SA teams have hardest fight
21 Feb 2012
GARETH DUNCAN writes the South African conference is the toughest in Super Rugby.
Last year, it was proven that the South African conference was the most physical in Super Rugby. Keo.co.za did a study which showed that the South African derbies had more ruck cleans and counter rucks than in the Australian equivalent, while there were also more tackles made. This statistical difference had an influence on injuries.
Looking back to the 2011 campaign logs and results, it was also proven that the South African conference was more closely contested compared to the other pools.
The Australian conference was a two-horse race, with the Reds (67 log points) and Waratahs (57 log points) holding a big gap on the third-placed Western Force (37 log points). Those teams benefited from double-round fixtures against the struggling Rebels – which saw the Reds claim two bonus-point victories while the Tahs picked up nine log points from their two wins. The New Zealand conference saw a similar scenario, with the Crusaders (61 log points) and Blues (60 log points) dominating while the Highlanders (45 log points) finished as the third best Kiwi franchise.
In the South African conference, the Stormers (63 log points), Sharks (57 log points) and Bulls (54 log points) competed in a tight race for the local top prize. Second place was only decided in the second last round, when the Sharks beat the Bulls 26-23 in Pretoria. That win secured the Durban franchise a wildcard play-off spot, which they lost against the Crusaders.
What will make this campaign even more difficult for the top South African teams is that the Bulls won’t play the Force or Hurricanes while the Sharks won’t face the Rebels. The Stormers will get to play all those teams, but centre Jean de Villiers believes the schedule will still be difficult for all local franchises.
‘Last year’s competition showed that the South African conference is the toughest,’ De Villiers told keo.co.za, ‘and it will be more competitive this season.
‘The Lions are full of confidence after winning their Currie Cup title while the Cheetahs look a dangerous side with some of their junior and senior players showing great form. The Bulls and Sharks are always quality sides, and will fight hard for first place. It’s going to be a challenging season on the South African scene.’
De Villiers also added that a successful overseas tour is crucial. The Stormers won three of their four tour league matches in 2011, while the Sharks (won two out of four) and Bulls (won one out of four) failed to achieve similar success in Australasia.
‘The important thing in the South African conference is how you do against the Australian and New Zealand teams, especially on tour. If you manage to pick up more wins than losses on the road, it will help your team have the edge over the others.’
61 Comments
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21 Feb 2012, 07:07 am
I have to seriously question the notion that the SA conference is the proven hardest.
Why are they only looking at the top three teams of each conference? why wouldn’t you look at the performance of all five teams? Or would that show another country conference is harder or more competitive? while while the SA conference did have three good teams their last two teams (chet, lions) were 11 and 14 on the table. And given that the other SA teams got to play them twice it would give them easier wins.
A quick look at last years table shows NZ conference had teams rated 2-10 on the ladder (Cru 2, Blue, 3, High 8 and chiefs 10), would suggest this conference was the most evenly matched and competitive.
21 Feb 2012, 07:15 am
Here we go again. NZ reckons their conference is hardest, we reckon ours is, Aussies don’t seem to care.
What a load of ****. Same stuff every year.
I’ll tell you what – I’d rather play the Lions or Cheetahs than the Force or Storm this year.
21 Feb 2012, 07:45 am
@jeest(jeest)-2:
<i.“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it…."
21 Feb 2012, 07:47 am
i think it is.
21 Feb 2012, 07:55 am
This is why I would prefer the S15 to be rather split into 2 divisions with the bottom 2 (or so) and top 2 teams being relegated and promoted. If I wanted to see SA teams playing each other, I’ll watch the CC. And this way you will have stronger teams playing stronger teams. And watching weaker teams playing each other is alot more entertaining than watching one team getting smashed by another.
21 Feb 2012, 08:15 am
Excuses excuses toughen up boys
21 Feb 2012, 08:52 am
SA only have three competitive teams out of five (Cheetahs and Lions are gimmes), NZ only has one gimme team — the Highlanders.
21 Feb 2012, 09:00 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-7:
You think the highlanders are going to be a gimme team this year?
I’ll remember that statement.
With Hammet kicking out all the experience and talent, the Hurricanes are by far the worst of the NZ teams this year.
21 Feb 2012, 09:08 am
It’ll be even harder this year with the Lions and Cheetahs looking sharp.
That’s why we need the Kings. And easy 10 points for each of the other 4.
