Super Rugby 2024
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@ruggabee said in Super Rugby 2024:
@Bones said in Super Rugby 2024:
@ruggabee or - if you can't beat the 8th placed team when you've beaten all comers and they've struggled to even win, then you don't deserve to progress on in the finals and can be happy you smashed the regular season.
that's just silly, a playoff birth is supposed to be a reward for your season performance, if a team has lost more games than they've won (ie a losing record) then they don't deserve to get a chance to compete for the championship full stop. If the regular season doesn't matter then you might as well just give all 12 teams a playoff spot, participation medals for everyone bro...
i definitely agree we should be 4 or at most 6 teams in the playoffs...i think almost everyone except the rugby administrators is in agreement...but dont take it too such an extreme you make the argument look stupid...top of the table gets home games, thats the main reward for finishing as high as possible
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@ruggabee said in Super Rugby 2024:
"The Crusaders have won two of their 10 matches yet they only need one win to jump back into the top eight."
Two from eleven.
@Canes4life said in Super Rugby 2024:
Top two teams get a week to rest before hosting semi finals
Fun fact time! The winner of Super has always come from the top or second place getter - except for the 2015 Highlanders (who from memory only placed 4th because the Tahs and Stormers were top of their regional conference.
So if you're not 1st or 2nd, you're not winning (based on 20 years of history)
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@KiwiMurph said in Super Rugby 2024:
@nzzp said in Super Rugby 2024:
Fun fact time! The winner of Super has always come from the top or second place getter - except for the 2015 Highlanders
Eh? 1999 Landers vs Crusaders final was 3rd vs 4th on the ladder.
Right you are - missed that on the way through.
I'll walk back to only once since 96 has a team outside the top 2 points won the comp
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@nzzp am i miss reading? wouldnt that be twice since 96 (1999 and 2015)
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@Kiwiwomble said in Super Rugby 2024:
@nzzp am i miss reading? wouldnt that be twice since 96 (1999 and 2015)
I was trying to say 'in the top two with competition points' - as the Highlanders were 2nd on points, but 4th on the table.
Edit: I no good English today.
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With the finals structure and the way Super Rugby Pacific is currently constructed - travel isn't nearly the issue that it was under previous versions of Super Rugby as relates to finals. Having to play a semi final in RSA/Arg and then a final in Aus/NZ the next weekend (or visca versca) was pretty tough going
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while the over all tone i can't really get on board with, the narrative that the Aussie sides have got better compared to NZ sides is surface level at best.
In 2023 their record v NZ opposition was 5-21 for an average score of 23-36
In 2024 the record is 9-15 for an average score of 22-32The difference is almost exclusively the Crusaders falling off a cliff. In 2023 the 5 aussie wins were over the Landers x3, the Chiefs and Blues once each. The Crusaders and Canes both went 5-0 v Aussie teams.
This year once again the Chiefs lost to the Reds, the Blues have gone 5-0 but the Hurricanes slipped up in Canberra. The Landers lost their 3 games again. And the Crusaders have gone 1-4.
Last year there were 6 losses 20+ points, this year 8 (so far)The Reds are better, the Crusaders much much worse. The Force and the Brumbies have gone backwards, the Tahs better because they got to play the Crusaders twice.
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@mariner4life stats really are a good way to kill the chat, i like to operate purely on vibes
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Look, there is no doubt the Reds are a better team with an actual coach. They will be kicking themselves about those losses to shit teams, because teams wouldn't relish travelling to Brisbane for knock out games.
But the biggest driver of the overall "improvement" is NZ having 2 shit teams instead of the usual 1. -
@mariner4life said in Super Rugby 2024:
while the over all tone i can't really get on board with, the narrative that the Aussie sides have got better compared to NZ sides is surface level at best.
In 2023 their record v NZ opposition was 5-21 for an average score of 23-36
In 2024 the record is 9-15 for an average score of 22-32The difference is almost exclusively the Crusaders falling off a cliff. In 2023 the 5 aussie wins were over the Landers x3, the Chiefs and Blues once each. The Crusaders and Canes both went 5-0 v Aussie teams.
This year once again the Chiefs lost to the Reds, the Blues have gone 5-0 but the Hurricanes slipped up in Canberra. The Landers lost their 3 games again. And the Crusaders have gone 1-4.
