes and the top two teams from each pool will qualify for the finals.
The Blues, Chiefs and Crusaders look assured finalists as they will play the Rebels, Waratahs and Fiji respectively in their final pool game with the result only determining who will get the first-round bye in the playoffs.
The Hurricanes will need a solid victory over the Brumbies with the winner likely qualifying. The Reds look all but done but the Wild Knights could sneak through if they keep the hosts winless. A Highlanders win could knock out the Waratahs if they go down to the Chiefs.
All five Kiwi sides could qualify while the Australian sides are looking shaky to secure at least one playoff spot.
Day 1 Results
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments