Round 6 catch up games (11/12/13 March 2022)

[TRF_stormer2010]

Sharks
19:10Fri, Mar 11

Scarlets
Kings Park Stadium




Bulls Vs Munster Rugby at Loftus Versfeld 12th Mar 2022

Bulls
16:05Sat, Mar 12

Munster
Loftus Versfeld




Ulster Rugby Vs Leinster Rugby at Kingspan Stadium 12th Mar 2022

Ulster
19:35Sat, Mar 12

Leinster
Kingspan Stadium




Lions Vs Cardiff Rugby at Ellis Park 13th Mar 2022

Lions
16:00Sun, Mar 13

Cardiff
Ellis Park




Stormers Vs Zebre Parma at Danie Craven Stadium 13th Mar 2022

Stormers
18:05Sun, Mar 13

Zebre Parma

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

A couple of tasty matches actually apart from that I fully expect us to trash Zebre otherwise I have no hope left.

 

[saulan]

Quite interested in the bulls game and the Sharks game.

Also intrigued to see how the NH teams adjust to the SA style of reffing, especially since some won't have experienced it before. (In comparison to the last few weeks, I expect a lot more scrum and breakdown penalties)

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

I wonder whether we will see SA refs or neutral refs. In general I think our referees are better but I wouldn't know whether that would be because I am just more used to them. I am not 100% convinced about the use of the term "style" when it comes to the level of refereeing. Its not as if I either thought the likes of Barnes etc (other NH refs which I've seen at international level) were poor compared to SH crop (quite the opposite in most instances) as I do with what I've seen in the URC.

I believe our domestic crop are just plain better / more accurate in their application of the laws. Not our TMO's though. We have a few plonkers in that dept. Would be interesting to see if SA refs blow what the impression would be for outsiders IE if they in turn feel the performances are poor across the board or if they too feel there is better accuracy.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

It's a bit of a shame that the first SA visits coincide with the 6N due to rescheduling. I expect comfortable home wins for the SA sides and we will bet a truer reflection of the comparative strength of sides once the 6N is over. Maybe Munster can put up a bit of a fight?

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Ulster and a SA sweep is what I expect.

@TRF_stormer2010 pro14 refs get a deserved bad rep. There's very very few good ones among them.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Ah, man. I just saw Lukhanyo Am isn't with the Sharks anymore. I assumed he'd only move off post the URC. He was their best performer so far this year without comparison.

It's a bit of a shame that the first SA visits coincide with the 6N due to rescheduling. I expect comfortable home wins for the SA sides and we will bet a truer reflection of the comparative strength of sides once the 6N is over. Maybe Munster can put up a bit of a fight?

Yes, I can totally see even a Munster missing international put one over on the Bulls. I think they have a ways to go to get back on top.

Ulster and a SA sweep is what I expect.

@TRF_stormer2010 pro14 refs get a deserved bad rep. There's very very few good ones among them.

That's a pity. I can see this competition be very watchable otherwise.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

That's a shame about Am, he was becoming absolute box-office. Strange to join a Japanese side (Steelers) half way through both the URC and Japanese seasons.

I don't agree that the URC refs are that much worse than elsewhere. Although I do prefer SA & NZ in general. Again, TMOs are an issue as you can seem to get some homers desperate to influence the game by answering questions that haven't been asked of them. Though I dont know if that is the case in the last couple of seasons.

 

[saulan]

I wonder whether we will see SA refs or neutral refs. In general I think our referees are better but I wouldn't know whether that would be because I am just more used to them. I am not 100% convinced about the use of the term "style" when it comes to the level of refereeing.

That's actually a good question. I just took a look and the games now when we were in the NH have been neutral... but at the same time I don't recall other SA refs being used so far in the NH. Has this been the case at all?

I didn't want to just call out the NH quality of refereeing rubbish as it feels a bit harsh... some are fine and then some are dramatically different in terms of interpretation. So maybe just massively inconsistent.

Also on Am, isn't just a short term deal for like 2 months? Sad to see him go, but at least he is back in the medium term. In general, the Sharks biggest issue does seem to be their depth at center... maybe flyhalf. Everything else feels unfairly OP (ok maybe not scrum half), but just not clicking

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

I'm not up on my refs to be honest. I think URC NH are quite similar to a lot of SH refs in heavily favouring attacking sides at the breakdown (as part of the acknowledged ethos of the URC to encourage attacking play). Young Scottish ref Sam Grove-White did very well in the difficult circumstances of Spain vs Romania RWCQ so I'm sure he can handle Sharks vs Scarlets admirably.

On the flip side, Welsh ref Adam Jones (who will be doing Stormers vs Zebre) gave the only refereeing performance I have ever in my life called overtly biased in November in the second half of the 2nd Russia vs Chile test. Chile were spanking the Welsh coached (Lyn Jones) Russians in the coaches last match with the coach recovering from cancer. I'd called it out as biased without even knowing who the ref was until after the match and it was clear he let sentimentality completely cloud his judgement to avoid Russia losing by 40+ points in what would have been a humiliating end to his compatriot and namesake's career (they dont appear to related).

He threw yellow cards at Chile like confetti to keep the score reasonable. At one point Chile kicked for touch, Russia took a quick lineout that Chile intercepted for a certain try, but the ref blew it back for an imaginary penalty incurred before Chile had kicked to touch about ten seconds earlier!

Adam Jones may be a compassionate and decent human being, but he shouldn't be allowed near a professional rugby match and he is definitely one to keep an eye out for in terms of inappropriate decisions, especially if he is ever reffing a Welsh side.

Character assassinations are never big or clever, but trust me this one is merited.

 

[collace]

None of Ulster's backline players picked for Ireland with only Henderson and Herring in the 23. If we get all our players back for this I would be pretty confident.

 

[irisht]

None of Ulster's backline players picked for Ireland with only Henderson and Herring in the 23. If we get all our players back for this I would be pretty confident.

You should be.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

That's a pity. I can see this competition be very watchable otherwise.

Proper aside I generally like SA refs. Hopefully you can drag our guys up to standard, it's the worst thing about the league currently.

 

[Groundhog]

I'd probably take an LBP from our game vs Bulls, but our team isn't too callow.

I think the strongest we can field is:
1. Wycherley
2. Scannell
3. Archer
4. Eoin O'Connor (could go Hurley, but bigger man gets the nod)
5. Kleyn
6. Wycherley
7. Hodnett (will probably be Cloete, which is fine)
8. Jack O'Donoghue
9. Cronin,
10. Healy
11. Zebo
12. De Allende
13. Farrell
14. Nash
15. Haley

Subs: Barron, Donnelly, Ryan, Hurley, Cloete, Patterson, Crowley, Kendellen.

DDA being back is great for us. Think he will be very valuable in these two games and will be hungry after an injury layoff.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Looking forward to this round tbh

 

[unrated]

So as far as I understood there was no rule to force ref neutrality when SA sides toured Europe. No SA refs were involved. We thought ok, we are struggling in the European winter conditions while dealing with a very different refereeing interpretation which at times felt either alien or downright biased.

Atleast, the opposite was true to bring a small sense of balance to the competition:
The idea that when the European teams come to South Africa they will need to deal with the summer-like conditions (covid forced this to be autumn which favours NH teams.) And our ref's interpretations, almost balancing the playing field with the foreign conditions that all the NH teams would now need to deal with, just like the SA ones had to endure in Europe.

Except, this will never happen because straight after the European tour the new ref boss for the URC Tappe Henning, and in a bid to improve refereeing standards, oh so ironically from South Africa outlawed home-based ref and now enforces the neutrality policy.

SA Refs are pretty much sidelined for the rest of the competition due to this decision.

The home leg is the rest of the season, and they cant be involved should the playoffs go ahead with SA teams.

