Super Rugby News

Stargazer

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Number 10" data-cid="584159" data-time="1464639960">
In this morning's Hawke's Bay Today Highlanders prop Brendon Edmonds could be out for up to a year. The surgery on his cartilage went fine, but the bigger problem is he suffered nerve damage.
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I was shocked to read that there is even the possibility that he will never play again! 

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Prop's keeping his head 
 4:44 AM Tuesday May 31, 2016 
 Hawke's Bay Magpies and Highlanders rugby prop Brendon Edmonds has never been one to shy away from a challenge. 
 With Edmonds it's always been a case of the bigger the challenge the better whether he's wearing a Maori All Blacks, Highlanders or Magpies jersey. This time last year he was regularly labelled one of the best looseheads in the country. 
 Twelve months later Edmonds, 25, is dealing with the possibility he may not play again. 
 "It will be at least a year before I can think about playing again ... hopefully I can," Edmonds said. 
 The Havelock North club player, who has played 48 first class games for the Magpies since his 2011 debut, had reconstructive surgery a month ago in the wake of an injury to his left knee in the opening minutes of the Highlanders 32-20 win against the Force in Dunedin on April 1. 
 "My ligaments have been repaired and the surgery went well. But I also damaged a nerve which controls the foot and I've got what is known as dropped foot so we have to wait and see how it heals," Edmonds explained. 
 He must have told this story at least a dozen times as fans checked on on his well-being while he was sitting on the sideline at Anderson Park on Saturday in his role as forwards coach with the Progressive Meats Havelock North premier team. 
 "They want to know what happened and most of them didn't realise the extent of the injury. I don't know if I will play again, but I will if possible." 
 The surgery was carried out by Dr Andrew Vincent in Christchurch. The Highlanders doctor and physio check on his progress every fortnight and Magpies physio Mark Nicol helps him when required. 
 The manner in which he is dealing with the injury must be admired in the way his playing feats have been in recent seasons. 
 "I'm looking upon this as a paid holiday. At times like this you take the negatives and positives ... and there are lots of positives. I'm spending lots of time with my 15-month-old son Benson and at weekends I'm able to sit back and relax with family," Edmonds said. 
 He is enjoying his new role with the villagers and sees it as "an opportunity to give something back to the boys." 
 Saturday's 40-9 loss to Taradale was a tough introduction for Edmonds. His engine room was up against a big pack. 
 "I thought we were in with a chance until about the 65th minute. A couple of yellow cards proved costly and we also had a red at the end. We haven't got the biggest pack in the comp so we just have to play a bit smarter ... if we want to compete with the good teams we have to adapt our plans to suit," Edmonds said. 
 The Central Hawke's Bay College product believed it was too early to discount the Highlanders chances of retaining their Super Rugby title in his absence. 
 "There are players down there who can replace the injured players and the team remains just as strong. It was a hard game on Friday night but we still played well," he said referring to the 27-20 loss to the Hurricanes in Wellington. 
 "We have lost four games but the most of those have been by a couple or five points. We will still be there at the business end," Edmonds warned. 
 It's also too early to discount the chances of Edmonds playing again. This bloke is determined and if there's a way he will pursue it. 
 This time next year expect to see him trotting out for the villagers. They will be stronger than they were at the weekend too. 
 In fact, expect to see some vast improvement from their forwards within the next fortnight too ... Edmonds won't be wasting time with his latest assignment. Like the Highlanders, the villagers have too much quality ammunition not to be there at semifinal time. 
 - Hawkes Bay Today
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antipodean

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Tim" data-cid="583533" data-time="1464427918">
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I'm gonna be unpopular and say that both of those no-arms cleanouts targeted the head. Yellow card at least for both.
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Agreed. Needs to be out of the game in an era where we're all more cognisant of the dangers to head injuries. The first one looked accidental but reckless and meets the threshold for a yellow card. The second is a clear red for mine.
 
Now it just needs consistency...

