[2018 Super Rugby] Round 15: 25-26 May 2018

[TRF_heineken]

VS.

Venue: Rugby League Park
Time: 09:35 CAT (SA, GMT+2)

VS.

Venue: Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
Time: 11:45 CAT (SA, GMT+2)

VS.

Venue: Estadio José Amalfitani
Time: 21:40 CAT (SA, GMT+2)

VS.

Venue: FMG Stadium Waikato
Time: 09:35 CAT (SA, GMT+2)

VS.

Venue: Suncorp Stadium
Time: 11:45 CAT (SA, GMT+2)

VS.

Venue: Loftus Versfeld
Time: 15:05 CAT (SA, GMT+2)

VS.

Venue: DHL Newlands
Time: 17:15 CAT (SA, GMT+2)
​

 

[argie]

Vamos Jaguares!.
A great match to define the second spot in the SA conference. I guess an increasing attendance at the Velez stadium. More than the 11,352 of the last weekend.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Is this the first time the Jaguares will host a team on a Friday night?

 

[argie]

It's holiday in Argentina at that date. A non working day in commemoration of the first patriot goverment (5/25/1810).

 

[SomeOke]

Very keen, I can finally (probably) stay up for a game in Argentina.
Have to say the Jaguares are probably still favourites after a string of dominant performances (and it's a home game).

Here's my take on this weeks games:

Crusaders vs Hurricanes , Crusaders at home and I feel like they are the more complete team at this stage of the competition. Less shuffling of their team in general and more of an all round game. That said, if the Crusaders can almost lose to the Waratahs they can certainly lose to one of the best teams in the comp. Probably game of the round.

Rebels vs Sunwolves, I know the Wolves have won the last two and are on a bit of a roll, but they do seem to up the intensity at home. I'd imagine the Rebels will be too strong in Aus especially considering the Wolves tend to play weaker teams when they travel.

Jaguares vs Sharks, I'd love to see the Sharks win here but we can't deny the Jaguares have been on a very strong run, last week they demolished a Bulls team that beat the Sharks not so long ago. Will hopefully be tight and it has been suggested that the Sharks are better equipped to deal with the Jaguares game plan (up front and in the territory game) but away from home is a tough ask.

Chiefs vs Waratahs, The Chiefs are returning from traveling after a long tour, the Tahs are finishing up a long tour, I feel like another win for the Tahs will probably be a little too much to ask. If D-mac plays I think the Chiefs win. Surprisingly a very close game to call though, I wouldn't put it past the Tahs to win this one.

Reds vs Highlanders, surely the Highlanders are too good for the Reds... Right? Maybe? Reds have looked a pretty tough nut to crack at times especially at home. Highlanders have looked a little shakey lately but surely not this shakey.

Bulls vs Brumbies, I mean... I hope, no reason Bulls lose this imo, potential banana skin if they underestimate the Brumbies

Stormers vs Lions, Lions just the better more consistent team this year, still the Stormers have pulled off some good wins this year at home. On the other other hand South African teams have really struggled to beat the Lions of late, and if anyone is going to do it I can't see it being the Stormers.


Pretty standard predictions from me. I think we can be fairly confident we'll see a few upsets. I wouldn't put it past the Sharks/Tahs.

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

Is this the first time the Jaguares will host a team on a Friday night?

As far as i remember, yes.

 

[unrated]

Picks for the weekend:
Crusaders vs Hurricanes - Crusaders has not been as good as the Hurricanes this season, Hurricanes will take first place if they win but at the same time could create a 5 point gap to first if they lose. Hurricanes to sneak it away from home

Rebels vs Sunwolves - Sunwolves have used their anual suprise match card and now it will be a return to normal with a comfortable Rebels victory. This is not a home or neutral game for the wolves so would eat my hat if they win this.

Jaguares vs Sharks - Game of the week for me! Jags and their supporters are very confident of a victory, this suits the Sharks. This Sharks team needs this kind of pressure, its the away game for us and even if the Sharks lose to the Jags now they can still make up for it when they play the return fixture in Durban, still though it would be good to get a win over the Jags now already so that we can slowly start to deal with the conference competition for our own selfish interests. Either the Sharks win or they lose by a huge margin, if they are in the game near the end you would expect the Sharks to close it out. The Jags really impressed me last weekend with their intensity and it was the first time you could clearly see that this is a full on international team playing, when they got the upper hand there was no stopping them. Unfortunately for the Jags our pack is at full strength with the du Preez twins and van der Walt combo back, it's probably one of the most physical packs in Super rugby with all our loosies capable of being line out options.

Chiefs vs Waratahs - Despite all their surprising efforts last week the Waratahs chances of winning this is minuscule, Chiefs get their All Blacks back and will be looking to make up for the dropped points last week.

Reds vs Highlanders - sorry reds supporters but your team is still ****, there is hope for the future though as most of the guys are young players under the philosophy of the new coach. The reds has a habit in making some games seem close so highlanders will probably scrape a win here

Bulls vs Brumbies - Bulls to win, they have not been consistent but this is a home game and they have had a number of big scalps this year at home so not expecting anything different this time around.

Stormers vs Lions - Stormers should take this IMO as the Lions look like a shadow of the team under Ackermann and they are lucky to be first at the moment. All that powered them in the first few weeks was the legacy left by Ackermann and the qualities of some of the players from that era, now that has faded and the players who played in that system does not look as impressive in the new system under Swys. Stormers has not been great either but at home they are always strong against SA opposition so this Lions will really have to work for this.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Geez, you guys are way more hopeful than I am for the Bulls. Our pack is getting worse every week due to injuries. Nyakane needs to stay at tighthead, and we need to get a better loosehead prop in to help him anchor the scrums while also being himself at the rucks.

