2013...Year of the Snake

...Mine is the wisdom of the ages.

I hold the key to the mysteries of life

Casting my seeds on fertile ground

I nurture them with constancy and purpose.

My sights are fixed.

My gaze unchanging.

Unyielding, inexorable and deep

I advance with steady, unslackened gait,

The solid earth beneath me.

I AM THE SNAKE...

....Snakes to watchout for in 2013...

Could'nt find any Saffa snakes except for ...

Bean Brain i think yr Chinese year is the year of the Ass...correct me if i'm wrong mate..

Brycy

Thanks for the description of th Chinese Year of the Snake.

However, the year may be a bad for your favourite team - the Chiefs.   The signs are really bad for two days - namely 9 March 2013 and 27 April 2013 - those are the worst possible days in the first half of the year for them.    

Poor little Cruden - the signs are not good either.   He is going to find pressure on him building up and may soon be the third best flyhalf in new Zealand - that is after Carter and Barrett.

@brycy & clevermike,

sorry guys ur both wrong, its the year of the hurricanes.

year of the hurricanes,,,
we will throw the sharks inland and straight onto a bbq.
we will drown the reigning spXV champs the chiefs.
we will rust out the crusaders armour.
we will send the cheetahs running with their tail between their legs.
we will blow away the stormers.
we will wash the horns of the bulls.
we will pull the highlanders out to sea.
we will christen the southern kings the kings of despair.
we will beat the blues all black n blue.
& we will LOL at all the aussie teams, cos thats all theyre good for.
for we are,,,,

THE MIGHTY MIGHTY HURRICANES!!

Sasue 

Really funny.  LOL Be careful - Brycy will have a seizure.

...dunno where you were when we made our 2013 predictions sasu.. but we a;lready said the Hurricanes were the team to beat...not exactly a Chinese year but it's a team stacked with ABs...yr a bit slow with the sevens as well sasu cause we posted they 'd take it out back on Friday for a record fourth time if you look down the threads...try and keep up with the play mate...

Brycy and saSUE you are forgetting one very important factor. The Mighty Stormers. The Hurricanes will be reduced to a mild gently breeze by the Mighty  Stormers. The more geriatric abs the better.

...that mighty rain puddle must be greater now Bean Brain due to all the tears shed this year from that big choke...don't worry mate, we'll all chip in for a box of tissues...

Brycy

The poor Chiefs will lose twice before the end of April - and I will posta symphaty card specially for you after the two matches involved.

brycy where is sitting bull  -miss h isstrange input! Seems he retired once his chiefies had won the trophy. If chiefies do badly will we ever see ou sitting bull again.

saSUE can you name the Hurricanes squad or are you simply being a blowhard? The trouble one foresees for and OZ is that there are only three places up for grabs in the top 6? SA is tightening its grip on the comp.Will it be three in the top 4?  Not impossible. Injuries are the key.

@brycy,

i wasnt aware u picked the hurricanes as one of the danger teams but as a life time hurricane supporter, i have larend to curb my expectations no matter what players are in the team. we have always supplied a healthy chunk of All Blacks the past decade but despite it all a super rugby title has always eluded us.

i do like the new squad though, the core of it will see us be very competitve for years to come which is always a good thing.

am still a little filthy with hammet though & his tratment of some of legends, so i still demand nothing more then a title during his tenure otherwise he fucked up bad.

the chiefs, crusders, hurricanes & the highlander all have really good teams, SA and especially australia are fortunate that every nation plays each other twice, i know NZ clubs would love the chance to play against every australian team adn the cheetahs and kings.
we did very well this year, NZ had 4 teams with 50 or more points, SA had three & austrlia had two, heading into the last two rounds there were 9 teams playing for a finals spot & the canibalization in the NZ conference really hurt the canes and higlanders.
NZ clubs vs SA clubs - 20 games played, NZ clubs won 13
NZ clubs vs OZ clubs - 20 games played, NZ clubs won 13
 

IMO our SANZAR bros should be counting their lucky stars with this crafty conference, SA still have the sharks, bulls & stormers, but are very fortunate to have two lower grade teams, but australian rugby fans should be on their kness every single day giving thanks to the Lord with tears of gratitude streaming down their face.