Stargazer

Charlie Ngatai has re-signed with the Chiefs for 2 more years.
 
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.chiefs.co.nz/news/news/latest-news/221-charlie-ngatai-commits-to-gallagher-chiefs'>http://www.chiefs.co.nz/news/news/latest-news/221-charlie-ngatai-commits-to-gallagher-chiefs</a>

MajorRage

That Jaguares vs Kings game was everything that was wrong with the super rugby expansion.
 
1, first and foremost the rugby sucked shit. It was terrible
2. 2 red cards for Jaguares for trying to be too physical, and not actually play rugby
3. 15 on 13, the Kings still struggled and in fact, only managed to pull ahead in the last 10 minutes
4. Crowd must have been less than 1000,
 
Everything about that sucked serious arse and is turning the competition into a complete fucking joke.

Stargazer

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MajorRage" data-cid="584245" data-time="1464662767">
<div>
That Jaguares vs Kings game was everything that was wrong with the super rugby expansion.
 
1, first and foremost the rugby sucked shit. It was terrible
2. 2 red cards for Jaguares for trying to be too physical, and not actually play rugby
3. 15 on 13, the Kings still struggled and in fact, only managed to pull ahead in the last 10 minutes
4. Crowd must have been less than 1000,
 
Everything about that sucked serious arse and is turning the competition into a complete fucking joke.
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</blockquote>
 
Yep, in those last 10 minutes, the Jaguares also had someone sent off with a yellow card and were down to 12 men.

No Quarter

The quality of rugby varies to ridiculous degrees now. You've got the NZ teams that have basically consolidated their talent since the competition started and are producing quality rugby the majority of the time.
 
Then you've got Aus and SA with too many teams for the talent available due to "expansion", meaning at any given time they will only have 1 - 2 teams capable of quality rugby.
 
Then you've got the Jaguares who have been a massive fucking let down considering how well Argentina have been going on the international stage. Why are they so shit?
 
Then you've got Japan who were always going to struggle to begin with - will they improve? Who knows...
 
That means at any one time you've got 6 - 8 teams that are decent, and 10+ teams that are fucking awful. So more then 50% of the games will be shit viewing.

Tim

Time for a 6th NZ team?

taniwharugby

I think the Jaguares have struggled with the style of play at this level, being a bit looser than International, probably the lower quality reffing, as well as a travel schedule that is new to them.
 
Be interesting to see how they go in TRC this year after the poor form.

hydro11

Jaguares had a tough start. They went to the Republic, had the bye, then lost to the Chiefs. Once they lost to the Stormers there season was all over with a tough trip to New Zealand. I think they will be better next year. It's actually their home form which has been disappointing.

Unco

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="taniwharugby" data-cid="584257" data-time="1464664181">
<div>
I think the Jaguares have struggled with the style of play at this level, being a bit looser than International, probably the lower quality reffing, as well as a travel schedule that is new to them.
 
Be interesting to see how they go in TRC this year after the poor form.
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Plus it's not like they've got the same coach as Los Pumas, which is a fact a lot of people seem to conveniently ignore.

No Quarter

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Unco" data-cid="584275" data-time="1464666932">
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Plus it's not like they've got the same coach as Los Pumas, which is a fact a lot of people seem to conveniently ignore.
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Good point, no matter how much talent you have if the coach isn't up to it then the team will struggle. Hammett proved that beyond any doubt with the Canes...

Billy Tell

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Tim" data-cid="584253" data-time="1464663876">
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Time for a 6th NZ team?
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Not sure if serious, but no way. NZ has been 100% correct to avoid expansion. It makes squad selection after the ITM competitive, it allows a smaller pot of players to be better paid and out of Europe/Japan, and it makes us perennial Super Rugby champions. Sure we could no doubt support a 6th side, but I'd be opposed.