At least the Welsh, Scottish and Italian ref depth will be building well in the future, the nations statistically doing better in the competition will directly be sidelining their high-performance referee development. Ireland and South Africa seem likely to be most affected going forward.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

So as far as I understood there was no rule to force ref neutrality when SA sides toured Europe. No SA refs were involved. We thought ok, we are struggling in the European winter conditions while dealing with a very different refereeing interpretation which at times felt either alien or downright biased.

Atleast, the opposite was true to bring a small sense of balance to the competition:
The idea that when the European teams come to South Africa they will need to deal with the summer-like conditions (covid forced this to be autumn which favours NH teams.) And our ref's interpretations, almost balancing the playing field with the foreign conditions that all the NH teams would now need to deal with, just like the SA ones had to endure in Europe.

Except, this will never happen because straight after the European tour the new ref boss for the URC Tappe Henning, and in a bid to improve refereeing standards, oh so ironically from South Africa outlawed home-based ref and now enforces the neutrality policy.

SA Refs are pretty much sidelined for the rest of the competition due to this decision.

The home leg is the rest of the season, and they cant be involved should the playoffs go ahead with SA teams.

At least the Welsh, Scottish and Italian ref depth will be building well in the future, the nations statistically doing better in the competition will directly be sidelining their high-performance referee development. Ireland and South Africa seem likely to be most affected going forward.

And Scotland though for the life of me I somehow can't think of a single Scottish referee?

From the ox to the jacket... still no teams named for SA sides as far as I can see. Feels weird. Friday and no teams named. For the Stormers I really hope to see Malherbe back at 3 with Moerat and Orie 4 and 5. Maybe a backline of 9 De Wet (Jantjies needs to find form elsewhere) 10 Libbok, 11 Senatla, 12 Willemse, 13 Du Plessis, 14, Specman 15 Gelant

Though I suppose its Zebre and we *should* win handsomely regardless. Bulls the SA team that needs to step up here. Though I hope they don't LOL- better chance for us to make the top 8. Rooting for the Sharks and Lions though as I am scared of the Welsh sides moving up the log whilst I think the Sharks will make the top 8 in any case or at least should and the Lions are also rans so I don't mind them picking up log point. Honestly, the biggest mistake SARU made was add the Lions in favor of the Cheetahs.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Bulls

15 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Madosh Tambwe, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Arno Botha, 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Jacques van Rooyen, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp

Subs: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Robert Hunt, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 WJ Steenkamp, 21 Zak Burger, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 Canan Moodie


Lions

15 Quan Horn, 14 Stean Pienaar, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Jaco Kriel (captain), 5 Reinhard Nothnagel, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Sti Sithole

Substitutes: 16 PJ Botha, 17 JP Smith, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Ruan Venter, 20 Emmanuel Tshituka, 21 Nico Steyn, 22 Manuel Rass, 23 Tiaan Swanepoel


Stormers

15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Deon Fourie (captain), 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Brok Harris

Substitues: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Ernst van Rhyn, 20 Junior Pokomela, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Tim Swiel, 23 Rikus Pretorius


All teams missing key men but as strong as we can expect at this stage. Havn't seen the Sharks named yet.

 

[big ginger 8]

Leinster Rugby team v Ulster Rugby (appearances in brackets):

15. Jimmy O'Brien (43)
14. Adam Byrne (64)
13. Rory O'Loughlin (92)
12. Jamie Osborne (14)
11. Tommy O'Brien (17)
10. Ross Byrne (118)
9. Luke McGrath CAPTAIN (165)

1. Ed Byrne (79)
2. James Tracy (137)
3. Michael Ala'alatoa (14)
4. Ross Molony (129)
5. Joe McCarthy (3)
6. Rhys Ruddock (201)
7. Scott Penny (36)
8. Max Deegan (78)

Replacements:

16. Seán Cronin (202)
17. Peter Dooley (100)
18. Thomas Clarkson (13)
19. Devin Toner (275)
20. Dan Leavy (78)
21. Nick McCarthy (43)
22. David Hawkshaw (8)
23. Martin Moloney (3)

Referee – Frank Murphy (IRFU)

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

That is an impressive looking Leinster line-up considering the men they are without. Man, wish we could boast the same sort of depth.