21 Feb 2012, 09:10 am
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-9: Got a feeling the Sharks will be at the bottom of the SA log this season
21 Feb 2012, 09:22 am
i don’t see that happening personally.
Each franchise is really nervous about some aspects of their squad.
It’s more open this year than ever before I think (at least at the beginning of the season, the reality may turn out to be very different)
21 Feb 2012, 09:31 am
“while there were also more tackles made. This statistical difference had an influence on injuries.”
How is this quote proved ?
How then did the Waratahs end up with so many inuries then ?
21 Feb 2012, 09:35 am
@Jack E(Jack E)-12: Cause they’re slackers from the weak end of the gene pool.
21 Feb 2012, 09:42 am
Whichever conference is the toughest is secondary to the main issue which is that this conference system is k*k.
21 Feb 2012, 10:39 am
@jeest(jeest)-2:
“I’d rather play the Lions or Cheetahs than the Force or Storm this year”.
”
jeest, I don’t think anyone will be playing the Melbourne Storm this year?
I think you mean the Rebels.
8)
21 Feb 2012, 11:33 am
“SA teams have hardest fight”.
Most likely true enough.
The Clash of the Boneheads.
8)
21 Feb 2012, 11:50 am
I hope cane isnt short for Hurricane. Then thrashing people online is the only thrashing you will be doing.
21 Feb 2012, 11:54 am
@lost in translation(lost in translation)-17:
LiT,
Let’s just say,
I am used to being disappointed.
21 Feb 2012, 11:55 am
the whinging Yappies scrape the desperation barrel in their endless search to satiate their unquenchable egos
the Yappies have, unquestionably, the worst 2 teams over the history of the competition and yet they’re now trying to convince themselves their pool is the toughest. It must be a split decision, in fact, whether it’s the easiest.
they sure can Yap the Yap but they still can’t tap the tap
21 Feb 2012, 12:12 pm
it’s actually got nothing to do with log positions or success on the field…
it’s got everything to do with the physical nature of our players who hold nothing back against their saffa rivals… and if anything give it that little extra effort to moer them…
this is why o’neil wanted the double round of local derbies… there’s twice the chance of the saffas injuring each other…
the aussies definitely hold back against each other… and we all know that no nz player will go in too hard on dan carter or richie mccaw… or any other ab player…
but saffas genuinely want to test themselves to see who is the hardest and toughest…
it doesn’t matter what position on the log the team is…
a poesklap is a poesklap…!
21 Feb 2012, 13:07 pm
Hey, I have created an easy to use tool for predicting the outcome of this year’s Super Rugby championship. Just follow the link below to download it.
http://www.mediafire.com/?2dwyvd5thrcek2y
21 Feb 2012, 15:01 pm
Are you really Kevin Peterson?@PrickBoks going South(PrickBoks going South)-19:
21 Feb 2012, 15:14 pm
Groundhog day.
“What will make this campaign even more difficult for the top South African teams is that the Bulls won’t play the Force or Hurricanes while the Sharks won’t face the Rebels.”
So farken what? Bulls will meet Rebels and Sharks – the Force and Hurricanes, Stormers – all of them, plus they all meet Lions/Cheetahs twice. What has changed in the big perspective for SA Big Three apart from Bulls and Stormers swapping places?
Oh, I see. Crusaders will play both Lions and Rebels and will have home ground at last. That makes life hard for SA conference big boys.
21 Feb 2012, 15:18 pm
@ufo(ufo)-20: “the aussies definitely hold back against each other…”
You obviously not not watch Aussie big boy derbies like Reds v Waratahs, Reds v Brumbies, Brumbies v Waratahs. If that is “defintely holding back”, may god have mercy when they don’t.
21 Feb 2012, 15:34 pm
@Nils(Nils)-24:
hey nils… how you doing bud…?
you obviously do not watch the saffa derbies…!
before the world cup they polled the world cup players and asked who hit hardest… first was schalk and second was bakkies…
that’s not my opinion but that of the professional players… so it stands to reason that the saffa sides with guys like this ( and others) hitting each other harder and more often in derbies are going to up the attrition rates in the saffa sides… more so than the nz or aus derbies…
no…?
21 Feb 2012, 15:51 pm
@ufo(ufo)-25: Hey, Ufo, fine, hope you are doing well, too!
I do watch and acknowledge their intensity for most of the time. Not all of the time, however, I’ve seen a good lot of walks in the park through the years, as well.
