Hurricanes vs Bordeaux Begles: European champs 10-point underdog against NZ's best

I continue to be amused by those who say things like ‘the AB aura has gone’. Oh yeah? Number one or 2 for the past 50 years. Maybe, occasionally (?) 3. 50 YEARS! Any organization on earth would salivate for that level of dominance. That said, I do think UBB might pip the Hurricanes. What a game that would be! (…and a HUGE moneyspinner for both teams… get it on, guys!!)

I confess to having given up reading this obsequious and toadyish article. What I did read was nauseating

Embarrassing article, as a professional it’s sad that obvious things are missed out and lies are told. Firstly the writer missed Bochaton, Gazzotti and Vergnes-Taillefer as capped players in the UBB pack. Last year’s team that France sent was not a B team in the pecking order. It was C or D. UBB would beat that team 9/10 times.

We saw Roigard completely outplay Dupont two years ago in Paris, including the All Black stealing the ball right out of Dupont’s hands for a try.

This is just an outright lie, he stole the ball out of Alldritt’s hands as he picked the ball up at the back of the scrum and went to offload the ball to Dupont.

As for completely outplaying Dupont, if you go back and watch the game Roigard was doing well in front of a forward pack absolutely dominating France in the first half. Second half things changed and Roigard was powerless to stop it, before he was substituted 10 minutes into the half as he was coming back from injury. Dupont played well and finished the match at fly-half, making key decisions not just with the ball but also tactically as he captained his team to victory. His third one against New Zealand.

Article neglects to mention that Bordeaux compete in two hugely-competitive tournaments, unlike the Hurricanes who meet weak opposition every second week in a competition that is in terminal decline since the SA sides headed north.

So arrogant…

Simple answer, no one’s making you read it.

You don't need to be near water to get bites, judging by the replies in the letter section, keep going girls.

Kiwi arrogance

While this is clearly bait I think people have an overtly negative perception of the standard of super rugby. The Hurricanes have the talent to beat any top European team on their day. Over a long season, probably not - but the squads aren’t built for that competition. Super rugby having poor crowd attendance vs super rugby being a weak standard of rugby are two vastly different things.

There should be a club world championship, how good would that be.

Dear Ben Smith,

It is always better to remain silent and let a few people think you may be a fool. Instead you chose to write this article and now the whole world can see how spectacularly inadequate you are.

Ben Smith articles are always a combination of trolling, wishful thinking and genuine delusion that NZ is still the power they used to be. Mostly it has to be clickbait, though, because taken at face value his attempts at rugby analysis would be laughed out of every sports department in the world. Can only surmise that Rugbypass is paying him to stir things up - often to the detriment of their own credibility.

April fools article right. I only saw who wrote this article when reading the comments and thereafter no surprise at all. All I can say is disappointing journalism with very little respect for the great game of rugby and for a well deserved win for Bordeaux.

Can I have some of whatever Bin Smuth has been drinking? I have never read a more idiotic piece of sports reporting. Even with home advantage and a traditionally one eyed NZ referee Hurrycanes would be lucky to get within 10 points of UBB.

‘Miserable time for European teams against the All Blacks’. True, England did get a win against the All Blacks in November.

Bordeaux Salary Cap and Budget: €39million Euros ($77million NZD)…

SRPacific NZ Clubs have a nominal $4.5 million salary cap to each contract 38 players, and the maximum they can pay any individual is $195,000.

Matthieu Jalibert €850.000 ($1.6million NZD)…

Damian Penaud €600.000 ($1.2million NZD)…

Two of their top paid players get paid half of the Hurricanes $4.5million salary cap…

I think what has prevented NZ rugby to bounce back from its rather medium international shape is its impossibility to be humble and to accept the facts. NZ is not the last WC winner nor has it won the Rugby Championship during the last two years. Super Rugby has a relatively low level compared to ten years ago, But still, obviously the European club champion, two times in a row, and which has beaten Leinster, Bath and Toulouse to obtain its last title, has to lose against the Hurricanes. I am not convinced that burying its head in the sand is what is going to make AB rugby great again …

Not the same workload.

Bordeaux this season:

32 games.

24 in the hardest league in the world against clubs like Stade Toulousain, Montpellier, Toulon, La Rochelle, Pau, Clermont, Stade Français, Racing 92, Castres…

8 games, all wins, in the EPCR.

Won in South Africa against the Bulls, against last years’ CC finalist Northamption.

Won in the EPCR against the Top 14 champions Toulouse in the QF, the Prem champions Bath in the SF and the URC champions Leinster in the final by some margin.

(plus Leicester, Bristol and the Scarlets).

Some UBB players have already taken part in almost 30 games (Woki 28 and Palu 30). Poirot 25, Jalibert 27 (23 for UBB), Penaud 28 (25 for UBB), LBB 30 (22 for UBB), Lamothe 28 (25 for UBB).

The Canes?

13 games.

(Bordeaux played 11 games since the start of the SR season with the 6 Nations in between)

So yeah, good lenses! 🙃

Lol classic Ben Smith

Ships would have sunk if Ben was a weather forecaster…

J'ai toujours beaucoup de mal avec ces commentaires plein d'ignorance de la part de pseudo journaliste. Ils ne connaissent rien au rugby européen car ils le méprisent. Si on les écoute, seul le SR est un championnat digne de ce nom, tout le reste n'est rien. Donc pourquoi attacher de l'importance à ça ??

Troll (snore)

🥱

This is such a wind up…

As a Canes fan that actually tries to follow European rugby I’m sorry anyone has had to read this hubris

Moefana and Gazotti are not mentioned and would all cause the Canes headaches. Woki has terrorized the All Blacks lineout before.

The main thing though is: A solid Top 14 player is much better than a solid super rugby player. Just look at the France C team that pushed us at home

Oh so there’s a follow-up to this ridiculous tweet?

The level of ignorance, cherry-picking, total bias is blatant. Wow.

Some say it’s bait.

But bait with good figures and objective information is what Nick Bishop delivers, with often a level of comment engagement that usually tops RP’s rates.

An interesting analysis. Problem is that the comparison belies the opposition. Are the current

Crusaders, Chiefs and Blues in the same league as Toulouse, Leinster, Bath and say the Stormers top team. Hard to say from NZ. My guess is that in a one off game the Canes might pull it off but after a long season across two competitions it might be a hard ask.

Ben Smith has to be afflicted by CTE at this point. No rugby knowledge to begin with and spewing ignorant pablum now.

Then again, that’s everyone in the SH for the past decade-plus.

Top tier clickbait. Take a bow, sir.

Always the same garbage analysis and such a low standard of journalism from Ben Smith.

So Ben Smith has turned his spite towards France now. After a long time hammering the Springboks for being better than his beloved all blacks he’s decided to spit some of his venom towards France, and why ? Because other more level headed journos have had the temerity to praise Bordeaux for their performances. A pathetic child masquerading as a serious writer.

That’s bait