Facts > Feelings. Most sensible and grounded contribution to this thread for a long time.
Last year there were 6 losses 20+ points, this year 8 (so far)
This one is pretty significant isn't it? Still have four rounds to go..
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I'm not sure you prove anything by removing the worst NZ sides results. You could achieve similar by taking out the best Aussie sides results.
All it means if you've decided to remove some results
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i haven't removed anything?
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@mariner4life said in Super Rugby 2024:
Look, there is no doubt the Reds are a better team with an actual coach. They will be kicking themselves about those losses to shit teams, because teams wouldn't relish travelling to Brisbane for knock out games.
But the biggest driver of the overall "improvement" is NZ having 2 shit teams instead of the usual 1.Does New Zealand have two shit teams though, or are the Aussie sides actually just playing better? If the Aussie sides weren't better, the Crusaders and Highlanders would surely have better records? Let's not pretend like the New Zealand sides just lost the games... the Australian sides largely wont them.
I'd also be curious to know, about a true spread breakdown.
Reds went down in GP v the Canes and at the death v Blues
Tahs went down at the death v Landers & Blues, and were in it for a decent stretch v Chiefs
Force went down at the death v the Landers
Rebels largely pounded - fair enough
Brumbies beat the Landers, Canes (and likely the Crusaders) the fact they got pounded v the Canes and Blues feels like an anomaly on their season.Feels like most of the tight games have fallen to the Kiwi sides?
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@frugby The Reds are the only side who've improved, the Brumbies were competitive against NZ franchises and tested them particularly heavily at the breakdown last season with Laurie Fisher there, now with him gone it's back to blowout scores like 46-7, 46-12. They really took it to a more experienced & stronger Chiefs team (compared to 2024) in the Semi Final at Waikato last year. They are back to home-track bullies who invariably wilt against NZ teams in NZ because Lord Laurie isn't there and he was one of the very few Australian coaches who had adequate knowledge of how & where to exploit NZ sides.
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@ruggabee said in Super Rugby 2024:
@frugby The Reds are the only side who've improved, the Brumbies were competitive against NZ franchises and tested them at the breakdown last season with Laurie Fisher there, now with him gone it's back to blowout scores like 46-7, 46-12. They really took it to a more experienced & Chiefs team (compared to 2024) in the Semi Final at Waikato last year. They are back to home-track bullies who invariably wilt against NZ teams in NZ because Lord Laurie isn't there and he was one of the very few Australian coaches who had adequate knowledge of how & where to exploit NZ sides.
Well the Rebels have already won 1 more game than they did last year despite losing to the lowly Crusaders, so I'd say they've also improved.
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@ruggabee said in Super Rugby 2024:
@frugby The Reds are the only side who've improved, the Brumbies were competitive against NZ franchises and tested them particularly heavily at the breakdown last season with Laurie Fisher there, now with him gone it's back to blowout scores like 46-7, 46-12. They really took it to a more experienced & stronger Chiefs team (compared to 2024) in the Semi Final at Waikato last year. They are back to home-track bullies who invariably wilt against NZ teams in NZ because Lord Laurie isn't there and he was one of the very few Australian coaches who had adequate knowledge of how & where to exploit NZ sides.
Fair call on the Brumbies, but those results really feel like outliers... unsure quite what caused them, but I'd expect them to give a much better account of themselves when/if they get another crack.
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@TJ said in Super Rugby 2024:
Well the Rebels have already won 1 more game than they did last year despite losing to the lowly Crusaders, so I'd say they've also improved.
That's not surprising to anyone, they have a superior squad to 2023, before the season started everyone with a mouth predicted they'd do better in 2024 given the signings in the off-season including Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Taniela Tupou, Filipo Daugunu, Matt Proctor, Darby Lancaster, etc.. on paper their squad is actually stronger than Waratahs and Reds but they are just abysmally coached under Foote. It's genuinely hilarious how accepting of mediocrity some of you are.
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@ruggabee uh huh, but I was responding to you saying only 1 Aus side had improved.
I think when you really interrogate it this season has been far more competitive and unpredictable and as a result a far more enjoyable watch than the last few years.