Stargazer

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Stargazer" data-cid="584136" data-time="1464618989">
Last weekend there were two red cards in the Kings v Jaguares game in which the players charged into the ruck and made contact with their shoulders to the head of an opponent. 
Here in NZ, Havili got cited for an alleged swinging arm making contact with the neck of an opponent. 
 
Herrera has received a suspension of ONE week! Now, how inconsistent are they going to be this time and how much will Havili get? For sure, shoulder charge to head should be more serious than arm swing v neck? Havili shouldn't get any suspension based on that, but we all know it doesn't quite work that way! 
 
From Planet Rugby website:
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The decision on Lavanini (Jaguares) has just been published by Planet Rugby. 
 
The verdict and suspension are consistent with that imposed on Herrera. Lavanini gets 2 weeks suspension instead of 1 because of his previous offending. 

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
Lavanini banned for two weeks 
 May 31 2016 
 Jaguares lock TomÃ¡s Lavanini has been suspended for two weeks for foul play during his sideâ€™s clash with the Kings in Port Elizabeth at the weekend. 
 The SANZAAR Duty Judicial Officer Michael Heron has accepted a guilty plea from Lavanini for contravening Law 10.4 (h) A player must not charge into a ruck or maul, after he was red Carded during the Super Rugby match. 
 Lavanini charged into an opponent with his shoulder and made contact with his opponent's head during the match which the Kings won 29-22 on 27 May 2016. 
 Lavanini received a sanction of two weeks (covering two scheduled matches) with his next scheduled matches being Argentina v Italy, 11 June 2016 and Argentina v France, 18 June 2016. Consequently he is suspended up to and including Saturday 18 June 2016. 
 In his finding, Heron ruled the following: 
 " The player, Mr Stefan Weyers (counsel), Mr Greg Peters (Jaguares CEO), Mr Rafael Laria (Jaguares Manager) and an interpreter attended the call. Mr Andreas Ramos, SAANZAR JO, also attended as an observer. 
 " The player accepted the charge. I agreed with Mr Weyers that the charge should be under Law 10(4)(h) as the opponent player did not have the ball. The player was remorseful and expressed regret to me for his actions. 
 " I accepted the submission that this was low end offending, it was not intentionally dangerous, no injury resulted and the only negative impact on the game was to the Jaguares and Mr Lavanini. For the reasons above, I indicated that I accepted a low end entry point under 10(4)(h) of two weeks. 
 " Mr Lavanini has three previous citings and a yellow card for similar dangerous play. 
Because of his previous conduct and repeated offending, I indicated I would add a week to the suspension (to three weeks). 
 " Given his remorse, cooperation and early plea, I was prepared to reduce that by one week to a resulting suspension of two weeks (covering two matches) and I gave that indication. 
 " The next scheduled fixture for the player was an international match on 11 June for Argentina against Italy, following which the next fixture was an international match for Argentina against France. 
 "Accordingly, the suspension imposed is for two matches (being those international matches on 11 and 18 June) but takes effect from today up to and including 18 June 2016 (to include both those scheduled international matches)."
</blockquote>

Higgins

These penalties bear no resemblance to those that were getting dished out when I had to attend judicial subcommittee meetings here in Wellington (in supported of red carded players) where the bare minimum was three weeks regardless of what the offence was.

Siam

Good insight Higgins - ta
 
Yep, it does appear that these judicial hearings and indeed the reffing law applications are being made up on the fly

Tim

NZ Herald suggesting that Jimmy Tupou may join the Blues.
 
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11648875'>http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11648875</a>

Bovidae

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Tim" data-cid="584503" data-time="1464757210">
<div>
NZ Herald suggesting that Jimmy Tupou may join the Blues.
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He's already signed I'm told.

Tim

Not a particularly inspiring signing. A journeyman short lock. Can't honestly say that he's better than Fatialofa or even Matenga.

KiwiMurph

Sounds like there are more signings coming from the Blues.

Bones

That's an odd signing. Not exactly the kind of player the blues are short on.

The Silver Fern

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