Super Rugby News
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@stargazer said in Super Rugby News:
Conclusion after watching the game: the Lions indeed aren't as good as last year.
It is amazing what impact coaching can have....
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Two-week ban for Jacques Vermeulen
Sharks flanker Jacques Vermeulen has been suspended for two weeks after he pleaded guilty to dangerous play against the Rebels on Friday. The SANZAAR Foul Play Review Committee accepted a guilty plea from Vermeulen for contravening Law 9.20 – dangerous play in a ruck or maul – after he was cited during their Super Rugby match. Vermeulen has been suspended from all forms of the game for two weeks, up to and including Friday, April 6. The incident occurred in the 49th minute of the match between the Rebels and Sharks played at AAMI Park. The SANZAAR Foul Play Review Committee of Nigel Hampton QC (Chairman), Stefan Terblanche and Stephen Hardy assessed the case. In his finding, Foul Play Review Committee Chairman Nigel Hampton QC ruled the following: "Having conducted a detailed review of all the available evidence, including all camera angles and both an account of the incident and submissions from the player, the Foul Play Review Committee upheld the citing under Law 9.20. "With respect to sanction the Foul Play Review Committee deemed the act of foul play merited a mid range entry point of four weeks due to the player's dangerous charge into a ruck, making contact with the head of the player's opponent. However, taking into account mitigating factors including the player's youth, his excellent Judicial record and early guilty plea the Foul Play Review Committee reduced the suspension to two weeks." "The player is therefore suspended for two weeks, up to and including Friday 6 April 2018.” -
How Sanzaar could revamp Super Rugby in 2020
The long term future of Super Rugby will become clearer this week when Sanzaar releases a strategic report that is expected to reveal a number of options are being considered to revamp the competition in 2020, including taking more games to neutral venues, expanding the number of teams to 18 or sticking with 15 teams but not necessarily all those they currently have.New Zealand has concluded it can't support and doesn't want a sixth team, while both Australia and South Africa have accepted that their current four teams is their optimum number. The other two teams currently in Super Rugby - Jaguares of Argentina and Sunwolves of Japan - have struggled since they were introduced in 2016 and the question will have to be asked whether they want to retain their respective places in Super Rugby and whether they should be able to given their lack of impact. If one or other pulled out, it would open the prospect of a team from the Pacific Islands being introduced in their place. There is a significant desire within New Zealand to see a Pacific team finally win inclusion, but the difficulty will be finding room for one in the conference format. The big hope for the islands is that the New Zealand Rugby Players' Association is able to wield some power and influence in the next 12 months to push Sanzaar in a different direction. The NZRPA is not sold on the idea of having so many local derbies and is convinced that a round-robin format can be rekindled with 14, 15 or even 16 teams..
I hate this bit:
Regardless of what format is adopted in 2020, the prospect of teams playing competition games outside the existing territories is likely to happen more. In recent years New Zealand sides have taken home games to Fiji and Samoa, but from 2020 there may be moves afoot to see some games played in the USA, Canada and parts of Asia in an attempt to showcase the tournament in the same way the NFL has been playing games in London.Full article:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/super-rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=331&objectid=12019608 -
The Chiefs could welcome back co-captain Charlie Ngatai for Friday's Super Rugby clash with the Highlanders in Hamilton, but they have had yet another player ruled out for the season, with Dominic Bird to go under the knife.Bird is the fifth Chiefs player to be out for the season, after utility back Tim Nanai-Williams (shoulder), prop Atu Moli (quad haematoma) and fellow locking options Mitchell Brown (knee) and Fin Hoeata (shoulder). Cooper is still deciding on second row replacements after the recent hits to the locking stocks, but said Waikato's Sam Caird and Bay of Plenty's Baden Wardlaw were training with the team in the meantime."Charlie could be this week, he could be next week, we're just going to see how he progresses during the week," Cooper said of the man who was making the move from the midfield to be the team's first-choice fullback this year. Midfielder Alex Nankivell is coming back into the selection frame following an appendix issue that had hospitalised him, having made a return via club rugby on Saturday. Outside back Levi Aumua (shoulder and hip) had done likewise, midfielder Regan Verney (groin) is to do the same this weekend or next, while Cooper said loosehead props Kane Hames (illness) and Mitchell Graham (leg) are still "long-term at the moment". -
Midfielder Alex Nankivell is coming back into the selection frame following an appendix issue that had hospitalised him, having made a return via club rugby on Saturday.
Outside back Levi Aumua (shoulder and hip) had done likewise, midfielder Regan Verney (groin) is to do the same this weekend or next, while Cooper said loosehead props Kane Hames (illness) and Mitchell Graham (leg) are still "long-term at the moment".
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I did notice Nankivell's name on the team list for Hautapu along with Luke Jacobson. Another name that piqued my interest in that club side was TH prop Ryan Coxon. He moved to Ta$man last year but may have returned home.
Bummer for Bird. This puts a lot of pressure on BBBR to stay fit with the thin locking stocks.
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The return of the Pocockwomble
David Pocock returns to tackle crucial change in ruck law
With the stroke of a pen law-makers may succeed where the world’s best backrowers have failed
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Ha ha I wondered if CA would fly in Pocock to take reins of the cricket team 😁
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So it appears Tongan Thor didn't get a week off for flattening that little Stormers winger.
At first i was outraged, outraged i tell you! Then i read the decision, and thought "yea, that's not really a red card". Still not sure how he didn't get a yellow for it during the game though. I can forgive the lateness of it, as he is down, and old mate does a flick pass a fraction before the bus runs over him. But there is no way he meant to do anything but flatten him with the shoulder. Anyone trying to defend with "he's trying to wrap the arm, the guy just bounced too quick" never played rugby. That's a fucking shoulder charge.
Massive hit though, that kid is probably still waking up with nightmares of big maroon freight trains.
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Clear YC for me.
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@antipodean without a doubt a yellow. It's in South Africa too, so you know it was replayed on the bigscreen 47 times. How was it missed?
Not a red though.
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shocking it was missed, late shoulder and high, looked like contact with his chin...while I think YC is sufficient, if it had been given a RC it wouldn't have surprised me either.
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you reckon it's high? I don't, i reckon he hits his shoulder, and the head snaps from there.
BOOM! Cha-hooo!
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@mariner4life I reckon there is brief contact chin-shoulder before the snap....when put alongside plenty of others we have seen called 'high' that is high all day.
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@taniwharugby said in Super Rugby News:
@mariner4life I reckon there is brief contact chin-shoulder before the snap....when put alongside plenty of others we have seen called 'high' that is high all day.
alright soccer mum
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@taniwharugby said in Super Rugby News:
@mariner4life I reckon there is brief contact chin-shoulder before the snap....when put alongside plenty of others we have seen called 'high' that is high all day.
@mariner4life I reckon if you pause on the first contact it gets his chin clean as.
Solid hit but!
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@mariner4life pfft....I'm not the one making the game soft bro!
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I don't think that that tackle from Taniel Tupou was significantly less serious than Van Vuuren's tackle on Dmac. Van Vuuren got 3 weeks. Tupou a warning.
Edited to italicize the word "significantly". I don't think the difference between these two tackles justifies the huge difference in sanction.
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@stargazer said in Super Rugby News:
I don't think that that tackle from Taniel Tupou was significantly less serious than Van Vuuren's tackle on Dmac. Van Vuuren got 3 weeks. Tupou a warning.
Nah. Van Vuuren's was much later with a swinging arm.
