Super 14

[IloveGilly]

What a disappointment!!!

Too bad they couldn't sneak in another try or drop-goal . Gonna wait too watch a few highlights but it looked pretty good.

 

[aussie1st]

It's official Huxley has moved back to the Brumbies. Great to have a young Brumby back in town. He should go well in the 12 jersey but I wouldn't mind seeing Anthony Faingaa at 12. Good player though much better than Fairbanks at 5/8.

 

[Azza!]

My Crusaders to play the Hurricanes next Saturday at Jade Stadium 7.30 Melbourne/Sydney time! They shall win playing some really impressive football again.

 

[aussie1st]

The Canes aren't going too bad either. Definitely the two best teams are in the finals. Tahs and Bulls just didn't have enough to beat the top 2 teams.

 

[James219]

My Crusaders to play the Hurricanes next Saturday at Jade Stadium 7.30 Melbourne/Sydney time! They shall win playing some really impressive football again.

Pardon? You're a Crusaders fan!

Anyway, I reluctantly agree, Tahs didn't deserve a finals spot, they choked towards the end and just didn't seem to have the hunger needed to come out victorious against a top team. Their squad was a little unsettled with the Sailor incident, but really that's no excuse

 

[aussie1st]

Sailor is a big influence in attack but once again not having a 5/8 was the problem for the Tahs. Rogers and Halangahu had major defensive problems as was exposed in the last 2 weeks. Norton Knight should have been the 10 as hes the the best 5/8 the Tahs have. Rogers just can't direct a team but he has a good kicking and running game to be a great 5/8.

 

[Greenidge]

A few people have said that NSW choked. They didn't choke. They simply weren't good enough at the business end of the season. In the mid stages of the season, they were probably the best performing team in the comp. I thought then that if they could continue to improve that they would be the team to beat. But they didn't keep improving because they had reached their peak. As with any comp, you have to judge it so that you hit your peak for the playoffs. The Hurricanes were winning games through out the season but weren't playing their best rugby. They have now played their best rugby in the past couple of weeks. The Waratahs lost their last three games to the Chiefs and the Canes. Both those teams were on the way up at the end of the season while the Waratahs had already reached their best. To say the Waratahs choked is a discredit to both those teams.

 

[aussie1st]

Mid season they had only played the lesser teams. They still didn't play the finalist so you can't really say they were the form team. Crusaders were the best team as shown with only one loss. But yes they did choke they were top of the table when playing the Chiefs. That was a game they should have won and stayed top. They still should have won the last game of the round robin against the Canes as they were at home.

 

[Greenidge]

What you're saying is that the Waratahs were a better side at the end of the season than the Hurricanes and Chiefs. Had they played them earlier in the season I think they would have beaten them because they were playing better. Neither the Hurricanes or the Chiefs were near their peak then. To choke you have to lose to sides that are inferior to you. I don't think the Waratahs were a better side at the end of the season than either the Hurricanes or the Chiefs.

 

[aussie1st]

Well lets see. The Chiefs in round 11 just beat the Cheetahs who were hammered in their last two games. Round 12 they lost to the Canes. So I would say the Tahs were better than them and if they had played like they had all season they would have won.

The Canes lost to the Brumbies in round 11 who were missing Giteau and Larkham while The Tahs thrashed the Brumbies when they had Giteau. Round 13 Canes bearly beat the Reds. Last game Tahs at home where they haven't lost a game all season to then. A win was expected. Choking is when a team loses when they were expected to win. Both were the cases.

 

[Greenidge]

We will have to agree to disagree on this one. My point is that the Waratahs had already reached their peak well before the semis while the Hurricanes were doing just enough to win games. I think the Waratahs were probably at their best at around the time they beat the Brumbies.
The difference in intensity in the Hurricanes from the game against the Reds to the game agains the Waratahs was huge. I don't think we really saw the Hurricanes in top until that game (they showed it briefly in South Africa).

 

[aussie1st]

The Tahs never fully peaked with their attack. With Rogers back at 5/8 I thought it would but it never did. Not having a World Class 5/8 and a new found defence problem cost them. They were lured into a false sense on security early on about their defence. In the last 3 games it was exposed for the first time. Peaked I don't think so as I reckon if the Canes and Chiefs were playing the Tahs early on they probably would have beaten them just because of those defensive worries that we saw.

The Canes I agree have peaked at the right stage and so to the Crusaders.

 

[Greenidge]

Yeah, the Crusaders are the masters of peaking at the right time. It was funny a couple of weeks ago when the media were all saying how the wheels were falling off after their lose to the Stormers. I think we all knew they would be there at the end.

 

[aussie1st]

Obviously they weren't as they were resting players. This year they were winning games all over the place and still far from their peak. That was a worrying sign. They will be tough to beat at home and with Carter in awesome form again.

 

[IloveGilly]

Wow, unbelieveable that the Tahs have lost their last 12 games under the same ref which costed us a final! After reading the paper, I consider that we were robbed of a final! Like 13-11 down we were given an unfair advantage and looked like we were going to result in a try but get a penalty and then we try to push the maul forward and end up giving away a crap penalty!

Hope Crusaders smash the Canes