Chiefs get a hard fought win against the Highlanders, score 28-7. The Kiwi derbies are always tough, gone are the days of easy games against the poor wee South African teams

Yes, these days you're spoiled for variety ...very interesting!

There is a long way to go in this super rugby competition.

Alot can and will happen between now and the finals.

The Blues are just starting to learn that - Over confidence is always a major let down.

The business needs to be done at the business end of the competition.

The South African teams were never easy and the lack of Bok teams in the competition now is a real issue - NZ Players thrived on the South African challenge.

There were far to many changes to the competition - Super rugby was never settled - The competition was never allowed to find its best self - South Africa were unable to find their best fit for the competition - Growing the number of teams is never the best solution - Less teams / stronger competition.

Super rugby was never allowed to thrive as its best self - To many self interested parties wanting to make changes without good analysis to back up stupid plans.

Yes covid got in the way and super rugby did not think things through.

What they did not account for was - Covid got in the way of each countries competitions anyway.

A strong Super Rugby would have been the best way to go.

Each country was losing players to Europe so a rethink should have taken place.

Less teams in each country (Including NZ) may have improved it from a rugby and marketing point of view.

NZ and South African rugby is a market where teams do not give an inch and the fiece competition drives people and teams and therefore a natural rugby platform.   

I think both countries will suffer in the long run.

I miss the Crusader tours here, managed to watch a few of their games live. Very different from the screen as one gets a greater field picture at the ground. 

For sure we all miss SA teams being part of Super Rugby, who knows if sanity will prevail?

JW, I for one do miss the games between the Springboks and the Pacific Islanders,

Pity about the Super rugby breakup which was in my view very entertaining rugby.

Enjoyed the NZ teams as they always put up a good game unfortunately.

But the up side of the cancellation of Super rugby is that we do not get folks such as you showing your true side on this forum and trying to stick it to everyone who does not exist on that piece of land called NZ.

Get real guy and try for once to be a gentleman and a sportsman.

Thanks.

The Consequences of SA not being a part of SR is already showing….the All Blacks has become easier to beat…there was a time that European teams almost had no chance in beating the All Blacks and SA maybe with a better shot….now European Teams are Present and actually leading the way…things have changed.

SR is fucked up look at the draw. Piss poor no matter CHIEFS!! CHIEFS!! CHIEFS!!

And the ABS are getting beat because they’re being coached by an idiot. Who knows that better than you saffas

I agree it would be better off if we were playing SA teams. We need to play against their style of rugby. Loosing such a long-standing rivalry is a shame, On the All Blacks, we’re trying not to peak too soon??

Jwin, ignore Arfur, he's stuck in icy Canada battling brain-frostbite.

I can't remember you ever rubbing our noses innit, despite us suffering a number of humiliations at the hands of the fiendish ABs, & there's nothing wrong with a windup between friendly adversaries anyway.

He should be having a pop at Beanshr4Brns, who never ever never graciously accepts a defeat, instead berates all & sundry for the loss.

Mebbe its 'cos they're two of a kind.

Ha ha blobbok, I'm sure AJH is a decent bloke with a good sense of humor 

I must admit this board isn't as exciting as it was when SA teams were in Super Rugby but we have to make do.

We sure did have a string of bad coaches but I think SA and European teams has become more competitive….if by some miracle SR had to start up again with SA + the Pumas involved, it can only have a positive effect.

The Consequences of SA not being a part of SR is already showing….the All Blacks has become easier to beat…

No. As written already, if anyrhing, that's the mindset of taking their rivalry with SA rugby as the ultimate benchmark that prevented NZ from seeing the evolution of European rugbies.

When taking a look at the Irish journey, a milestone might be set some ten years ago, a game lost against NZ. The game featured the blueprint of what game IR would like to play.

The Irish rise to power has little to do with relying on an opposition to uplift their game.

It has to do with evaluating themselves, set objectives to meet and use games to validate their work.

First, it translated into becoming a regular contender for the six nations title then it peaked at the series victory in NZ.

NZ thinking that as long as they beat SA rugby, everything goes well dragged NZ down. In the meantime, SA rugby offer got drier and drier.

While European countries looked up, focused on themselves, rethinking themselves, NZ looked down.

When SA rugby join the nations, it will be confirmed that beating SA rugby does not make a team better at playing rugby.

In the meantime, if NZ does its homework properly, they can resume what was the key of their lasting results: thinking of themselves first, setting goals for themselves, meet themselves, assess validity through games etc

IR applied the same recipe as NZ used to.