[2014 Super Rugby] New Zealand conference

[Gena_ZA]

Highlanders beat Brumbies 15-11 in warmup game.
Brumbies scored only try.
Both sides according to reports concentrated on their defensive lines

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Highlanders bear Brumbies 15-11 in warmup game.
Brumbies scored only try.
Both sides according to reports concentrated on their defensive lines

Pat McCabe crocked again too boot.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Very unusual warm up game - normally the ethos is attack, attack, attack. The most absurd thing is the number of penalties kicked... Typically teams opt for lineouts etc. in warm up matches.

 

[Shaggy]

Hehe ... I just back read this thread in the hopes of getting some info for my fantasy and picking comps.

I was a little bemused be the whole "retaining players to the region thing"

For a start, there's 14 ITM cup teams and only 5 super franchise teams, so roughly 2/3 of the ITM cup players aren't going to be picked up by a super franchise.

The breakdown of the ITM cup sides per franchise is:

Blues: 3
Chiefs: 3
Hurricanes: 4
Crusaders: 2
Highlanders: 2

I don't except that representing an ITM cup side, makes a player "from that region", as, like Super Rugby, the ITM cup is a free market, where players are free to play for other provinces ... but even if all of the players were genuinely from the region they play ITM cup for, it's not surprising that 1/3rd of the Super Rugby players have Hurricanes affiliation, as 4 Hurricanes ITM sides/14 total ITM sides, is roughly 1/3rd

... So yes, the Hurricanes are going to find it more difficult to retain their "local" players, as they have twice as many of them compared to the Crusaders or the Highlanders, who each have 2 ITM cup sides in their region.

Conversely, it can be argued that the Crusaders and the Highlanders, have more room to recruit players from other regions, because they have only two ITM cup sides each.

As someone who's local region is the Tasman Makos area, and also living away from New Zealand, I'll always back the Crusaders first, but will support any New Zealand team (including the Blues) ... I think it's great that the other Super teams pick up the "spare" players from the Makos (or anywhere else for that matter)

... anyway, here ends the "lies and Statistics" ... I'm still no closer to picking my fantasy team

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/...enji-Marshall-off-to-a-solid-start-with-Blues

Sounds like the Hurricanes v Blues match was a bit more exciting!

Marshall was decent, but Marty Bankes was the pick of the day, it appears.

Worth noting Matt McGahan came on at the end for the Blues, the ex-Melbourne Storm player and son of league legend Hugh McGahan. McGahan's agent apparently had indications of interest from a few of the franchises, including the Chiefs.

 

[smartcooky]

The breakdown of the ITM cup sides per franchise is:

Blues: 3
Chiefs: 3
Hurricanes: 4
Crusaders: 2
Highlanders: 2

Not quite right Shaggy. The Naki has switched allegiance to the Chiefs from 2014, so its

Blues: 3
Chiefs: 4
Hurricanes: 3
Crusaders: 2
Highlanders: 2

 

[Chikwa]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/...enji-Marshall-off-to-a-solid-start-with-Blues

Sounds like the Hurricanes v Blues match was a bit more exciting!

Marshall was decent, but Marty Bankes was the pick of the day, it appears.

Worth noting Matt McGahan came on at the end for the Blues, the ex-Melbourne Storm player and son of league legend Hugh McGahan. McGahan's agent apparently had indications of interest from a few of the franchises, including the Chiefs.

I look forward to discovering how good benji Marshall is . His performances may be affected by being behind a poor blues pack.

 

[Shaggy]

Not quite right Shaggy. The Naki has switched allegiance to the Chiefs from 2014, so its

Blues: 3
Chiefs: 4
Hurricanes: 3
Crusaders: 2
Highlanders: 2

Thanks Cookie ... I did not know that - If the player numbers for Hurricanes affiliation do not include Taranaki players, then they are indeed, over represented in numbers, around the various franchises, so I apologise for my mistake.

