Super Rugby News
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@Jaguares4real but I bet you they will still play with a ton of heart regardless of who wears the jersey...only real major is going to be the quality of their depth if they have injuries.
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@Jaguares4real whaaaaat... Where's Hemopo off to?
Edit... Oh. Japan I see 😔
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@Jaguares4real said in Super Rugby News:
@Chris said in Super Rugby News:
Great pickup for the Canes,Highlanders look in trouble for next year losing a lot of players.
Highlanders are getting gutted in 2020
"Liam Squire, Luke Whitelock, Jackson Hemopo, Elliot Dixon, Waisake Naholo, Ben Smith, Marty Banks, Tom Franklin, Matt Faddes and Richard Buckman & Tyrell Lomax"
That's half their match day 23 leaving end of the year
Landers will likely go back to being the whipping boys of NZ rugby
They'll have a young, inexperienced squad, but with plenty of talent. It will be a rebuild year, possibly with many losses and lessons, but I think they'll have a few good surprises in store, too, for teams that underestimate them.
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@Steven-Harris said in Super Rugby News:
@Jaguares4real but I bet you they will still play with a ton of heart regardless of who wears the jersey...only real major is going to be the quality of their depth if they have injuries.
You just don't know, though. Auckland fell off a cliff when senior players disappeared... It's too hard to tell what's going to happen
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Just done a quick exercise of predicting all the results of the remaining games, to see what the final table could look like. Main conclusion is that 38 points should be enough - 37 could be. 36 probably won't be.
For what it's worth (sod all), my working and predictions:
Crusaders 53+5=58
Jaguares 41+4+5=50
Brumbies 39+4+4=47
Canes 44+1+4=49
Sharks 33+1+4=38
Lions 35+4+4=43
Rebels 34+0+0=34
Highlanders 29+4+4=37
Stormers 30+5+1=36
Bulls 34+1+1 =36
Blues 28+4+1= 33
Tahs 30+1+1=32
Chiefs 31+5=36Canes and Chiefs can potentially do the Highlanders a favour by knocking over the Sharks, Lions and especially the Rebels.
Not a lot of margin for error in the middle of the table.
EDIT: And after correcting some errors from that round, 36 points may be enough - for some teams anyway.
I've also decided that the Rebels aren't beating the Chiefs!
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@Chris-B sheesh you're predicting the Canes to only get 1 point out of South Africa with the quality of players returning. I think they win atleast one, if not two of those games, before coming home and making a statement against the Blues. I think they will end up on 49.
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@Canes4life Yeah - it's a bit pessimistic of me on behalf of the Canes.
However, it's pretty tough in Jaapieland this year and I don't think the Sharks and the Lions are the worst teams in that conference (that's the Bulls IMO).
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@Canes4life said in Super Rugby News:
@Chris-B sheesh you're predicting the Canes to only get 1 point out of South Africa with the quality of players returning. I think they win atleast one, if not two of those games, before coming home and making a statement against the Blues. I think they will end up on 49.
I'm hoping the statement is
"we don't need to win this, and our b side sucks" -
@Canes4life Too pessimistic - and I was expecting the Sharks to be tougher than the Lions. However, I'm going to stick with the Lions...
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Rumours are still out there
Rugby News
17 hrs ·
Crusaders Duo in Highlanders Sights.
The Pulse Energy Highlanders will be on the lookout for a number of new players next year with several key departures confirmed.
Ben Smith, Matt Faddes, Waisake Naholo, Richard Buckman Marty Banks, Liam Squire, Luke Whitelock, Elliot Dixon Jackson Hemopo, and Tyrell Lomax are all leaving at the end of 2019.
Two big names have been rumoured to be in the sights of the Highlanders with Crusaders and Ta$man duo Will Jordan and Mitchell Hunt set to sign.
If Jordan does sign he will link up with his New Zealand under 20 teammate Josh McKay who has signed a contract extension that will keep him at Forsyth Barr till the end of the 2020 season
This would be a massive boost for coach Aaron Mauger who also welcomes back Otago legend Tony Brown to the coaching ranks from 2020.
Two other names who are rumoured to have signed are All Black Sevens flyers Jona Nareki and Scott Gregory.
#RugbyNewsNZ -
@Chris Doubtless the same rumour.
The concerning thing is that it makes quite a lot of sense from Jordan's perspective to go to the Highlanders.
He doubtless wants to play fullback and the field is pretty much wide open at the Highlanders for him to be number 1 there, whereas at the Crusaders he's going to get shuffled between fullback, wing and the bench - with no guarantee that he's going to take the no. 1 slot off Havili any time soon - and presumably, the Highlanders are going to have more cash to throw at him.
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@Chris-B Makes perfect sense to me, Jordon heading to the Landers he would be the starting fullback..
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@Steven-Harris where does that leave McKay though? Surely he would have been eyeing that Fullback jersey.
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@Canes4life I see McKay more as Winger/fullback,i am sure he will one of those vacated wing positions.
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Am I wrong, or was he also at some point a first five? He looks pretty slight for a winger, very much Dmac style
or have I got the wrong guy?
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Will Jordan will not be going to the Highlanders. 2020 will be the least experienced Highlanders team in well over a decade. There will be an influx of players that no other franchise would have taken on, and guys who are no better the squad players will be thrust into starting roles well before they're ready.
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@SouthernMann Inside Knowledge ?? if so it may be a long season for the Highlanders.
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@gt12 can’t recall him running around in the 10 jersey..but someone on the forum might know
