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Round Five sees the Hurricanes and Chiefs with the bye, providing the perfect opportunity for some lesser known players to shine in your team. Those two teams make up half of the Team of the Tournament so far with seven players. Whilst you may be forced into subs without the Barretts’ and Saveas, have no fear there is talent spread all throughout the Super Rugby competition.
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Africa 1 Conference (Stormers, Cheetahs, Bulls, Sunwolves)
W – Kenki Fukuoka – Sunwolves – $4.9m
Featured in our focus on backs last week, Fukuoka once again shone against the Bulls with a try scoring appearance. He is one of only two players from the Africa 1 Conference to make the Scout’s Team of the Tournament after five Rounds of Super Rugby action. An impressive feat from a winger in a Sunwolves side that are yet to win a match. They face another stern test this weekend as they host the Stormers but expect to see plenty from Fukuoka still.
Africa 2 Conference (Jaguares, Lions, Sharks, Kings)
F – Jean-Luc Du Preez – Sharks – $4.4m
Africa 2 is hotting up as a close-run contest as the Jaguares have shown they can contend with both the Sharks and Lions. It is, however, the Sharks flanker Du Preez who leads the way after five Rounds with a personal score of 59.70, the second highest of any flankers in the tournament. Topped only by Ardie Savea of the Hurricanes. It is his consistency that has seen him rise into the Team of the Tournament at this stage.
Australian Conference (Brumbies, Reds, Force, Waratahs, Rebels)
W – Henry Speight – Brumbies – $6m
In a reflection of the sorry state of affairs that the Australian Conference is in right now, there are no players in the starting XV of the Team of the Tournament. In fact, only three make the 25-man squad. Speight is a man returning to form for the Brumbies with four tries to his name this season. He only just misses out on the starting XV with a total points score of 49.10 compared to Fukuoka’s 50.00. There is plenty more to come from Speight this season if his side can start to match his own work rate.
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New Zealand Conference (Chiefs, Hurricanes, Crusaders, Blues, Highlanders)
N8 – Blake Gibson – Blues – $4.8m
Once you remove the Hurricanes and Chiefs players from the Team of the Tournament there aren’t many options left from the New Zealand Conference. Although the Blues who have once again struggled to turn good performances into wins have the sole remaining Kiwis in the 25-man squad. Gibson tops his team mate Pauliasi Manu for the best ranked player with a total score throughout the season of 26.80. His defensive efforts have seen the Blues push many sides close as his own personal tackle count continues to rise. Gibson ranks third of the competitions tacklers making 50 and only missing three.
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Christoper Duffy
Comments on RugbyPass
Big empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy 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!
5 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 …
34 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.
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