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

[petite]

kramer

 

[smartcooky]

Just to make reference to Anselmi's refereeing of the Jags v Bulls match, I can't see much to fault in his performance. He probably could have yellow carded the Bulls player who upended Sanchez, but didn't. I thought that was good refereeing. He did yellow card Mallia for the swinging arm (interesting too that he spoke in English to Mallia when explaining his decision)

My only issue with him is that he tends to allow more latitude in the breakdown than most referees, but as long as its both ways, I don't see that as a biggie.

IMO he's making good progress as a referee at this level.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Good to see Canciellere getting some recognition from the commentators - he has potential to become great.

I take it Boffelli did okay at fullback? He didn't look liable for the Bulls scores in the highlights. If the Lions falter and the Jaguares can steal that home QF then anything becomes possible.

Nice to see the Sunwolves go back to back. Maybe they can scrape my predicted four wins after all. A real absence in native Japanese talent in the past two weeks so I'll temper my enthusiasm.

And finally Oz break the curse. Overall, an eventful week.

 

[unrated]

Jags deserved to win. At one point they were just picking and driving and the Bulls could not do anything about it.
The Bulls started off very attacking playing with a deep backline probably as a result of Pollard being a second playmaker.
For the first while it actually worked as the Bulls posed some serious defensive questions to the Jags with many Bulls players exploiting the wide channels.

The Jags quickly adapted to the bulls tactics and for most of the game they were clearly in control in term of the forwards. Bulls should not have allowed the Jags to get a bp as this makes the Sharks lose second place. \

Next week we are going to have a great game! a much more difficult assignment awaits the Jags, the Sharks might be tactically weaker than the Bulls but there is no way they will allow the jags to push around the frontline players as was the case in this game.

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

Bulls should not have allowed the Jags to get a bp as this makes the Sharks lose second place. \

No. We would have been second even without a BP. The first tie braking criteria is number of number of wins, then point difference. Without a BP we'd have the same points but more wins than the sharks so the point difference would have been irrelevant.

Very curious about next weeks game. I was reasonably confident against the bulls, not so much against the sharks. They are less predictable and more erratic than the bulls imo.
Having said that, last night's game was a bit reassuring and gives us reason to hope.
Best of luck next Friday.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Just to make reference to Anselmi's refereeing of the Jags v Bulls match, I can't see much to fault in his performance. He probably could have yellow carded the Bulls player who upended Sanchez, but didn't. I thought that was good refereeing. He did yellow card Mallia for the swinging arm (interesting too that he spoke in English to Mallia when explaining his decision)

My only issue with him is that he tends to allow more latitude in the breakdown than most referees, but as long as its both ways, I don't see that as a biggie.

IMO he's making good progress as a referee at this level.

Yup. He did a pretty good job. He could have been stricter at the rucks with pinging the guys coming in from the side and sealing off. But other than that, I couldn't find any fault with his officiating.

Bulls were very poor. I knew we would lose, but I didn't think we'd do that poorly. I think Mitchell did the right thing in taking off his more valued players early in the second half. No use to keep playing them and risk injury when you know the game is already lost. Hopefully we'll do a better job in 3 weeks time when we host them at Loftus.

 

[petite]

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.

I ve Been saying it again and again how lavanin would some day grow into a great player. he some how stopped doing stupid.
we are going to miss nico. i heard its personal situation but i think he is the fist loss for jags since uar annouced the end of the ban. i coudnt be worst for a start.
and this is before the wc. after its gonna be rampage for the jags. rip..
funny that the wins came a little late just a little. with this performace nobody would be talking about the europeans.. kremer for instance had replaced isa very well as the hard hitting back rower. he shows up more in defece than attack but he will evolve. remember we played this game with no matera and no tuculet. both wingers where noobs (and did great) ortega desio is also doing well hes not so impact as isa but hes better at the line out (super necesary) and hes doing well arround the scrum and making a good combo with bertranou, another high. simple fast rugby. the kicking needs to improve.
dont think the scrum is a mess. it actually improved a lot, true it didnt work vs the bulls but they are on the right direction
sharks is going to be totally diferent but ill give the jags and edge. dont think we are going to push arround the sharks pack.

 

[argie]

I heard that the UAR is reviewing the end of the ban.
Sanchez's upcoming departure to Europe has scared them for a possible massive flight of talent.

 

[FNS]

If we manage to get between 6 to 8 wins per run and a few BP then jags is saved for a few years. As for the Sharks game if we get early dominance with the energy we bring we are going to run them over....but that same energy could leave to an over eagerness to play and get us penalties and yellows. I think this is a game out of sharks hands, it ours to lose or win.

PS. @petite, Kremer is good and will be better for sure but he`s is not a replacement for ISA, he is a partner. Both of them in the same match would be so great for Pumas.

 

[argie]

Kremer is flanker (and lock) while Isa could be #8 too.

 

[petite]

guys i said replace him as an impact back rower.. not postition.
of course they would be great together! the problem is the existestnce of jags without the ban, we ve been talking about this..
really want the jags to survivive they wont if all the players go to europe. easy as that, there must be some policy to keep some players at home
think pumas would be very good this year. thy have more hs playng together than everybody else