There’s really no reason to comment on these posts where I post the scores and a brief summary of the Super 14 weekend results so I don’t know if it’s a waste of my time to relay that information or if I should just put the scores up and call it a day. So I’m going to be brief with this post and unless someone complains I’ll continue striving for brevity.
The home team is on the left
Crusaders 24 v Hurricanes 30
The defending champion Crusaders lost at home to fellow New Zealand squad the Hurricanes. At 1-2 this is a really slow start for the defending champs, while the Hurricans snatched a quality away victory.
Waratahs 34 v Highlanders 16
Typical game for the Waratahs; they score a lot of points and the other side just can’t keep pace.
Chiefs 15 v Sharks 22
The Chiefs are a decent team so this was a valuable away win for the Sharks who remain in the top 4 as one of the three remaining unbeaten teams (Waratahs and Bulls are the other two).
Brumbies 16 v Western Force 25
This is the craziest score of the weekend. The Brumbies beat the Crusaders last week but followed that home win with a home loss to Western Force. Either this was just a typical let down game or Western Force has officially put everything together this year and could contend for one of the top 4 spots.
Lions 9 v Bulls 16
The battle of Jo’burg v Pretoria! The Lions got a point for losing by 7 or less, which is a little surprising because the Bulls were coming off a week when they put up 59 points on the Blues and could only muster 16 against the rival Lions.
Stormers 8 v Blues 14
My boys lost. And they lost to a team that the Bulls trounced last week. The good news is that they began the week in 10th place and despite losing are still in 10th place. The bad news is that Stormers coach Rassie Erasmus is now under fire. The belief is that the players no longer believe in Erasmus and his mad hatter coaching style. They barely hung on to victory last week as they blew a huge led against the Reds in the second half. This week versus the Blues people felt like they actually digressed as a team. And as a wing myself, it’s troubling that they are failing to get the ball out to the backs. They keep trying to force the ball down the other team’s throat with their forwards, but this slow and plodding pace doesn’t play to their strength. So if the Stormers lose next week Erasmus is probably done and the Stormers’ season will most likely be a wash.
Reds 22 Cheetahs 3
The Reds really needed a win and the Cheetahs obliged by sucking.
Actually that gets me to a larger point that is going in Super 14. Apparently Super 14 wants to expand to Super 15 or Super 16 at some point in the near future. The question is where this new expansion team would be located. As it stands South Africa has 5 teams, New Zealand has 5, and Australia has 4. So it would stand to reason that Australia would get an expansion team to even everything out. However, South Africa’s rugby union, which is prone to insanity/corruption/racism/ineptitude, is throwing a hissy fit because they want another team. (First article on the decision to not expand right now. Second article on Australia and South Africa fighting about where the team should go.)
This makes no sense to me at all. The Cheetahs are terrible and located in Bloemfontein. Bloemfontein is in the middle of no where. Yet, SA rugby union insists that it makes sense to plop another team in one of South Africa’s sparcely populated middle of no where towns. That isn’t to say that these towns aren’t beautiful and great places to live or travel too, just that they don’t seem like ideal revenue sources for a professional sports team. Nevertheless, SA rugby union wants to deny Australia a 5th team and this is causing great consternation.
So as a fan of SA rugby I’d just like to say, do not expand at all, but if you must put team number 15 in Australia.
The Standings After Week 3
|
Team |
Nation |
P |
W |
L |
D |
PF |
PA |
PD |
Bp |
Ttl |
|
|
1. |
(SA) |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
108 |
55 |
53 |
2 |
14 |
|
|
2. |
(AU) |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
71 |
45 |
26 |
2 |
14 |
|
|
3. |
(SA) |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
67 |
40 |
27 |
0 |
12 |
|
|
4. |
(AU) |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
60 |
51 |
9 |
2 |
10 |
|
|
5. |
(NZ) |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
65 |
86 |
-21 |
2 |
10 |
|
|
6. |
(NZ) |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
74 |
67 |
7 |
1 |
9 |
|
|
7. |
(AU) |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
67 |
72 |
-5 |
1 |
9 |
|
|
8. |
(NZ) |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
59 |
61 |
-2 |
3 |
7 |
|
|
9. |
(AU) |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
66 |
63 |
3 |
2 |
6 |
|
|
10. |
(SA) |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
50 |
58 |
-8 |
2 |
6 |
|
|
11. |
(SA) |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
53 |
69 |
-16 |
2 |
6 |
|
|
12. |
(NZ) |
3 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
35 |
52 |
-17 |
3 |
3 |
|
|
13. |
(NZ) |
3 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
64 |
89 |
-25 |
3 |
3 |
|
|
14. |
(SA) |
3 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
41 |
72 |
-31 |
2 |
2 |
Look at those Bulls, woop woop!
108 points for in 3 games is just sick. However, they haven’t had to play a game outside of South Africa yet. So once on tour they may stumble, but as of right now they are prbably the favorites.
by the way, the Stormers play @ the Bulls next week. Not good.
Yeah, though I wasn’t really happy with Bulls pulling just 16 points from the game against sorry Lions. They may be rivals but a -16 differential for Lions against a +53 for Bulls? Should’ve been a bigger beat down.