2012 Rugby Thread

[Me]

The Super 8 12 14 15 starts up this weekend, I'm jumping on a train up to Sydney to go see the Tahs hopefully beat last years champs the Reds. This game and the return match in Brisbane should decide the top Australian team (and quite possibly the champs) provided the Brumbies don't improve on last years shocker, and tbh I'd be just as happy if they didn't, bunch of arrogant dicks.

Only problem with the Tahs, Reds game is it's out at Homebush, no Foveaux St bar crawl for me

Hoping to get to a game either down here in Canberra or up in Sydney most~ weeks this season.

So, who's everyone going for? I'm a long time Tahs supporter since I lived up there as a kid.

Anyone interested in a FHC tipping comp?

Super Rugby Round 1 fixtures
Blues v Crusaders
Brumbies v Force
Bulls v Sharks
Chiefs v Highlanders
Waratahs v Reds
Stormers v Hurricanes
Lions v Cheetahs
Bye : Rebels

Blues, Crusaders and Bulls, Sharks games should be great ones too.

[Tools]

Sharks v Bulls is not going to be so great a game since half of the Bulls old team is either retired or in Europe. Brumbies v Force is going to be a blowout too.

Bracing myself for a bad season from both my teams but the Super 8 12 14 XV(tentative I) still doesn't have a free tv deal so I won't be be able to see most of it :/

[Me]

Sharks v Bulls is not going to be so great a game since half of the Bulls old team is either retired or in Europe. Brumbies v Force is going to be a blowout too.

Bracing myself for a bad season from both my teams but the Super 8 12 14 XV(tentative I) still doesn't have a free tv deal so I won't be be able to see most of it :/

Didn't know the Bulls lost half the team, that's a pitty and will make the RSA teams even less competitive then usual.

Force ended up with more wins then the Brumbies last year so probably wont be that much of a blowout. Both teams are p. bad.

The lack of tv sucks but I'll just stream most of them like I did the world cup.

[Ben Derindar]

Highlanders supporter checking in. They had a good year last year in that they actually finished somewhere in the middle of the pack instead of perpetual wooden spooners. But it's hard to see them doing any better than somewhere in the middle again this season, even before it gets underway they have injury worries in the front row and the midfield.

As for the other NZ teams, the Crusaders will likely make the finals again because it's what they do, and the Blues have picked up a couple of big names from Hurricane territory so I expect them to do well. The Chiefs will be middlemen like the Highlanders, and the 'Canes loom as this year's whipping boys unless they can turn around their internal dramas from last year.

[Selb]

i'd probably watch more super 19 if it wasn't on at cunt o'clock in the morning. i prefer to catch up on SBW's boxing career, otherwise known as 'watch a bloke who isn't very good big himself up by only challenging people with special needs'

[Me]

Brumbies over the force and crusaders over the blues tonight. nbs.

Anyone watch the brumbies game? Curious how well they played.

[Mr Marram]

6 Nations back on this weekend, Ireland v Italy tomorrow at 1.30pm then England v Wales at 4pm.
Sunday is France v Scotland at 3pm.

Ireland will beat Italy quite comfortably and Wales should take England, France v Scotland should be interesting if Scotland play like they did vs England.

Wales is currently sitting at the top of the table and look good enough to take the tournament, England are in second but have played terrible in both games and so I expect them to get maybe 3rd or 4th.

France is currently sitting in third and look .... like France usually do, all over the shop, so hard to predict.

Scotland v Ireland should be well matched but sadly that will probably decide the bottom of the table.

[Me]

Edit to expand upon that for those who didn't see the game:

Game starts out meh with every single call going against nsw and just a try keeping them in it with all qld's penalty goals. Nsw gets a clear try turned down but manage to score one late taking the lead.

They replace the halfback who has been ripping it up and scored the last try with some guy missing a chromosome since everyone needs to get a run.

30 seconds left and up by 3 nsw gets a turnover deep in qld territory and it should be game over run out the clock... a quick hitup then the replacement halfback kicks the ball down the field right to the qlders, all the nsw players are taken by surprise and are out of position for that play and the qlders run it down the wing to score and win it after the hooter.

Its almost as if he threw the game deliberately.

[Mr Marram]

Ireland will beat Italy quite comfortably and Wales should take England,

Nailed it,
Ireland 42 - Italy 10.
Wales 19 - England 12.

Wales are good enough to take this, Frances game tomorrow vs Scotland will show if they are on form at all and could take it if they are.

