Super Rugby 2025
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@Number-10 said in Super Rugby 2025:
@African-Monkey said in Super Rugby 2025:
From the Blues, I can't for the life of me remember Mike Reid.
Also. I remember the game v the Reds in 2016, was a 25-25 draw, but are they sure about the Mike Mayhew one? I feel like it was Nic Mayhew who played that day. He played a lot for us that season, I don't recall Mike Mayhew playing that game.
Going by the Rugby Almanack you are correct - Nic Mayhew played eight game for the Blues in 2016, Mike Mayhew never played for the Blues.
Yeah I think they got it off rugby database which can be inaccurate on the odd occasion.
Nic Mayhew was the backup loosehead that year, and our hookers were James Parsons and Quentin MacDonald.@Daffy-Jaffy yeah I only remember the name, just don't remember anything about him, which I'm disappointed about as I try to remember every Blues player that played for us haha.
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@Daffy-Jaffy loved that jersey.
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Ethan Roots:
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@sparky said in All Blacks 2025:
@SBW1 said in All Blacks 2025:
Leicester Fainga'anuku reveals 'preference' for Top 14 over Super Rugby as All Blacks powerhouse opens up on New Zealand return
Leicester Fainga'anuku admits that he will miss Toulon and the Top 14 after stating that he 'prefers' it to rugby back in New Zealand.
I'm with Leicester here.
Leaving aside parochial preferences, I prefer watching Top 14 to Super Snore. The games tend to be contests for longer, the crowds are much noisier and more partisan and the quality and type of Rugby is closer to Test rugby. Arguably there is a bit more variation and creativity in the way the Top 14 sides play too.
There's a big job to fix super rugby to make it more interesting again and a better preparation for playing Test Rugby. The Blues pointed the way last year. I hope other franchises were taking notes.
For me , it’s got to the point where I only seem to find the nz derbies interesting.
And I used to watch a lot , particularly in the super 12 years .
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@kiwiinmelb Yeah and I don't always watch all of those any more. Really just the Hurricanes games and enough of the NZ derbies to get a sense of the form of players and teams.
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@booboo said in Super Rugby 2025:
How many of these guys played for other Super teams.
The Rugby Database website is only as good as the information added but it should include all teams a player played for.
Eg:
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The odds for the upcoming season are below, pretty accurate in my view. The Blues will be obvious frontrunners with the Chiefs close behind. The Canes will be up there and I expect the Crusaders will have a much better season. I feel like the Highlanders are too low, I've got them making the top 6 alongside the Reds and Brumbies with the Waratah's maybe sneaking in above one of their Aussie mates if they can keep key players like Angus Bell injury free.
The Drua will upset some good teams at home again but I don't think they'll make the playoffs this year due to the top 6 cutoff. Force and Moana might improve slightly with some key signings but they'll battle it out for the wooden spoon.
Blues: 2.75
Chiefs: 3.25
Hurricanes: 6.50
Crusaders: 7.00
Brumbies: 8.00
Reds: 15.00
Fijian Drua: 21.00
Waratahs: 26.00
Highlanders: 31.00
Force: 81.00
Moana Pasifica: 101.00 -
Do people really expect that bounce back for the Crusaders?
I think the Aussie teams will be more competitive than the previous years with the demise of the Rebels and crystal balling less horrific injury runs.
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@antipodean I think they will be, they had some key injuries early on and with results going against them it affected confidence as well.
Don't think they are championship material, but will be better.
Blues will be tough to beat I reckon.
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@antipodean said in All Blacks 2025:
Do people really expect that bounce back for the Crusaders?
I think the Aussie teams will be more competitive than the previous years with the demise of the Rebels and crystal balling less horrific injury runs.
2026 will be their actual year as LF will return from real rugby in France to play soft rugby in NZ so they really will be unstoppable.
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@antipodean said in All Blacks 2025:
Do people really expect that bounce back for the Crusaders?
I think the Aussie teams will be more competitive than the previous years with the demise of the Rebels and crystal balling less horrific injury runs.
i think they'll definitely improve form last year, i think the aussie improvement (i agree that should come) will hit teams like the Landers harder
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@sparky said in All Blacks 2025:
@SBW1 said in All Blacks 2025:
Leicester Fainga'anuku admits that he will miss Toulon and the Top 14 after stating that he 'prefers' it to rugby back in New Zealand.
I'm with Leicester here.
Leaving aside parochial preferences, I prefer watching Top 14 to Super Snore. The games tend to be contests for longer, the crowds are much noisier and more partisan and the quality and type of Rugby is closer to Test rugby. Arguably there is a bit more variation and creativity in the way the Top 14 sides play too.
There's a big job to fix super rugby to make it more interesting again and a better preparation for playing Test Rugby. The Blues pointed the way last year. I hope other franchises were taking notes.
I find I will watch the Premiership, Top and URC 14 too. But to be honest I will watch a highlights packages or selected games where with Super I will watchusually 4-5 games live every weekend (times that suit me in NZ) and much as I enjoy other comps at times, never watch as much of those comps, or know the players as well etc. Same as 6Ns, will watch most games, but don't claim to know or follow the players etc as well as I do the players from down here!
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@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks 2025:
I'm hopeful for this season with no Rebels. Tahs have a proper coach, Reds can build off last year and Brumbies are competitive. The question for Drua as always will be can they play away from home.
I think they'll improve too. The Reds botched things up themselves last year by dropping the game against the Blues when they were carving us up, losing to Moana, and then losing to the Force, but were good other than that.
The sides from Aussie will be a lot better next year i think. The Tahs already look stronger out wide and will have Tupou and Bell up front, the Brumbies are always there or thereabouts, the Reds will make a big push for top 4 I think, and the Force have made some good signings.
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@frugby really feel they have little reason too other than pretty standard rotation, there is not domestic comp to wear them out, they should be able to build very nicely in the lead up and peak for the tour, they should be aiming for battle hardened rather than undercooked
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@frugby said in All Blacks 2025:
The other question is what impact will the Lions Tour have? Will Australian sides be resting players in anticipation?
Why? It's only 14 match season, even the Japanese League has gone to 18 games this year.
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@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2025:
@sparky said in All Blacks 2025:
@SBW1 said in All Blacks 2025:
Leicester Fainga'anuku admits that he will miss Toulon and the Top 14 after stating that he 'prefers' it to rugby back in New Zealand.
I'm with Leicester here.
Leaving aside parochial preferences, I prefer watching Top 14 to Super Snore. The games tend to be contests for longer, the crowds are much noisier and more partisan and the quality and type of Rugby is closer to Test rugby. Arguably there is a bit more variation and creativity in the way the Top 14 sides play too.
There's a big job to fix super rugby to make it more interesting again and a better preparation for playing Test Rugby. The Blues pointed the way last year. I hope other franchises were taking notes.
I find I will watch the Premiership, Top and URC 14 too. But to be honest I will watch a highlights packages or selected games where with Super I will watchusually 4-5 games live every weekend (times that suit me in NZ) and much as I enjoy other comps at times, never watch as much of those comps, or know the players as well etc. Same as 6Ns, will watch most games, but don't claim to know or follow the players etc as well as I do the players from down here!
I’ve never had much interest in European club rugby. Mainly because I had no emotional involvement and the rugby wasn’t as good as super rugby for a long time.
I will catch a Nz derby in a weekend but will rely on highlights mostly.
One game I refuse to watch is Australian derbies!
Rugby Database: Matthew Webber Player Profile & Stats