Tell me this, what’s the point for others playing soft between themselves, as you imply (Aussies even, by default, as it seems), what are they saving for? IMHO, they compete for playoffs too and do not have the luxury of meeting bonus points donors too often. And, plus, Kiwi teams are loaded with “brutal” islanders, or they are brutal only for bashing SA sides and softies for homies? I just do not get that logic.
I may agree that SA do more running through the opponent instead of running around him but definitely do not agree that others “save themselves” or whatever while only poor Saffa blokes beat each other to the pulp.
21 Feb 2012, 15:54 pm
@ufo(ufo)-25: Disclaimer – I cannot comment on old days since I have watched only a few dozens of games in SA pre-2006, started more seriously follow Super and Currie cup just that year.
21 Feb 2012, 16:11 pm
The Bulls, Sharks and Stormers should be able win their matches in Bloem and Jo-Burg. What’s actually heart warming is the fact that going there won’t be that easy for Australasian teams. This will help the Bulls, Stormers and Sharks immensely.
21 Feb 2012, 19:04 pm
The conference system is grossly flawed. It does make it easier for Australia in particular. Super rugby is no longer the premier domestic competition in the world. The increasingly sloppy and less dynamic brand of rugby in the SH is actually becoming boring and embarrassing.
21 Feb 2012, 19:06 pm
@Nils(Nils)-27: The Super 12 is the best iteration of the competition. True the Saffer sides were not as strong back then but the competition was much better. From 2010 onwards in particular it’s deteriorated drastically.
21 Feb 2012, 19:07 pm
@Nils(Nils)-24: No team holds back, it’s just a case of the Aussie conference being less intense, less dynamic and more scrappy in terms if quality. The Waratahs are not as strong as they used to be.
21 Feb 2012, 19:11 pm
@PrickBoks going South(PrickBoks going South)-19: There is no rugby nation more arrogant and over inflated than New Zealand. Australia is a close second. Not only does New Zealand get preferencial treatment at all levels, they even demand that the entire game of rugby be scalpted to their liking. What could be more arrogant then that? Your little assessment is devoid of any detail. Do you not realise how much talent comes out of the Lions and Cheetahs? Do you not understand their significance to South African rugby? Have you not noted their performances over the years? I doubt you have ever seen their games at all. Just another big mouth with a small brain. Do yourself a favour and stuff your crusty old bloomers in your mouth and sit on your hands lest you make an even greater spectacle of yourself!
21 Feb 2012, 19:17 pm
@cane(cane)-16: Boneheads? Speak for yourself. How a worthless gutter shmuck Kiwi can come on here and say that is quite funny. I see the NZ forums and boards throw their toys out the pram when you disagree with them. Upon congratulating Australia on their TNs victory last year the entire thread was deleted! What a bunch of sissys. You lot love to mouth off about everyone but can’t take it! the IRB has been molly-cuddling you losers too long. Saffers are far tougher and more multi-faceted than their Dodo counterparts (There is no evidence to prove that the Dodo was wiped out, quite contrary it’s still a mystery! I’ll go with Dodo for you birdbrains!)
21 Feb 2012, 20:58 pm
I won’t debate the strength of our conference vs NZ’s conference. History shows that their teams have performed better overall, but the aussie conference is a shocker. It is similar to the days when we had 4 teams in the bottom 6 and one semi finalist. If the conference system was used in the 90s, the Sharks would have won a couple of trophies. Were they the best. No! Similar to last year’s Reds. They are not better than the Crusaders and the only reason they won is because the game had been played in Brisbane.
21 Feb 2012, 21:44 pm
What the inbred sheepshaggers and ockers don’t realise is that the Cheetahs and Lions lie on their backs and spread their legs to the foreign teams yet suddenly man up when ever they face an SA team.
In the SA conference there is no easy game against the Lions and Cheetahs. They will give it everything they have got before reverting to yellow belly symptons against the foreign teams.
Not so in the other two conferences where inter conference results are a lot more easy to predict and the games a lot less intense.
You inbred boys should be grateful you get to play the Lions and Cheetahs in addition to playing your Rebels, Force, Highlanders and Chiefs/Hurricanes.