[Ben Derindar]

I watched some of the Blues-Crusaders game, epic ending with the Crusaders up 19-18, the Blues position themselves for a drop-goal, Weepu makes a good kick which would probably have gone over for the Blues, except Dagg for the Crusaders affects the slightest of chargedowns, deflecting the ball only just enough to sail wide of the uprights.

Also the Highlanders pipped the Chiefs 23-19 away, that's got to be something of an upset. The Chiefs also picked up 3 or 4 injuries from the game, which will test their depth over the next few rounds I'm sure.

[Shiodome]

ooof just watched the england/wales game. great game... a bit of inexperiance from england resulting in some silly things but they did themselves proud regardless. there was a beatutiful run of play around 30mins that the commentators didn't seem to pay any notice too, gorgeous rugby.

also, that 'non-try' in the final second... clearly a conspiracy seeing as the decision was made by a welshman.

[hroethgar]

and the 'Canes loom as this year's whipping boys unless they can turn around their internal dramas from last year.

Since they haven't sacked Hammet, I expect the Canes to be complete crap. We've got rid of some of the best players in the world because they don't grovel to the administrators and a numpty coach whose goal is to make them play the same tedious brand of rugby as the Cantabs. Except not as well, so instead of playing good rugby unreliably we'll play tedious rugby badly all the time. Fantastic.

[Itiken]

ooof just watched the england/wales game. great game... a bit of inexperiance from england resulting in some silly things but they did themselves proud regardless. there was a beatutiful run of play around 30mins that the commentators didn't seem to pay any notice too, gorgeous rugby.

It was a great game. I've not seen England play that well for a long time, so +++'s to them, but as a welsh supporter, i can't help but be over the moon.

Looking forward to seeing France play against scotland today - as that should give us a godo indication of what to expect in a couple of weeks, if we get past Italy, for the 'big one'.

[Shiodome]

some entertaining rugby goin' on here with france/scotland

[Mr Marram]

some entertaining rugby goin' on here with france/scotland

Looks like Wales will take this tournament then, the French are really struggling.

[Itiken]

some entertaining rugby goin' on here with france/scotland

Looks like Wales will take this tournament then, the French are really struggling.

You can never predict how France will play from form. as the old saying goes. it all depends on which team turns up on March 17th. i hope it's the team who played Scotland though, not Les Blues.

[Selb]

some great games this weekend. obviously gutted about england losing but certainly not a shabby performance, strettle should have really put that try away but we can't complain after laidlaw's try against us was disallowed in the scotland game. for a side with less experience than wales' bench they can hold their heads high, a long shot from the old guard who lost a 10+ point lead in the second half a couple of years ago.

scotland played well, finally got their try-scoring heads back on. hogg's try from nothing was really good, quick thinking and a fantastic finish. lamont's injury looked sickening, have they said what he's done yet?

[ElweSingollo]

some great games this weekend. obviously gutted about england losing but certainly not a shabby performance, strettle should have really put that try away but we can't complain after laidlaw's try against us was disallowed in the scotland game. for a side with less experience than wales' bench they can hold their heads high, a long shot from the old guard who lost a 10+ point lead in the second half a couple of years ago.

scotland played well, finally got their try-scoring heads back on. hogg's try from nothing was really good, quick thinking and a fantastic finish. lamont's injury looked sickening, have they said what he's done yet?

Suspected broken leg last I checked also Scotland are fucking making me cry this year it's like lets play good for 60 mins fuck up the other 20 mins because we can't actually let ourselves win now can we.

[Ben Derindar]

In NZ rugby news this week, the provincial Otago union are facing liquidation and may not field a team in this year's domestic competition, the ITM Cup. Much of it came about due to the administrators borrowing heavily against the value of the old Carisbrook stadium in Dunedin, only for the stadium to sell for more than NZD 1 million less than was expected. Unless someone can front up with the cash within the next 48 hours, 131 years of rugby history may soon come to an end.

Thankfully the Dunedin-based Super Rugby franchise the Highlanders are not directly affected as they are a separate legal entity, but if Otago does go tits up it's hard to imagine the Highlanders not being affected by player retention in the area for the next few years anyway. :\

Linkage

[Me]

Chiefs over the Blues 29 14 and Waratahs over the Rebels 35 19 for tonight's games.

e: A couple of pics from last week's NSW v QLD game. They gave out those flags for free which made for a great atmosphere, even if the stadium was less than half full. 32,000 in a 80,000 seat stadium is bad mmmkay, just have it at the SFS and almost fill it up.

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