[2018 Super Rugby] Round 14: 18-19 May 2018

[mdaclarke]

Stormers = Laughing stock of South Africa

 

[GordoMac]

Way to go the Sunwolves.... What a finish

 

[GordoMac]

Stormers = Laughing stock of South Africa

Harsh.... But fair...

 

[Brigantine]

With that bonus point the Stormers just won, the South African Conference looks like:
31 pts - Lions - 6 wins / +44
24 pts - Stormers - 6 wins / -30
24 pts - Jaguares - 6 wins / -47
24 pts - Bulls - 5 wins / +1
24 pts - Sharks - 4 wins / +1

When was the last time a conference had 4 teams all tied on points? (and not tied on zero! Also ignore the 2 games in hand for a moment)

The Sunwolves closing out a close game though... this is very not normal - especially away from Japan. All down to those 2 missed conversions though. Hayden Parker kicking 100% again - he's 19 for 19 these past 2 weekends! Including that drop goal.

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Stormers = Laughing stock of South Africa

The Stormers are the only team to ever fail to beat the Sunwolves outside Japan - and they've done it twice! 2 years ago it was a 17-all draw in Singapore.

The other games the Sunwolves have won - Jaguares (by 8), Bulls (1), Blues (27), Reds (35) were all in Tokyo.
(and unfortunately that's the whole list... out of 15 games in Japan to date - 27% win ratio in Japan, 0% from 6 games in Singapore, and 100% in Hong Kong!)

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

With that bonus point the Stormers just won, the South African Conference looks like:
31 pts - Lions - 6 wins / +44
24 pts - Stormers - 6 wins / -30
24 pts - Jaguares - 6 wins / -47
24 pts - Bulls - 5 wins / +1
24 pts - Sharks - 4 wins / +1

I believe Stormers have 24 points but only 5 wins, which would leave them 4ths. And they have of course 13 games vs Sharks/Bulls/Jaguares' 11.

They just threw away the season if you ask me.

 

[Brigantine]

I believe Stormers have 24 points but only 5 wins

So they do... not sure how I got that wrong. That final QF spot instead belongs to the Jaguares for a while longer.

 

[Big_Grumper]

Stupid play from Nabura. That's game over for the Highlanders.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

The slow mo on that kick was hilarious, straight out of a kung fu movie

 

[Big_Grumper]

The slow mo on that kick was hilarious, straight out of a kung fu movie

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Yeesh, Highlanders doing everything they can to kill off that Aus vs NZ loss streak.

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

Argentine TMO just spotted the tinniest (thou clearly valid) of knock ons...

 

[argie]

Any doubt with the Jags?. The refs?. Time to call Jaco again?.
Let's see the upcoming matches against the SA teams: Sharks and Stormers in home, and Bulls and Sharks away.

 

[argie]

11,342 spectators.

 

[mdaclarke]

The way things are going there may be none or only 1 South African team in the play-offs

 

[FNS]

Great win by the Jags. Sadly the lack of BP may leave us outside the playoff but i must admit they changed a lot and all they needed was time and a good coach.

 

[Jaguares]

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

Mira quien aparecio!! Como va Conrad!

Back on topic.
Outstanding display from the boys. Brilliant stuff.
It's our QF spot to lose. We have everything we need to make this happen.
With just a bit of luck there's actually a reasonable chance for us to make it to the semis (we end up 7th, tah's 2nd which given the remaining fixture for Lions and Tahs is not that far stretched).
From there who the **** knows?
I thought we'd peaked against the Chiefs but we're still improving. What's even better (or at least i keep telling myself this) is that there are still a few low hanging fruit we can grab (our scrum is still a mess).

I was quite impressed not just the 2H (obviously) but the 1H too. We gave the ball away a bit on the 1H(47% possesion and 43% in op territory) but when we had the ball we were very good.
We suffered a bit on 1H when they opened wide (our weakest point) but they lacked the precision to hurt us and our centers did a good job putting a lot on pressure and closing spaces.
Momentum is huge for us and don't see any reason to stop in the next games.
Our fixture is not bad at all (against direct competition and we're ahead in points), so i'm afraid i'm forced to be optimistic. I've ran out of excuses not to be.

Sharks game at home is the do or die game for us. After that it's Stormers (H), Sharks (A) and Bulls (A). We should be able to take the Stormers at home and the last two are just about managing damage control as we can afford losing those games as long as we don't give away bonus points if we beat .
If we lose to Sharks the entire thing collapses, course.

Ledesma has accomplished a small miracle. Couldn't be happier. Today's performance was superb. He's even turned Lavanini from a liability to a huge asset.

 

[AM_Bokke]

How was the officiating in the Jags v Bulls game? I didn't get a chance to watch.

 

[Brigantine]

With just a bit of luck there's actually a reasonable chance for us to make it to the semis (we end up 7th, tah's 2nd which given the remaining fixture for Lions and Tahs is not that far stretched).

Waratahs pulling ahead of the Lions you say? It sounds crazy, but they do have 2 games in hand, and those 2 games are against the Reds and Sunwolves... The only hard game the Waratahs have left is vs Chiefs. So fair call!

 

[Aspry]

We are back bois

Just want to praise Ledesma a bit, it's about time we got someone who actually knows some rugby. Hope he overtakes Hourcade soon.