We are without Lizo Gqoboka, Lood De Jager, Pierre Schoeman & Hanro Liebenberg. And we just got Roelof Smit back.

Hopefully Burger Odendaal will be fit for the Brumbies game, so that Handre can slot back at 10 and dictate the game. Libbok was outclassed by Sanchez this past weekend.

 

[Big_Grumper]

OK, my picks for the weekend:

Hurricanes to beat Crusaders
Rebels to beat Sunwolves
Jaguares to beat Sharks
Waratahs to beat Chiefs
Reds to beat Highlanders
Bulls and Brumbies to draw
Lions to beat the Stormers

 

[Gena_ZA]

I tell you if the Stormers had a bye week, they still have 50/50 odds of losing

Crusaders to beat Hurricanes
Rebels to beat Sunwolves
Jaguares to beat Sharks
Waratahs to beat Chiefs
Reds to beat Highlanders
Bulls to beat Brumbies
Lions to beat Stormers

 

[SomeOke]

Hopefully Burger Odendaal will be fit for the Brumbies game, so that Handre can slot back at 10 and dictate the game. Libbok was outclassed by Sanchez this past weekend.

How do you feel about Burger btw Heineken? I can't help but feel you could do a lot better, I'm not sure he's SR level, or at the very least not SR level for a strong team. He has one of the worst tackle success rates for a 12 in SA and doesn't seem to offer much in attack either.
Do you see it differently?

I don't mean to attack one of your players I really do wish the Bulls well.



Also I like how everyone's predicting Aussie wins vs Kiwis, after the Waratahs made it 1/40 last week with a red card .

 

[unrated]

Yea one win out of 41 and people are saying that the Aussies will extend their record of wins against NZ opposition from the current streak of 1 to a massive 3. I guess it shows that rugby supporters really want the Aussies to be competitive again.​

 

[TRF_heineken]

How do you feel about Burger btw Heineken? I can't help but feel you could do a lot better, I'm not sure he's SR level, or at the very least not SR level for a strong team. He has one of the worst tackle success rates for a 12 in SA and doesn't seem to offer much in attack either.
Do you see it differently?

I don't mean to attack one of your players I really do wish the Bulls well.



Also I like how everyone's predicting Aussie wins vs Kiwis, after the Waratahs made it 1/40 last week with a red card .

To be perfectly honest, I haven't noticed that stat. I haven't actually noticed that he's been defending poorly. But I do think next to Pollard he's been doing great to help the backline get a move on. He's been improving since moving from 13 to 12 now that Jan Serfontein has left the Bulls. I think he brings structure to the team, and seems like he works hard for his team.

I think what's nice about him is that he doesn't stand out as much as Pollard, Kriel and Gelant, so there's a bit of balance.

 

[SomeOke]

Fair enough I do think he's a fairly good distributor, and with the firepower you guys have from 13 -> I suppose just having a solid player at 12 who can move the ball on isn't a bad thing.

 

[argie]

The lineup of Jaguares against Sharks this Friday.
The return of Ramiro Moyano at the starting XV, and Juan Manuel Leguizamón on the bench.

 

[petite]

everyone is picking jags over sharks. I hope I was as optimistic. it's going to be tough most of our wins where based on forward dominance. don't know if they can do the same with sharks. they will need at least clean ball from set pieces to have a chance.

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

Im optimistic given our form but not as much as others i guess. As ive said before, i think the sharks style could counter us effectively. They al tend to perform well when odds are against them.

, its the away game for us and even if the Sharks lose to the Jags now they can still make up for it when they play the return fixture in Durban,

To be honest, happy to sign off a game a piece right here right now. We re ahead in points, number of wins and i d take our fixture over yours.

 

[User1245]

Some interesting clashes this week. Jags vs Sharks match is definitely a must watch with the Sharks being the equivalent of the French in their ability to sway from hopeless to impressive in a week's time. All about which Sharks team pitches and we'll probably know by half time. Another I'll be following with keen interest is the Tahs vs Chiefs match. Can they make it 2 in a row against a Kiwi side.
I briefly thought about heading down to Suncorp for the Reds match but no point when you know what the result is going to be!

 

[Big_Grumper]

OK, my picks for the weekend:

Hurricanes to beat Crusaders
Rebels to beat Sunwolves
Jaguares to beat Sharks
Waratahs to beat Chiefs
Reds to beat Highlanders
Bulls and Brumbies to draw
Lions to beat the Stormers

I wouldn't pay too much attention to my ability to accurately predict the results. I'll also apologise if I've jinxed any of your teams by backing them for a victory.

 

[Pampas]

Hurricanes to beat Crusaders: too much firepower in that backline.

Rebels to beat Sunwolves

Jaguares to beat Sharks: Sharks phisical game is going to complicate JAgs. Not for nothing we are yet to beat them in 4 four games, and in one of those games even scoring more tries than the Sharks. However, this a different Jags team, more confident and with a more sensible game plan that the players trust. At home, Jags win.

Chiefs to beat Tahs

Highlanders to beat Reds

Bulls to beat Brumbies

Stormers to beat Lions: tough call. Stormers are a force to reckon at home, and the Lions are far from being the same team they were under Akkerman. If Stormers win they will be back on the playoff race.