Best possible QFs

the best possible QFs with 3 NZ-SA and one NZ-Aus game:

- Hurricanes-Sharks

- Lions-Crusaders

- Stormers-Chiefs

- Brumbies-Highlanders

Canes and landers are going to win easily,...... but Lions-Saders and Stormers-Chiefs are going to be very interesting,...... with a sound chance of some all- kiwi SFs

 

2016 Super Rugby Quarter-Final Line ups

Quarter-Final 4 – Brumbies (4) v Highlanders (5)  in Canberra – 18.05 local on Friday.

Quarter-Final 1 – Hurricanes (1) v Sharks (8) in Wellington KO – 19.35 local Saturday

Quarter-Final 2 – Lions (2) v Crusaders (7) in Johannesburg KO – 15.30 local Saturday

Quarter-Final 3 – Stormers (3) v Chiefs (6) in Cape Town KO – 19.00 local Saturday

Read more: http://www.superxv.com/2016-super-rugby-play-offs-confirmed/#ixzz4EcUfmr1Z

 

Lets be objective and look at the Quarterfinals  next  Saturday:-

Hurricanes  vs  Sharks

The Hurricanes should win this game.   They struck form and had two excellent matches recently.   They also beat the Sharks easily in the Round Robin stage.

Lions  vs Crusaders

Looking at the games  of  the Crusaders  over the last two weeks – they looked slow and seemingly running out of steam.   They now had two hard games in successive weeks and the team has to travel to Johannesburg and meet  the Lions with an easy game and a rest day in the last two weeks.  Matter of fact the worst thing that could have happened to them is for them not to play the Brumbies.  I think the Crusaders has about a 30% chance of winning the game.

Stormers vs  Chiefs

Bearing in mind their games over the last two weeks and the travelling the chances of the Chiefs winning this one is 50-50.   The Stormers rested key players this weekend and it is not going to be easy for the Chiefs to win.

Brumbies – Highlanders

This is the most predictable game this coming Saturday.   The Brumbies has gone stale and it should be a walk in the park for the Highlanders.

 

Duplication

 I think the Friday games are played in the morning (SA Time) - Problably an hour later in England time, while the two game Saturday are both afternoon games in SA.  The times are a bit askew.   and will have to be adjusted to local times.     

Here's how Planet rugby listed the times and they include GMT:
Super Rugby Quarter-Finals

Quarter-Final 1 – Hurricanes (1) v Sharks (8)
Date: Saturday, July 23
@ Westpac Stadium Wellington
Kick-off: 19.35 local (07:35 GMT)

Quarter-Final 2 – Lions (2) v Crusaders (7)
Date: Saturday, July 23
@ Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg
Kick-off: 16.30 local (14:30 GMT)

Quarter-Final 3 – Stormers (3) v Chiefs (6)
Date: Saturday, July 23
@ Newlands, Cape Town
Kick-off: 19.00 local (17:00 GMT)

Quarter-Final 4 – Brumbies (4) v Highlanders (5)
Date: Friday, July 22
@ GIO Stadium, Canberra
Kick-off: 18.00 local (08:00 GMT)

 Yup turned out pretty good for NZ fans ,4 games to cheer for !Hi there Mr CrustieFan ,you gotta reckon your boys may well sneak it in given their excellent away game stats eh?BP thanks for doing all the permutations last week brother ,as you say best possible outcome despite my wee Chiefies losing .Still all for the greater good ,beats Kiwi teams knocking each other out !

 Well - we will have to  see what happens this coming Friday and Saturday. 

 I see the kbbs in full blowhard force. Hahahaahahahahahaha
The Sharks are looking a lot better although they do need Lambie back as well as Willie. At full strength they can beat the blowhard hurricanes.
Waiting to see team sheet but know the Sharks will give em blazes. Biggest problem will be the bent down under ref. Almost impossible to win against these serial cheats. Worth art the very least 20 points to wee canes
Lions should beat crusties and leave poor crusadersfan in tears! Lions will be better for the rest.
Lets hope the Stormers put Elstadt on the at 7 and they hammer the wee chiefies up front. What a pity when still then have quota hooker and number 6. Hopefully 6 good forwards should be enough against the pap wee chiefies! More concern relates to Van Wyk and Du Plessis who went off injured.  So again lets see the team sheet.
So unfortunately we will have week of big mouthed kbbs twitterring on and on about how great they are this week oaks. Ju st wait till that blowhard JW gets going!!

 Saderfan. You're teams are looking very good, but watch out for those pesky banana peels, you don't want to slip now. If the players were as arrogant as some of the fans, it could turn out hilarious.

 Do you mean arrogant like beendork ? Are you guys just used to his "blah ,blah pap Kiwi teams blah ,blah we're gunna win blah blah " until they dont. Then its "the refs the refs! thats why we cant win blah blah" nonsense ? So much so that you dont notice his arrant sh!t ?

 My memory may be slipping - but the Sharks beat both the Highlanders away  and the Hurricanes at  home in the round-robin games.   The Hurricanes were undone badly  in their game in Durban.   Travelling will be a problem  so it may count in the Hurricanes favour.   I am not entirely sold that this is going to be an easy game for the Hurricanes.  I  think they will win - but it will be much more difficult game and not a walkover as some feel it may be.   It all depends on whether Lambie, Jordaan and other injured players are available.     

