Super Rugby Team of the Week - Round 18
As Eric Rush once said, “this is just one man’s opinion”. Please add your picks and your favourites in the feedback box below.
15 – Fletcher Smith (Hurricanes)
Was positive in general play as the Canes found a way back against the flailing and failing Blues, who still find it difficult to finish off games. His biggest influence was the two plays he made from Jackson Bachop-Garden’s deft chip kicks; he scored from the first and the next he laid off to the Walker Leawere Express; these two insightful acts got the momentum back and practically won the game for the Hurricanes. Bryce Hegarty (Reds) has coped well with going back to fullback for the latter part of the season.
14 – Shaun Stevenson (Chiefs)
What a rich vein of form the velocious winger is in, with a hat-trick as the Chiefs smashed the Rebels and head to Buenos Aires for an unexpected quarterfinal. Very much a confidence player and after two scintillating performances, its oozing out of him. Some good performances in the 14 jersey this round, Lam, Naholo, Hendricks and Cancelliere all featured strongly.
13 – Peter Umaga Jensen (Hurricanes)
Only his second appearance of the season and showed his immense strength on attack and defence and got into the right place at the right time to pick up two tries. The Hurricanes will face the Bulls at home next week and with Matt Proctor’s injury Umaga-Jensen has put his hand up for selection. Lukanyo Am (Sharks) scored the winning try over the Stormers and played well, but it took 80 minutes for the Stormer’s wall to crack. Rob Thompson (Highlanders) had an awesome battle with Adam Ashley-Cooper (Waratahs) and just shaded him.
12 – Anton Lienert Brown (Chiefs)
Week after week he is churning out quality, international performances. This week named the Chiefs Players’ Player of the Season, ALB is only 24 and is wise and rangatira-like (chiefly) beyond his years. One of his major challengers for a black jersey, Sonny Bill WIlliams (Blues) showed some nice touches on his return.
11 – Tevita Li (Highlanders)
Ironic that Li saved his best outing of the season for the chilly outdoor stadium of Invercargill after playing home games indoors all year. Constantly looked menacing on the left flank; he’ll need to bring all that form to a probable matchup with Sevu Reece in the quarterfinal. After being used as a mid-fielder most of the season the Brumbies’ Tom Wright showed what he could do on the flank; over 140m in running yards, a try and some lovely steps off the left foot.
10 – Handre Pollard (Bulls)
The Pretorians got a shock after 20 seconds as the Lions scored off the kick-off but then got into their work nicely. Pollard concentrated on distribution in the first half but then started running those dangerous diagonal runs off front foot ball in the second. One resulted in a try for him and then minutes later he popped the ball in the tackle to Manie Libbok for another. That put the Lions well out of contention for the knockout phase. The Bulls travel to Wellington and will look to have a tilt at the Canes up front. With Pollard calling the shots at 10 they are certainly in with a shout.
9 Brad Weber (Chiefs)
The Chiefs’ halfback had a ding dong game, out-played Will Genia and surely he must appear in the All Black squad for the test window? In terms of decision making and anticipation on the break he is one of the best, an apt third halfback in World Cup year.
8 – Lachlan McCaffrey (Brumbies)
His first start since round 9 and he looked voracious. Lachie the loosie is so niggly and annoying at the tackle and looks good with the ball in hand. The enticing match-up between Jaco Coetzee (Stormers) and Dan du Preez (Sharks) was a bit of a fizzer after Coetzee suffered a nasty knock early. Bravely/stubbornly came back but wasn’t his normal storming self.
7 – Tomas Lezana (Jaguares)
Lezana is an outstanding ball player and got the chance to show his wares against the Sunwolves who like to play fast and free. Got a try and his inter-linking between backs and forwards was a stand-out. Just pipped Sam Cane (Chiefs) who was ubiquitous alongside Lachlan Boshier. It was an embarrassing time for Jaco du Toit (Stormers) who obviously was chosen for Man of the Match at Newlands before the end of the match, although he was strong and is a good prospect.
6 – Marco van Staden (Bulls)
With his almost bow-legged stature he is built to fetch and with the Lions without Kwagga Smith and Manus Schoeman not on til late he feasted on loose ball. Also looked good in the open, running some important metres. Liam Squire (Highlanders) continued his path back although his 50 minutes was an illustration of where he is at; big rampaging runs, fierce hit, then cagily walking off looking a little uncomfortable after his over exuberance. Will need more than tape to hold him together until Yokohama.
5 – Guido Petti (Jaguares)
Oh what a difference depth and competition for places brings! With Marcos Kremer forming a good combo with Lavanini lately, Petti needed a big game to state his case and he was bruisingly effective. Some battering runs and contact work.
4 – Ruben van Heerden (Sharks)
In the absence of Ruan Botha, van Heerden continued his good form by being a big immovable plinth in midfield. He defended particularly well and his tackles were venomous. Kane Laupepe had a muscular match as well, interesting rumours that Scott Scrafton (Blues) is off to the Hurricanes next year, he was one of the better players in the first half for the
northerners.
3 – Tyrel Lomax (Highlanders)
Lomax will be at the Hurricanes next year as well, and will be an important cog in the Hurricanes engine room. He looks a shoe-in for higher honours in the next RWC cycle as well.
2 – Julian Montoya (Jaguares)
The Jaguares seem to be sorting out some of the tight forward issues they had earlier in the year; the scrum is looking more settled and the rolling maul was purring. Montoya got himself a five-pointer just after half time and should have had another maul score moments later. Asafo Aumua (Hurricanes) did exactly what Dane Coles did the week before; came off the bench and made a vivid difference. He led the Canes in the tight exchanges and imposed himself on the fading Blues.
1 – James Slipper (Brumbies)
Scott Sio got the laurels in his 100th cap but Slipper continued the pain for the Reds as he played with controlled anger against his old franchise. The battle up front in the quarterfinal will be a boomer as the Sharks have a one-two punch at tighthead with Coenie Oosthuizen and Thomas du Toit forming a fruitful job-sharing partnership too.
Comments on RugbyPass
Dagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
4 Go to commentsHe was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
3 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
37 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to comments