I hope the bulls can get there form back....they might also be missing the leadership from Marcelle Coetzee....won't count them out either.....Lions and Sharks are also still in with a chance?
Steep hill for the Bulls, but they pulled it off vs Leinster in Ire last season...
The sharks were not on there game but Thomas was solid in the scrum I thought....really getting better @ Tighthead....should get more game time in bok games....Vincent k och is not necessarily better.
Too many teams to follow. But also scary to think how good these teams have become with the advent of professionalism.
A B team Exeter team can beat the boks a side.
A off coloured French team can give an overhyped bulls team a hiding.
Harlequins put over on the only SA team with the most boks, playing against no less than 3 SA players and boks with some current England stars.
Would a Super rugby team from 10 years ago be able to beat the European teams of today. Maybe, but just look at the condition of these players. They are all athletes and bulked up. Playing a better brand of attacking rugby
I thoroughly enjoyed the Quins / Sharks match actually !
Yeah was a good game....Esterhuizen was really good for Harlequins and also Stephan Lewis old Sharks player....even scored a try....Quins deserved to win and the SA players in there Squad, really gives them a edge
Oh yes, it would be the SA’s not players like Smith, Murley and Davids who make the difference
By the way, the Sharks are my SA team. Supported them since they were Natal
But off course Becs, they also played a Vital role
Yeah yeah
Stormers and Bulls both got Rugby Lessons this WE....Congrats Scarletts and Ulster....well deserved wins.
Ulster away was always gonna be near impossible to win...pity about the margin though.
Brave Guppies hold on to beat Edinburgh 22-19
That was an enjoyable game.
The Sharks showed alot of grid....man they tackled like monsters....even Fassi, that is not the best defender, defended well.....congrats Sharks.
Exeter vs Montpelier on now...winner plays Stormers in the quarters...
0-12 after 9 mins
I'm obviously cheering on Montpelier because I want a CT quarterfinal...if the Chiefs win, the Stormers must travel to Exeter...
Few Saffas on the pitch.
Reinach
Nico Jansen van Rensburg...
Wow, what a match...leveled in the last 5 second of extra time...Stormers must pack their bags....GO WP!!!!
Bools behind 12-6 halfway vs Toulouse...still hanging...
Go Bulle!!!
Toulouse romping away after ref missed a clear forward pass before the first try….right in front of him.
The Booools got destroyed, pity to see them doing so poorly. I suspect that things are not well and they are nose diving massively in all comps.
Sharks came out firing and dominated the whole game.
Stormers took their foot off in the last 10 min. Bit of a scrappy game but they did really well to see off Harlequins.
Lions was the surprise. Watch out for the 20 year old Venter being poached by a French club.
More games this weekend. Will be a tough battle.
Stormers Vs Exeter away will be tough. Have to Travel then play, but might have more in the tank as Exeter should have lost to Montpellier.
Sharks away against Toulouse, will be a very tough Journey as the French teams are totally different at home.
Liona did well, hope all 3 teams can make it to the semis.
Just shows you how competitive this comp is and how well organised your team needs to be.
I think that is why Leinster is the top team at the moment. They have a decent squad that just slots in and player 1 to 45 all perform at the same level.
The bulls have gone backwards, not sure if they'll challenge for anything this year.
Game on this weekend.
Really excited
Realistically I think Stormers are the o nly SA team that can get a result next weekend.
Toulouse at home will be too much for the Sharks. Munster where very poor at the weekend. Sharks didn't even need to be that good, but they play like a team of individuals super stars not like a well coached and cohesive team on the same wavelength.
Likewise Glasgow at home should be too strong for the Lions, though Lions beat them at home this season.
The bulls have gone backwards, not sure if they'll challenge for anything this year.
Sniping is the name of the game in this format. Being relieved of any other objective is a massive positive. It did not miss on this round: teams that focus on other objectives threw their game while teams having nothing else to play played as if there were no tomorrow.
As this competition advances, considering how gruesomely brutal games are going to be, playing the next week is going to hurt.
Starting next week as the english side would not have recovered from all the traumas they suffered during their game against that french side.
If the SA rugby side does not establish forward dominance over their weakened counterpart, they will never do.
Toulouse romping away after ref missed a clear forward pass before the first try….right in front of him.
The ref showed it from the other angle.
That being said, this board depicted SA rugby sides as able to play attacking rugby and how this should scale to test levels.
As already written, this comp is filled with dummy games that do not let gauge properly a team level.
It did not miss. When stuff turned tense, that SA rugby side came up with the usual non rugby offer, trying to gring penalties and that is all.
As stated many times, this approach put a tremendous weight on a ref shoulder as he is left with determining a winner on decisions that may have gone one way or the other.
No such a problem when one side can be screwed at no costs. When a side may grab the phone to file an informal complaint and get the ref blacklisted for theirs games, that is another story.
Refs for this type of game largely prefer non controversial calls like tries coming from a clean interception (one reason the game was mediocre is the French side knowing this and organizing in order to prevent this outcome at all costs)
Ironically, the approach of pushing so much weight on a ref's shoulders usually comes with the introduction of a bias: refs wishing to stay in clear waters usually favour teams that work to provide them with non controversial calls and do not see stuff.
Considering that the SA rugby side provided nothing that do not compromize a ref's decision making, the other team that provided stuff to get the ref out of his torments.
That is the irony: while they tried to provided the ref with what he desired (clean actions that do not involve him) the side was granted a controversial call.
Leinster 27-14 Toulouse...4min left before halfway.
41-17....Ireland has conquered France...again!
Leinster vs La Rochelle
23-17 after 44min
Go Leinster!!!
