[2017 Super Rugby] Round 5: Crusaders vs. Force

[TRF_stormer2010]

FRIDAY, MARCH 24

Crusaders v Force, Christchurch - 08:35 (CAT)

Crusaders
15 David Havili, 14 Digby Ioane, 13 Tim Bateman, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 George Bridge, 10 Mitchell Hunt, 9 Mitchell Drummond, 8 Jordan Taufua, 7 Matt Todd, 6 Scott Barrett, 5 Sam Whitelock (captain), 4 Luke Romano, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Wyatt Crockett

Substitutes: 16 Ben Funnell, 17 Tim Perry, 18 Mike Alaalatoa, 19 Mitchell Dunshea, 20 Pete Samu, 21 Bryn Hall, 22 Marty McKenzie, 23 Manasa Mataele

Force
15 Luke Morahan, 14 Alex Newsome, 13 Curtis Rona, 12 Marcel Brache, 11 Chance Peni, 10 Jono Lance (captain), 9 Ryan Louwrens, 8 Richard Hardwick, 7 Kane Koteka, 6 Isi Naisarani, 5 Matt Philip, 4 Ross Haylett-Petty, 3 Jermaine Ainsley, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Ben Daley

Substitutes: 16 Heath Tessmann, 17 Pek Cowan, 18 Tetera Faulkner, 19 Richie Arnold, 20 Matt Hodgson, 21 Michael Ruru, 22 Ian Prior, 23 Robbie Coleman




Will edit when I have time. But here so long is a place for discussion..

 

[Makos]

Pleased to see Matt Todd has said he's staying on 2018 looking for a RWC spot. Good on him. He's a valuable asset & a top player.

 

[galumay]

I guess the Saders will be pleased they didnt have to come from behind this afternoon! They didnt take the foot off though and still came home strong. The tasman gulf is as deep and wide as ever!

 

[smartcooky]

The learnings for me form this match is that referee Rohan Hoffman doesn't know Jack Sh¡t about scrummaging.

 

[Larksea]

As NZ's injury ravaged bottom team beats Aussies top team away from home (Brum v. Hig), just a quick look at the Aussie table, combined 6 wins from 22 games and a conference F/A of -230, this is really not good. All round bad news for Super rugby as a whole.

 

[galumay]

As NZ's injury ravaged bottom team beats Aussies top team away from home (Brum v. Hig), just a quick look at the Aussie table, combined 6 wins from 22 games and a conference F/A of -230, this is really not good. All round bad news for Super rugby as a whole.

Very true, I was just commenting to a friend about the fact that the Bush Ponies being on top of the Aus conference - with more losses than wins! You are spot on, very bad news for Super Rugby as a whole, SA doesnt look much better. There seems to be no intent by SANZAR to do anything other than fiddle round the edges.

 

[saulan]

SA doesnt look much better.

That's not completely true. We have two rubbish teams and the Bulls playing uncharacteristically poorly. Granted, we are not anywhere near the levels of the New Zealand teams and only one fixture has occurred between a NZ team and an SA team (a 38-14 loss at home for the NZ team), but we are nowhere near as bad as the Australian sides. Of the four South Africa/Australia matches, one has been a close away loss by the Sharks to the Reds, one was a close away win for the Sharks away to the current Australian log leaders and then there were two convincing wins against the Waratahs by the Sharks and the Lions and another convincing win against the Reds by the Lions. That's an 80% win ratio for the SA teams.

The Australians are looking poor in comparison to both SA and New Zealand, which is very worrying for the tournament.

 

[Car]

The Aussie teams really are poor. I mostly watch the Aussie matches as the NZ matches are on too early and the SA matches in the past weren't to my liking and tend to collide with other sports I watch, but what I watched so far from Oz makes me wonder why I was looking forward to being able to watch it again after being without it last year. I didn't even decide to move my gym times on Saturdays because mostly, highlights seemed good enough. SA seems to have improved indeed, but the level in Australia just isn't good for rugby as a whole.