 

[Amobokoboko]

Chiefs announce co-captains

[h=3]The Investec Super Rugby champions, the Chiefs have announced their co-captains for the 2014 season.[/h] Inspirational loose forward, All Black and last year’s Investec Super Rugby Final’s Man of the Match, Liam Messam will remain part of the captaincy duo and will be joined by talented first five-eighth Aaron Cruden.
Dave Rennie said “Liam has been huge for us. He has an enormous work ethic and has led us to back-to-back championships. He is an uncompromising player and a leader who epitomizes Chiefs Mana.â€
“Aaron has been a massive influence in our success to date. His rugby knowledge, attitude and ability to direct a game is impressive. He is greatly respected, a natural leader and will thrive with this added responsibility.â€
Twenty-five year old Cruden showed outstanding form for the Chiefs in their back-to-back winning seasons. This was officially acknowledged when Cruden won the Chiefs Player of the Year two years in a row. He captained the New Zealand U20s to a World ***le win in 2009 and captained Manawatu at the age of 20.
Cruden is rapt to be awarded the role of co-captain. “It is a huge honour to co-captain the team with Liam. We have clear goals that we want to achieve and know it’s important that we work harder than ever in order to reach those,†said the All Black.
Liam Messam is the highest capped Chief with 113 matches and Aaron Cruden has played 36 matches for the Chiefs.
The Chiefs will play their first pre-season match against the Queensland Reds in Toowoomba this Saturday evening 6pm Australia time before heading to Rotorua on Valentines Day to play the Blues at 6pm at Rotorua International Stadium.

 

[IRISH RUGBY MAN]

Did anyone get to see the full game of the blues v hurricanes? Moala and Li looked good but I can only say from highlights so doesn't tell much, Banks as said above looked good too.

 

[Larksea]

...yis... Bin Smuth

heh, yeah. highlanders tactics will mirror the tactics the All Blacks used to beat Ireland. Take a quick tap and give it to Ben Smith!

yeah I picked it way back when clarke signed overseas, but it is an obvious choice. Cruden and Messam to co captian. Great combination I think.

 

[nickdnz]

Hayden Triggs has been called in for Callum Retallick. I love how much JK has been talking up Triggs as this valuable player with a high profile, able to replace one of their hardest working , grunt locks. Hayden Triggs is a journeyman 31 year old old who has never shown any grunt in his life - been bounced around now four franchises. He has a terrible work rate and hangs around in the backline...he has some reasonably nice handling for a lock - but for the amount that JK has been talking about a quality replacement it's pretty disappointing. If they were going after an athletic lock in Japan for whatever reason, then Isaac Ross would have been a heck of a lot better. Hayden Triggs...ugh.

 

[Darwin]

Hayden Triggs has been called in for Callum Retallick. I love how much JK has been talking up Triggs as this valuable player with a high profile, able to replace one of their hardest working , grunt locks. Hayden Triggs is a journeyman 31 year old old who has never shown any grunt in his life - been bounced around now four franchises. He has a terrible work rate and hangs around in the backline...he has some reasonably nice handling for a lock - but for the amount that JK has been talking about a quality replacement it's pretty disappointing. If they were going after an athletic lock in Japan for whatever reason, then Isaac Ross would have been a heck of a lot better. Hayden Triggs...ugh.

I'm not surprised to see the Blues have signed Triggs (as I heard he was being looked at), but I agree with your assessment of him. I have never really rated him very highly as he plays far too loose for my liking. He is experienced and is a good line-out exponent which I think is the main reason he got picked (as Kirwan mentioned they were looking for a middle of the lineout jumper). He is certainly a massive down-grade from Callum Retallick though (who is very under-rated). The only good thing about this is that Jamie Joseph can no longer sign Triggs for the Highlanders, as he is exactly the sort of player he would have signed if one of out locks gets injured

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Bit of a blow for the Highlanders with Popoali'i withdrawing from the Highlanders squad due to having surgery for an ongoing heart condition: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11197696

In other news, the Hurricanes and Crusaders have named their squads for their upcoming match:

HURRICANES: Ben Franks, Dane Coles, John Schwalger, James Broadhurst, Mark Reddish, Brad Shields, Ardie Savea, Victor Vito, TJ Perenara, Marty Banks, Matt Proctor, Hadleigh Parkes, Tim Bateman, Nehe Milner-Skudder, Andre Taylor. Reserves: Ash Dixon, Chris Eves, Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, Brendon Edmonds, Jeremy Thrush, Mark Abbott, Jack Lam, Blade Thomson, Billy Guyton, Chris Smylie, Beauden Barrett, Cardiff Vaega, Julian Savea, Cory Jane.

CRUSADERS: Israel Dagg, Rob Thompson, Reynold Lee-Lo, Ryan Crotty (captain), Nafi Tuitavake, Tyler Bleyendaal, Andy Ellis, Jordan Taufua, Jed Brown, George Whitelock, Dominic Bird, Luke Romano, Nepo Laulala, Ben Funnell, Tim Perry. Reserves: Codie Taylor, Wyatt Crockett, Owen Franks, Joel Everson, Matt Todd, Willi Heinz, Colin Slade, Kieron Fonotia, Sam Whitelock, Tom Taylor, Adam Whitelock, Zac Guildford, Mitchell Drummond, Corey Flynn, Daniel Lienert-Brown.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

A bit disappointed row Buxton, we don't have that many options in the outsides, Trent renata moved into the full squad now?