21 Feb 2012, 23:01 pm
16 cane, lol u don’t rate our intelligence too highly? made me laugh, but better warn u that ‘bonehead’ will get a few riled, it’s got another meaning in sa to your light-hearted banter. Still u seem to enjoy the rev-up lately, if so my apologies for intruding and feel free to continue
22 Feb 2012, 00:15 am
@Alucard(Alucard)-30: Agree.
@Alucard(Alucard)-31: On the bright side rubble Reds became rampant Reds.
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-35: Cmon, didn’t Cheetahs beat Crusaders a few times in recent years while Stormers/Sharks/Pink Bullies, too, used to spread their legs on a few occasions?
22 Feb 2012, 00:22 am
@Alucard(Alucard)-32:
only a lobotomized loser, such as yourself, would immediately launch in to an anti-NZ tirade at the mere suggestion that your egos dont quite stack up to reality. I care slightly less for the sheepshaggers than I do for the overinflated egos of the rugby-irrelevant Yappies. But the fact that that the dole-bludgers give the lobotomized losers from the Republic of Yappies their dues every time a whistle blows is no less than overdue comeuppance.
@Alucard(Alucard)-33:
always whinging.
always always whinging.
yap yap yap go the whinging Yappies
22 Feb 2012, 00:31 am
@PrickBoks going South(PrickBoks going South)-38:
‘n Suid Afrikaner moes hom iewers in die verlede hard geblixem het dis hoekom hy nou nog suurgat is.
Miksien is dit ‘n laaitie wat aandag soek
Of hy’s maar net ‘n doos
22 Feb 2012, 00:33 am
@victoriabok(victoriabok)-39:
enough of the pigeon-dutch gibberish, Yappie.
22 Feb 2012, 01:09 am
@ going South to suck Pric-k(PrickBoks going South)-40:
Definitief ‘n doos
22 Feb 2012, 01:20 am
@victoriabok(victoriabok)-41:
ask the surgeon to return your orbitofrontal cortex, there doesnt appear to be too much left.
22 Feb 2012, 01:30 am
SA Conference may well be the hardest in terms of physicality, OZ maybe the more skiiful, Nz could well be the more disciplined, stats can be manipulated to prove your point, but at the end of the day this Conference system should be scrapped and the Kings brought in as the 16th team next year.
22 Feb 2012, 01:45 am
@PrickBoks going South(PrickBoks going South)-42:
> ask the surgeon to return your orbitofrontal cortex
F okkit,lyk my ET het ‘n Kangaroo of ‘n Sheila op die paal gesit, dis net die vrug van sy derde bal wat sulke woorde sal gebruik
22 Feb 2012, 02:11 am
@victoriabok(victoriabok)-44:
enough of the lobotomized gibberish already, perhaps stop typing mid-EST
22 Feb 2012, 02:20 am
@Wants to suck BokPrick-(PrickBoks going South)-45:
> mid-EST
What does EST stand for, Extra Stealing Time?
So you could engage in some breaking and entering like Quade Cooper did?
Did you steal the laptop you’re using too?
22 Feb 2012, 03:27 am
@PrickBoks going South(PrickBoks going South)-45: So have we established that you’re an Australian by now – soorry, havenm’t been on here for a while. Must assume you’re from Oz – barely literate, chip on the shoulder, small ****, loud mouth and really tough from the other side of a keyboard. At one stage someone called you a kiwi. Mate you would not have made it past puberty in NZ. Or SA I suspect.
22 Feb 2012, 03:42 am
look at all the desperadoes, gasping for air outside their little pigeonholes.
aint no Aussie, aint no Kiwi and thank you God Im not a whinging Yappie speaking lobotomized pigeon-gibberish
love all the tough talking from 1 side of your keyboards, big nancy girls wouldnt last a minute in the real World.
22 Feb 2012, 03:43 am
@Rangatira(Rangatira)-47:
E hoa kaua e tahae taku tohu. Ka haere atu kei muri ki nga kumara peelers.
22 Feb 2012, 06:21 am
“Keo.co.za did a study which showed that the South African derbies had more ruck cleans and counter rucks than in the Australian equivalent, while there were also more tackles made”. And the point of all this was to show that the SA Conference is supposedly “harder” than the Aussie one?? Well so what?
Might serve us better if keo.co.za did a study to find out why an Aussie team won S15 last year, the Aussies won the Trinations and they put us away at RWC 2011! Banging on about how hard our conference is, is hardly relevant when we lose all the games that count. A bit of SA humility rather than bragging might go a long way towards gaining some respect
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