Super Rugby Semi-Final: Waratahs vs Highlanders

[Regan]

Speaking of Sopoaga - he may not play. He was still walking gingerly on his knee today....

 

[austingtir]

Speaking of Sopoaga - he may not play. He was still walking gingerly on his knee today....

Hope not because they simply have not given Marty Banks enough game time this season for him to be any good. And I rate Marty Banks he should of been given more games.

 

[Regan]

Hope not because they simply have not given Marty Banks enough game time this season for him to be any good. And I rate Marty Banks he should of been given more games.

I agree. For the sake of the semi and Landers hopefully he's alright. If Lima's out you'd have to say the game will go the Tahs way. It is worrying.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Hope not because they simply have not given Marty Banks enough game time this season for him to be any good. And I rate Marty Banks he should of been given more games.

Banks is out with a concussion, so it'd be either Parker or Renata starting D:

 

[Kiwi_]

Speaking of Sopoaga - he may not play. He was still walking gingerly on his knee today....

Don't say ***** like that. Giving me panic attacks.

 

[Kiwi_]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/69751576/lima-sopoaga-declared-fit-for-super-rugby-semifinal-after-concerns-about-knee-injury

He's fine. Declared fit.

 

[Regan]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/69751576/lima-sopoaga-declared-fit-for-super-rugby-semifinal-after-concerns-about-knee-injury

He's fine. Declared fit.

Good find. That's lucky. Yeah I'm going Highlanders to win this tbh BUT they have to and I mean have to get a good start. Shut the crowd out and not kick too much pill to Folau otherwise this one will get away from them. Beale being out is a positive for the Landers I must say.

 

[RoosTah]

The competition really highlighting how incomplete, immature and unfair it still is. Instead of fixing it, it's becoming even more of a mess next season.

"Incomplete and immature" don't really apply to what this competition is. It's actually very rational from an economic standpoint, it's simply indifferent to the "competitive balance" that you're demanding because it's economically less viable to support.

In that sense complaining about it is the truly immature response. It's a simple matter of money versus fairness; the NZRU and ARU have decided they'd rather accommodate a system that makes the arduous travel from South Africa more manageable, and in doing so have given up some fairness.

Also, for the record, the difference between the Highlanders and Waratahs is hardly worth getting your knickers in a twist over - after all, it's the difference of a bonus point. In reality they're a dead heat - both won 11 and lost 5, and the Highlanders just pipped the Tahs in a tight one where they had the home ground advantage.

 

[TobesHodges]

Don't blame the tahs bye to the semis as an excuse if the highlanders lose.. Will be a good game and I'm not saying the landers pack is bad or underrated, just saying I think the tahs pack is the better one.. You can't really argue that? But I'm sure you will..

 

[Jaguares]

Tahs by 7 and then and Aussie Grand Final at the ANZ Stadium with 85k mad supporters

 

[austingtir]

^^^ What cant you three above see about the Tahs getting a home semi being unfair? Shouldnt it be the best teams in the finals end of story not teams propped up by conference advantages which is what happened with the Tahs and Stormers
And the stormers being woeful doesnt make any difference that its unfair.

A home semi is a massive advantage theres no if buts or maybes about it.

The only good that can come of it (from a NZ perspective) is if the HL knock them over it will be hugely satisfying. As you said the Tahs will also have no excuses if they loose!!

 

[Kiwi_]

^^^ What cant you three above see about the Tahs getting a home semi being unfair? Shouldnt it be the best teams in the finals end of story not teams propped up by conference advantages which is what happened with the Tahs and Stormers
And the stormers being woeful doesnt make any difference that its unfair.

A home semi is a massive advantage theres no if buts or maybes about it.

The only good that can come of it is if the HL knock them over it will be hugely satisfying.

Umm, very few competitions in the world let money get in the way of the integrity of the sport, because the sports bigger than that. That to me is incomplete and immature. You only see this conference system in the money grubbing American sports with these "franchise" teams.

And you're mad if you think the Tahs getting a home semi final is fair and you're also mad if you don't think a weeks rest while the Highlanders had a hard game vs the Chiefs is also no disadvantage.

Stupid clearly bias views.

 

[RoosTah]

^^^ What cant you three above see about the Tahs getting a home semi being unfair? Shouldnt it be the best teams in the finals end of story not teams propped up by conference advantages which is what happened with the Tahs and Stormers
And the stormers being woeful doesnt make any difference that its unfair.

A home semi is a massive advantage theres no if buts or maybes about it.

With respect mate, you're assuming that the balance between fairness and profit should fall on the side of fairness. That's not how it works. Rugby is a business, and the NZRU need South Africa, which is why they wouldn't consider a breakaway tournament with Australia.

The problem for you is that to get South African AND maximise the value of Super Rugby, it's economically more manageable to sacrifice some fairness by limiting travel through a conference system that also increases the number of generally lucrative local derbies.

Yes, it leads to rewards for conferences with weaker performing teams, but if you have a conference system you also have to reward conference winners. It's known as a trade off.

Honestly, I'd have preferred a fairer NZ-AU breakaway super comp, because you could make it properly fair and not worry about conferences, but NZ aren't interested in that.

 

[austingtir]

With respect mate, you're assuming that the balance between fairness and profit should fall on the side of fairness. That's not how it works. Rugby is a business, and the NZRU need South Africa, which is why they wouldn't consider a breakaway tournament with Australia.