Glad Buxton pulled out now rather than do himself some damage though, wish him the best if health

 

[Darwin]

A bit disappointed row Buxton, we don't have that many options in the outsides, Trent renata moved into the full squad now?

Glad Buxton pulled out now rather than do himself some damage though, wish him the best if health

Definitely disappointing news for Popoali'i. I still worry about him defensively, but he can be a real weapon on attack with his stepping ability, so he is definately a loss for the Highlanders.

It will be interesting to see who we call in to replace him. We had a real shortage of specialist wings even before Popoali'i was ruled out, so I feel he needs to be replaced by someone who is primarily a wing. We have Renata and Buckman in our WTG, but personally I hope they look outside the squad for a replacement. Renata actually did a pretty good job when he was forced to play on the wing for the Highlanders last season, but he has little/no experience playing on the wing. Buckman is a solid midfield option, but is pretty dire out wide (he had a shocker for the Canes on the wing a few years ago).

There are a few good wings in other teams WTGs that we could look to target (Nafi Tuitavake, and Tevita Li immediately come to mind). There are also a number of good wings currently in the 7s squad (Stowers, Raikuna, Naholo, Lam) that would all be resonable options, but are probably locked into 7s contracts.

The most likely thing to happen though is that Jamie Joseph will find an ex-Wellington or ex-NZ Maori wing currently playing in Japan (on their mid-30s) and sign thrm up....

 

[smartcooky]

As a Crusaders supporter, I just want to say, thank heavens my team has decided to dump these godawful platinum grey away jerseys

and replaced them with this awesome kit!!

 

[Kiwiwomble]

at first i was a fan but i'm really going off the chain mail look...still more creative than ours. i still can get my head around what our marketing people are thinking. I could actually understand what they tried to do with the whole green jersey...and then when people complained about it not representing the area...and so they go way too far the other way and just keep spitting out these plain blue jersey's...and not even Otago blue!

at best i will check out his year polo

 

[Larksea]

I think Triggs is being under rated. for a while he was pretty damn good, had some big performances in super rugby and for the Maori All Blacks, I think there was a while where if there was an injury in the ABs Triggs would have been one of the next guys to be looked at. I remember him having one good series for the Maori team where he started as the squads backup lock and ended the tour as the #1 lock and arguably the Maoris best player. Then did not get the game time I thought he deserved for the chiefs had an injury as well and went overseas.

It will be interesting to see how he goes. Retalick has been underrated as well but hes had ups and downs, you could say Triggs had a similar run.

err yeah and on a side note....

Brad Shields out for 6-8 weeks with an mcl

shame, I thought this was going to be his year

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Crusaders squad to face the Hurricanes:

Israel Dagg, Johnny McNicholl, Ryan Crotty (c), Tom Taylor, Nafi Tuitavake, Colin Slade, Willi Heinz, Luke Whitelock, Matt Todd, George Whitelock, Dominic Bird, Luke Romano, Owen Franks, Ben Funnell, Wyatt Crockett. Reserves: Corey Flynn, Tim Perry, Nepo Laulala, Sam Whitelock, Richie McCaw, Jordan Taufua, Andy Ellis, Tyler Bleyendaal, Rob Thompson, Zac Guildford, Reynold Lee-Lo.

Good to see McNicholl back, I'm looking forward to seeing more of him this season.

Blues squad to face the Chiefs:

Charles Piutau, Frank Halai, George Moala, Francis Saili, Lolagi Visinia, Benji Marshall, Piri Weepu; Peter Saili, Luke Braid (capt), Steven Luatua, Tom Donnelly, Liaki Moli, Charlie Faumuina, James Parsons, Sam Prattley. Reserves: Ofa Tu'ungafasi, Greg Pleasants-Tate, Tom McCartney, Angus Ta'avao, William Lloyd, Patrick Tuipulotu, Kane Barrett, Jordan Manihera, Brendon O'Connor, Bryn Hall, Chris Noakes, Simon Hickey, Jackson Willison, Tevita Li, Albert Nikora.

Looks like Marshall will be starting at 10 against the Highlanders next week, given that he's started all three preseason matches at first five.