 arrogant?
after watching what the regular season has offered I don't think to believe that the 4 kiwi teams are going through to the SFs were arrogant,..... kiwi teams have been playing in another level,....... their offloads, specially against no kiwi teams, their supporting game and their skills-set is something the other teams cannot reach

looking to the next saturday, 2 kiwi teams are going to win for sure, Canes and Landers,...... it's almost impossible Sharks and Brumbies can upset,....... sharks lost the defensive momentum they had mid-season and now they are a very average team,.... their attack is practically non-existant while their defense and set pieces (something they were good at) are now very average
brumbies lost to every kiwi team except canes in the first round,...... without poc0ck, Tomane and Speight they have nothing to do against the landers

so we''ll very surely get to saturday afternoon with both kiwi teams classified, then we have the Lions-saders,....
I give the saders a 65/35 chance of winning,..... they have won all their matches gainst no-kiwi teams (last year was similar) and is the team with the best win ratio against other conferences teams,...... specially against lions,...... apart from their win this same year in JHB (and with Stuart Berry refereeing, the most biased ref in SR),..... lions cannot impose themselves since 2007,...... saders won the last 7 games and easily

So if the saders win (and landers, canes have already won) one of the SF will be canes-saders, there's no other option,..... and the other SF could be Stormers-Landers (if Stormers win) or Landers-Chiefs (if chiefs win),..... so in this case the SFs would be:

Canes-Saders             Stormers-Landers/Landers-Chiefs

I give the chiefs a 55/45 chance,..... I would give them a more ample one according to their respective seasons but they are playing the last match,..... if they are already 3 kiwi teams classified the pressure over the ref will be huge

If the lions win their match then the possible combinations are:

Canes-landers            Lions-Stormers       (if stormers win)

or

Canes-Chiefs              Lions-landers          (if chiefs win)


so, assuming canes and landers will win, we have that if the saders classify they will play against the canes,..... if lions win they'll play Stormers or Landers at home,.... if chiefs win they can play landers or canes both away,...... if stormers win they can play landers at home or lions away,...... canes will play against one of the other kiwi teams (could be saders, landers or chiefs),..... and landers could play against any other team except saders

 Nadolo is out,....... bad news for the saders,........ but Johnny McNicholl, Macilai and Dagg can perfectly do the job,....... still 60/40 chance of winning

http://www.rugby365.com/tournaments/sup er-rugby/74148-nadolo-out-of-lions-clash

Nadolo offered something special and they will miss him. 
Whitelock should be back as he only had a virus; Andy Ellis had a calf strain. There will be other bumps and bruises but the chance of going further in the final should help get the adrenaline flowing. Saders and all Kiwi teams have been hardened by the cauldron of Kiwi derbies let's hope they are not worn down & carrying too many injuries. Lions play like Kiwi teams so saders are used to that.
My picks:Canes v Sharks I would pick the canes to win 70/30Lions v Sader I pick Lions 60/40Stormers v Mighty Chiefs I pick Chiefs to win 60/40Brumbies v Highlanders I pick Landers to win 70/30

- Canes-Sharks,..... .... canes 90/10

- Lions-saders,........... saders 60/40

- Stormers-Chiefs,...... chiefs 55/45

- Brumbies-Landers,....landers 95/5

 OK, so a 4 X NZ Semies according to your odds? Good luck with that.

 bwahahahahhahahaha these over blown blowhards are not relenting. Seems non nz sides in their opinion needn't even pitch up! bwahahahahahahaha what an arrogant group of blowhards.Lets hope the pap nz tems take a pounding. 

Beeno, we did notice that you didn't pick who you expect to win, no confidence in your SA teams, not even the Lions?

CF, yes he might "do a Boris" & make a big loud-mouthed show & disappear. Does Beeno have the courage of his convictions? One must remain optimistic

 Actually if you take Basque's odds for each game...the probability of an all NZ semi final contest is only....0.9 X 0.6 X 0.55 X 0.95...about 28% .

Well taking Mozart's computation of ABF's odds (as interpreted by Dr Moz) & CF's computation that must mean the wee Brumbies will win. Anyone care to place bets on that happening ? 

But not the odds of an all SA final

Beeno being such a humble bloke he didn't want to say it Mozart but he probably has in mind an all SA final with his wee stormers pulling off a miracle. My, we would never hear the end of his crowing It would make a pleasant change from his bleating though so there's at least is one positive.

Well if the Stormers/Sharks and Lions were playing at home, as they would have done if the Lions had succeeded with a full hearted effort against the Jags last Saturday....it might not have seemed so far fetched. 

 

Mozart

Why don’t you think for a change?   Ackermann had a choice to make.  Send his top team to Argentina and  win the game  or send his “B” team and hope for a draw or a loss by not more than 7 points.  

Clever guy, after an easy game against the Kings – he let his main players rest and prevent travel fatigue/ weariness.

He did not know which NZ team was going to be no 7 – but what he did know was that each of the potential teams had rough games two weeks in succession  and that the no 7 team will have to travel to Johannesburg.    That would even out the games and  give the Lions an avantage which could be the game decider. 

Fact is that since Nadolo and Moody are out the advantage to the Lions is even more.

I think the Sharks would prefer the game against the Hurricanes - a team they beat convincingly in the round-robin stage  -  than to play against the Lions.  

You think the Sharks would prefer to travel to NZ to play the Canes vs playing the Lions in RSA.
You think the Lions would prefer to play the Saders vs the Sharks ...and possibly play a final in NZ vs RSA.


Funny stuff Tokkie.

 Not funny stuff - Monsieur L'Idiote.  I wrote down the options open to the Lions - never said that the Lions would  prefer playing an NZ side to playing the Sharks.   As to the Sharks - they lost badly against the Lions and they beat the Hurricanes with considerable ease = so they definitely would have preferred to play the Hurricanes even if it means a trip away from home.   Logic never was yo ur strong suite - was it?

 Lol Mike, Have to agree with Mozart here. I Think the current canes side is a far different side to that Canes side. YOu really think Sharks travelling to a well rested Canes side in Wellignton. Even compares to the Canes 2nd game in SA on tour from over a month ago? Differnt bal Game. Canes easy by 20.