@ben10,

blowhard??? o_O
talk about the pot calling the kettle black, LMAO, :oD

but heres the hurricanes squad for next year,,,

Props
Ben Franks - All Black
Reggie Goodes
Ben May
Eric Sione
Jeffery Toomaga-Allen

Hookers
Dane Coles - All Black
Motu Matu'u

Locks
James Broadhurst
Jason Eaton - All Black*
Mark Reddish
Jeremy Thrush

Loose Forwards
Jack Lam
Faifili Levave
Karl Lowe
Ardie Savea
Brad Shields
Blade Thomson
Victor Vito - All Black

Halfbacks (Scrum-halves)
Samisoni Fisilau
TJ Perenara
Chris Smylie

First Five-Eighths (Fly-halves)
Beauden Barrett - All Black
James Marshall
Tusi Pisi

Midfielders (Centres)
Tim Bateman
Rey Lee-Lo
Conrad Smith (Captain) - All Black

Wings
Cory Jane - All Black
Alapati Leiua
Matt Proctor
Julian Savea - All Black

Fullbacks
Andre Taylor

as well as All Blacks there are a ton of former All Blacks, future All Blacks/All Blacks wider training squad, NZ maori players & players who starred in th ITM.

my full strength hurricanes based ont he best available would be,,,,
1 b franks, 2 d coles, 3 j toomaga allen, 4 j broadhurst, 5 j eaton, 6 v vito, 7 k lowe, 8 b shields, 9 tj perenara, 10 b barret, 11 j savea, 12 t bateman, 13 c smith, 14 c jane, 15 a taylor
16 m matuu, 17 b may, 18 j thrush, 19 f levave, 20 c eaton, 21 t pisi, 22 a leiua

players that wont be so well known to the saffa boys but need to keep an eye out for are,,,
toomaga allen,  form prop of the ITM,
b shields, a taylor & tj perenara, future All Blacks
m matuu, hardest tackler in the game & possible future All Black
a leiua, one of the form backs in the ITM.
 

Sasue

Thanks for the info.  Nice squad - and I rate them the highest of the Ne Zealand franchises.   Thik they may end up being the top New Zealnd team in the competition.

There is as far as I know no finality on any of the SA Squads - but bearing in mind recent performances I rate the SA sides as follows:-

  1     -      Sharks

  2     -      Stormers

  3    -       Bulls

  4    -      Cheetahs.

 100 -       Southern Kings

You quoted stats about the winning ratio  of the New Zealand teams against SA teams in 2012 - but that was not really appropriate as most wins were against the weaker SA franchises and most losses against the top ones.

I don't like the conference system - but there is nothing we cn do about it.   

Insofar as the SA Franchises are concerned - there is no finality on final squads - but I can at least offer some ideas about how I see performances:-

  *     The Sharks will definitely be a stronger unit than they were in 2012.

  *     The Stormers - may be stronger as well - though I have serious doubts about the Jantjies signing.   Taute was a top full back in 2011 - when he played for the Lions in that posirion and I rate him very highly as a full back.  With De Villiers and De Jongh the Stormers will continue to suffer from the dead backline syndrome - but they have some very promising youngsters coming through in De Allende and Howard.   However, all in all I think the Stormers will be marginally better than they were in 2012.

  *      The Bulls is a toss-up - impossible to predict.    I think they may be on par with what they were like in 2012 - but there are two many question marks before a reliable prediction can be made.

 *       The Cheetahs may surprise some teams - especialy at home - but I think likely to be in the top 10 on the log.   

  *      The Kings is a bad joke in poor political taste.   

By the way I rate the New Zealand teams as follows:-

  1    -      Hurricanes

  2    -      Chiefs

  3    -     Crusaders

  4   -      Blues

  5   -     Highlanders     

However, by April we should have a clearer picture as to what would happen

Relax saSUE the wooden spoon belongs to the queens. You guys can try and crack the top six and join the Stormers, Sharks and Bulle as top sides.

Mike please, the Stormers should be a lot stronger. Injured personnel back, young players improving fast and signings like Taute, finds like Allende, etc etc. Other sides will have to have improved significantly to live with the league champions.

Get your head around a pack like this -  Kitshoff, Liebenberg, Malherbe, Etzebeth, Bekker, Schalk, Duane, Elstadt! (Muderous bro muderous) I am afraid we will see flight cancellations of teams coming to Newlands etc.

Then we have a better scrummie in Groom (Watch what happens with Cheslin), Springbok Jantjes/Grant.

Much better center and wing depth with Jean, De Jongh, Allende, Du Plessis, Howard. Wings, Habana, Howard, van der heever, Aplon, Full backs, Aplon, Joe and of course Taute.

My only concern is injuries and bent refs.

Please also understand Mike the Stomers attack will be better next year as we can see with WP. That will carry over I am sure.

Beeno

I weighed up all the factors mentioned by you - but there is one poor element in the Stormers and that is their center combination.   Was useless in the 2012 Super Series and I can see no improvement in 2013.    I can still live with De Villiers at 12 - provided they can have an attacking 13.   In De Jongh they have NOTHING - matter of fact a bad liability from an attacking perspective.

The other negative is Jantjies - I cannot see how he can succeed in his positional play ten meters behind the advantage line.    I will take a while for Coetzee to realise that inefficency and replace him with a more effective flyhalf - but that may come too late after some dmage was done to the team efforts already. 

Without a properly-functioning backline it is impossible to rate them any higher than I did.