Super 15 2014

[breakdown]

Super 15 starts again today, looking forward to it.

First game of the season, Cheetahs vs Lions, being played right now

Fancy Chiefs to do it again, Sharks could be dangerous too this season, subsequently both have players we should be watching closely....

[HoneyBadger]

Lot of expectation on sharks, hard to look past chiefs though. Blues and tahs be good outsiders, even to make semis.


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[breakdown]

Very good game between Sharks and Bulls so far

[BaggyTrousers]

Very good game between Sharks and Bulls so far

Yip great stuff ....................... if missed tackles, massive error count, appalling referee/TMO decisions float yer landing craft.

I'd have said "interesting" rather than "very good", part SA power, part car crash.

[Spiffsson]

Very good game between Sharks and Bulls so far

Yip great stuff ....................... if missed tackles, massive error count, appalling referee/TMO decisions float yer landing craft.

I'd have said "interesting" rather than "very good", part SA power, part car crash.

The one thing that did strike me about that game was that all the three quarters on show had some serious gas. First game of the seaason may account for errors, sloppy play missed tackles etc. Still enjoyed it. Some of those forwards are absolute monsters.

[damianmcr]

Sharks game last weekend was enjoyable.

Just watching the Chiefs v Crusaders game now. I was going to say that it was all Crusaders so far but Chiefs have just went and got a try.

[BaggyTrousers]

Am I the only one who likes to watch S15 but has never been interested enough in the machinations of the organisation of the event to get to the bottom of the frankly hideous notion of "conferences"?

For me conferences meant the things my Da used to speak at in his Union days, sometimes occasioning a family exodus to Fossetts Hotel up at the Port.

If someone can spare a few minutes to tell me the significance of conferences in S15 I would moderately grateful for in truth I can't be bothered and will otherwise just watch the rugby and accept that what will be will be.

Gracias.

[damianmcr]

Crusaders won't be happy after that. I think it was 7 missed penalties.

Baggy from what little I know you have your three conferences and the winner of each progresses to the semi and then the team with the highest number of points across the whole lot that didn't top their conference will go through. They're the wild card.

Each team plays a home and away against the teams in their conference and has a few matches against teams from the other conferences. Not sure how this is decided but I'd assume by a draw.

Pretty simple I think

Think its increasing to 17 teams if plans go ahead. An extra South African team and one from Argentina. Not sure how it will work then.

Because of the odd number of teams each week a team get a bye. From this season on no points are awarded in a bye week.

[breakdown]

Brumbies vs Force on right now, entertaining but one sided game, Brumbies seem quite good so far

On a side note, how good is Folau? 5 tries in 2 games is just incredible for a full back

[HoneyBadger]

14 man sharks beat crusader in NZ, pretty entertains match. Played most of the match with 14 men too.

[richardt84]

Absolutely no complaints about the red card but it frustrates me that the provocation goes unpunished.
The Sharks 7 tried twice to release his foot but on both occasions the Crusaders 6 kept holding and prevented him from reaching a breakdown-the second stamp was clearly a red but I feel that actions such as the holding carried out by the Crusaders 6 should be a yellow.

I remember Chris Henry yelling at the touch judge a few seasons ago in Clermont when Hines was doing the same but the touch judge didn't even alert the ref for a penalty-not sure if that was the incident that led to the try but in cases like that it seems to be a no risk strategy for the culprit with the reward being an advantage in play with one man less committed to the opposition breakdown or a potential red for opposition reaction.


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[damianmcr]

It was Ferris in Clermont. He was going mental at the touch judge and he alerted the ref. There try came when Hines went in cleared possibly Henry leaving a gap for the player with the ball. Dirty brad pitt

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[HoneyBadger]

Refereeing in Christchurch is always pretty poor.

[Gael]

Am I the only one who likes to watch S15 but has never been interested enough in the machinations of the organisation of the event to get to the bottom of the frankly hideous notion of "conferences"?

For me conferences meant the things my Da used to speak at in his Union days, sometimes occasioning a family exodus to Fossetts Hotel up at the Port.

If someone can spare a few minutes to tell me the significance of conferences in S15 I would moderately grateful for in truth I can't be bothered and will otherwise just watch the rugby and accept that what will be will be.

Gracias.

Just seeing this now.

3 conferences - one for each country - 5 teams in each.
You must play every team in your conference home and away.
You must play 4 teams from the other two conferences once.
Points from all of the matches are accumulated as normal.
Winners of each conference go through.
The two conference winning teams with the most points are automatically in the semis.
Third conference winner plays off against the next three highest achievers (known as the wildcards) from an overall table of accumulated match points for the last two semi places.

Therefore
Semi 1 = Conference 1 winner v [Conference 3 Winner/3rd Wildcard]
Semi 2 - Conference 2 winner v [1st Wildcard/2nd Wildcard]

[ruckover]

The conferences ensure each country is represented in the play-offs. Think that's pretty much the sole reason for their existence.