The problem for you is that to get South African AND maximise the value of Super Rugby, it's economically more manageable to sacrifice some fairness by limiting travel through a conference system that also increases the number of generally lucrative local derbies.

Yes, it leads to rewards for conferences with weaker performing teams, but if you have a conference system you also have to reward conference winners. It's known as a trade off.

Honestly, I'd have preferred a fairer NZ-AU breakaway super comp, because you could make it properly fair and not worry about conferences, but NZ aren't interested in that.

What a load of absolute twaddle. If thats the case super rugby is going to go down the gurgler real fast...

There is no need to doubly reward the conferance winner though which is whats happening not only do they get home advantage but also a bye week? Thats just completely ridiculous. For me its either one or the other the conferance winner should get one advantage only and that should be the bye week. If they are beaten on overall points then they dont get the home semi.

The highlanders grafted through the season and finished with more points than the Tahs aswell as a better points differential that should be the end of the story advantage highlanders!

The fact of the matter is you guys know this comp is a huge advantage to Aussie sides and you want to keep it that way.

 

[RoosTah]

What can I say mate, conference systems have conference winners, and winners play in finals. That's how a conference competition works.

As I said, I'd have preferred NZ to take up our offer and break away for a straight non conference trans Tasman Comp, but NZ won't have it.

You might resent us for benefitting from it, but you lot made the bed and have decided you want to make it crazier still, so if you're mad about it take it up with the NZRU.

 

[austingtir]

What can I say mate, conference systems have conference winners, and winners play in finals. That's how a conference competition works.

As I said, I'd have preferred NZ to take up our offer and break away for a straight non conference trans Tasman Comp, but NZ won't have it.

You might resent us for benefitting from it, but you lot made the bed and have decided you want to make it crazier still, so if you're mad about it take it up with the NZRU.

Evidence or is this just pulled out of your ass like everything else?

 

[RoosTah]

Evidence or is this just pulled out of your ass like everything else?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/...RU-stays-loyal-to-South-Africa-in-Super-Rugby

Sorry champ, I know you want to believe that it's all an Aussie conspiracy, but now you've seen the evidence of NZ's complicity how about you suck it up and admit you've got nothing to complain about. At least not to us Aussies.

Also, as for pulling "everything else out of my arse" - like f##king what? Just because you can't grasp fundamental economics doesn't mean I'm wrong about anything.

 

[Kiwi_]

What can I say mate, conference systems have conference winners, and winners play in finals. That's how a conference competition works.

As I said, I'd have preferred NZ to take up our offer and break away for a straight non conference trans Tasman Comp, but NZ won't have it.

You might resent us for benefitting from it, but you lot made the bed and have decided you want to make it crazier still, so if you're mad about it take it up with the NZRU.

Brings my point to the fact rugby is still immature and incomplete, still has large elements of amateurism and charity given out to weaker teams.

They could have rolled with the effective A-League system ,where the top 6 teams play off and it ends up 3vs6 4vs5 then seeded 1 v lowest seed and 2 vs highest seed, with the top sides no matter where they are from getting the home advantage because they finished on higher points.

Instead we get this charity to expand the game because we have to have our insufferable entitled mates across the ditch and Indian Ocean in the finals because no one would watch the f*cking sports in a country of 50m and 30m.

 

[austingtir]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/...RU-stays-loyal-to-South-Africa-in-Super-Rugby

Sorry champ, I know you want to believe that it's all an Aussie conspiracy, but now you've seen the evidence of NZ's complicity how about you suck it up and admit you've got nothing to complain about. At least not to us Aussies.

Also, as for pulling "everything else out of my arse" - like f##king what? Just because you can't grasp fundamental economics doesn't mean I'm wrong about anything.

Australian breakaway by the players was purely for their own gain for their own self interests how stupid do you think we are? The NZRU made the right decision to keep going with SA even though it might not be for that long.

A super rugby comp with only NZ/Australia... what a friggin joke.


You just sour that the management in Australia has mismanaged the golden years of Australian rugby and now the kitty is bare.

 

[RoosTah]

Australian breakaway by the players was purely for their own gain for their own self interests how stupid do you think we are? The NZRU made the right decision to keep going with SA even though it might not be for that long.

A super rugby comp with only Australia... what a friggin joke.

Yeah, well you might have thought it would be a joke, but it wouldn't have had conferences, so it would have been fair, and isn't that what you want? The ARU had a solution that eliminated all of South Africa's crazy conferences and weird scheduling, but NZ were happy to sacrifice fairness for SA dollars.

As I said, you can complain about it all you want, but you lot as much to blame for all this than anyone else, and more so that we are.

- - - Updated - - -

Brings my point to the fact rugby is still immature and incomplete, still has large elements of amateurism and charity given out to weaker teams.

They could have rolled with the effective A-League system ,where the top 6 teams play off and it ends up 3vs6 4vs5 then seeded 1 v lowest seed and 2 vs highest seed, with the top sides no matter where they are from getting the home advantage because they finished on higher points.

Instead we get this charity to expand the game because we have to have our insufferable entitled mates across the ditch and Indian Ocean in the finals because no one would watch the f*cking sports in a country of 50m and 30m.

The A-League is a national competition and is run by a very amateur organisation in the FFA, Super Rugby is more like the NFL in terms of structure. In the NFL the conference winners play eachother in the Super Bowl, even if there were better teams within their own conference that occasionally deserve to make it more. It does happen there and it happens here.

Seriously, you're just ****** off because you're on the wrong end of this now, but it's not as if anyone didn't agree to this.