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Super Rugby Team of the Week - Round 3
As Eric Rush once said, “this is just one man’s opinion”. Mike Rehu details his picks for Super Rugby Team of the Week for Round 3.
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15 Dane Haylett-Petty (Rebels)
The Rebels are unbeaten this year and the South African born fullback illustrates the uncompromising nature in which they’re playing. Not easy to lead from fullback but when Haylett-Petty gets involved he makes it count. Will Jordan made the most of his Crusader chances as well.
14 Gerhard van den Heever (Sunwolves)
It’s been an amazing two weekends for the Sunwolves right wing. He is like a slinky, he collapses on the ground and somehow he manages to propel himself forward. Another try to add to the brace he got last weekend.
13 Jack Goodhue (Crusaders)
Proved his strength and smart play to be in the right place at the right time on attack and defence.
12 Ngani Laumape (Hurricanes)
It was like ten-pin bowling in Palmerston North as Laumape hit strike after strike of Brumbie skittles. Ex-Blitzbok star Dylan Sage was very effective for the Bulls in a position that he is not too familiar with.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Buh1JWHgXO4/
11 Ramiro Moyano (Jaguares)
Twice he had a few metres of space, twice he converted into tries. Him and Delguy form a potent pair. It’s a shame the Sharks couldn’t get the ball to Makazole Mapimpi (Sharks) more often as he was the pick of South African backs this week.
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10 Hayden Parker (Sunwolves)
Hats off to Quade Cooper (Rebels) who again shone for the Melbourne team but Parker pips him for the 10 spot. Parker is the perfect example of why the Sunwolves are playing a strong brand of rugby. The team has maturity and they seem to be on a similar wave-length about the style of play they want to exhibit. As most of this motley crew are not in contention for the World Cup they can throw some caution to the wind. Enjoyable to watch.
9 Will Genia (Rebels)
When the Rebels pack get go forward ball Genia is at his best; keep ing the momentum going and allowing Quade Cooper to take the ball flat and on the front foot.
8 Duane Vermeulen (Bulls)
Ardie Savea (Hurricanes) narrowly misses out to the belligerent beast that is Vermeulen. It was trench warfare in Joburg and there’s no better exponent in a slugfest than the meaty number 8.
7 Pieter Steph du Toit (Stormers)
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He is not a 7 in a classic sense but both him and Frizell deserve a spot in the team. He enjoyed having Eben Etzebeth start to take care of a lot of the tight work he has been involved with in recent weeks and against the Sharks he led the team in carries, tackles and steals. Shuhei Matsuhashi (Sunwolves) is one to watch for the rest of the season. Played well above his size.
6 Shannon Frizell (Highlanders)
The only blot on his copybook was dropping the match-winning drive over the line but this was a seminal game for Frizell’ who was was asked to play a leading role. He has gone from project to a certainty at selection time. The Rebels defence knew he was coming but he still showed his power and a little subtlety at times.
5 Uwe Helu (Sunwolves)
Brodie Retallick (Chiefs) was clearly angry and wanted to lead the Chiefs back to some form but he was outshone by this whopper in Hamilton. Carried like a beast and was solid as a ball-winner.
4 Eben Etzebeth (Stormers)
The way the Stormers are winning rugby games is a mystey; they really don’t seem to have got any better on attack, their defence has clearly sharp ened up. Etzebeth is an amazing arrow head and the whole team lifts around him. Scott Barrett (Crusaders) wasn’t far behind.
3 Hiroshi Yamashita (Sunwolves)
Howls of derision came from Tokyo last week (or was it just the Sunwolves fan howl?) when Yamashita was omitted after his power scrummaging against the Waratahs and he continued his great form, adding a load of metres with his running game to creating a solid platform at scrum time.
2 Dane Coles (Hurricanes)
Coles is back. He continued his work with ball in hand and clean outs and most importantly got the set piece right. Cody Taylor will be bursting to get some playing time to make his case before Coles gets too much inside running. Anaru Rangi (Rebels) again was very good.
1 Joe Moody (Crusaders)
It’s amazing to see Franks and Moody work in tandem; both at scrum (where they are right at home) but also in the open where they’ve formed a fluid partnership as 1st/2nd receivers from broken play. The timing of the passes under pres sure was a delight to watch. Karl Tu’inukuafe (Blues) almost won the game with his scrumming power in Buenos Aires but justice was served in the last minute.
Comments on RugbyPass
Big 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
1 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 commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
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