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Tight times at the top of the Australian Super Rugby conference as play-offs loom
The Melbourne Rebels will travel to Wellington this week relieved to still be leading the Australian Super Rugby conference after the NSW Waratahs and Brumbies blew good chances to catch them.
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Coming off a bye, the Rebels (5-4) face a difficult assignment against a Hurricanes team which is second only to the Crusaders in the overall standings and hitting its straps, inspired by brothers Beauden and Jordie Barrett.
But they were helped when the Waratahs (4-5) lost lock Jed Holloway to a red card early in the second half and then fell 23-15 at home on Saturday night to an aggressive and disciplined Sharks outfit.
The Brumbies (4-6) produced an error-strewn second half as they lost 20-15 to the Jaguares in Buenos Aires.
The Queensland Reds (4-5), who also had a bye, are last in the Australian conference but just six points behind the Rebels with seven rounds remaining.
They also have arguably the easiest assignment this week, at home to Japan’s Sunwolves (2-8), who are coming off a 52-0 belting by the Highlanders.
The Waratahs’ woes have been compounded by the loss of key forwards Jack Dempsey (back) and Tolu Latu (calf) plus prop Rory O’Connor (ribs) as they tackle a two-match tour of South Africa to play the Bulls and Lions.
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Holloway will also likely face a stint on the sidelines for elbowing Thomas du Toit after being held back off the ball by his jersey.
Brumbies coach Dan McKellar said he was happy with five points from their tour to South Africa and Argentina and they’ll return home to host the improved Blues full of confidence.
“When you travel from Canberra to Sydney to Johannesburg to Cape Town then back to Jo’burg to Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires, it’s taxing, and to come away with five points from this trip is a real positive for this group,” McKellar said.
“Errors at critical times hurt us and we didn’t take the opportunities we were presented with, but it was a very brave effort.
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“We’ve got to take the opportunities, without a doubt, but the effort was outstanding.”
AAP
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Comments on RugbyPass
Pls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
124 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
124 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
5 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
5 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
124 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
3 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
4 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to commentsFinals are always tense affairs for the players so I do not expect this to be a spectacle of running rugby unfortunately.
4 Go to commentsBulls***': Ex-England international calls out Eben Etzebeth… Not to his face but from very far away… after he’d left. Checked to make sure he wasn’t in the building.
124 Go to commentsHopefully this will mean a new Auckland league team to support in the west. Big Warriors fan but it’s very, very stale on that front and I’d like the option of another team if it was to watch league again. League needs to step up BIG time if its to get anywhere, another AK team and something from the capitol or south is a must for the game.
4 Go to commentsGood, deep interview, nice job Frankie!
1 Go to comments