We need to get our heads around the newly-old 15-team Super Rugby format for next year, with the fixtures announced this morning. […]
Posts tagged with: Conference
Back to 15 we go
Super Rugby 2017: Round 15 (part 2) predictions
Ok, so try to bear with me here. We have already had some of round 15 (but only that part of it that didn’t involve teams form the African conferences). We’ve also had one game of round 16, even though the other five games in round 16 will only take place next week (a month after the first game in round 16). This is a bit of a bloody joke, isn’t it? […]
Congrats Sharks!
Some good news for fans is that after this weekend’s results is that the Sharks have qualified for the Super Rugby knockout phase with two matches still to play. […]
Bulls appoint John Mitchell
Current US Eagles head coach John Mitchell has been appointed to the newly-created (and coined) “Executive of Rugby” position at the Bulls. […]
Super Rugby to lose three teams
Well, they say that the problem with a compromise is that nobody really gets what they want – I have to say, though, when it comes to yesterday’s Super Rugby restructuring announcement, there certainly is one party that would be more than happy with the outcome and that’s New Zealand. […]
One awful game doth not a season make
You guys know that I occasionally can’t resist quoting song lyrics in these posts, right? How about a little Rod Stewart today? It goes “I don’t wanna talk about it – how you broke my heart…” […]
To Wellington we go!
The Super Rugby quarter-final lineup has been confirmed and the Sharks, as 8th-seeded qualifiers, have the dubious luxury of playing unlikely log-topper, the Hurricanes, in Wellington on Saturday morning. […]
Lest we forget
The Sharks, having beaten the Cheetahs at the weekend, are now poised for quarter-final qualification in this year’s Super Rugby series, with just a win over the Sunwolves this weekend standing between them and a spot in the last 8 as the African conference wildcard entry. […]
Super Rugby 2016: Lions v Sharks
The Sharks and Lions face off for supremacy in the Africa 2 conference this afternoon. […]
Starting the big push
The Sharks’ big win over the Hurricanes last week was crucial, in that it arrested the slide towards a mid-table finish that had arguably begun as far back as their home loss against the Crusaders back in Round 4. While the team did well to pick up a reasonable haul of log points on an arduous tour, one felt that they weren’t going to seriously challenge the contenders in the African conferences until they started picking up wins week in and week out. […]
Sharks press conference available online
Thanks to our friend Steve Haag and INSIDE SPORT, yesterday’s Sharks team announcement press conference is available for you all to view on Youtube. […]
Flawed Format: Let’s Have More Fairness
Super Rugby’s new expanded format is about as clear as the skies above Shanghai. It’s a great big dirty mess which has left most fans bewildered and that cannot be good for a tournament aiming to increase audiences and attract fans in new markets. It’s still early days yet, but the expansion and new format appears to have struck gold with the inclusion of the Jaguares and the revised bonus point system (which sees a team earning a try scoring bonus point for scoring three more tries than their opponents – adding an exciting “the point isn’t banked till the final whistle blows” dimension). The format, however, is convoluted and will come under increasing scrutiny towards the business end of the tournament when qualification for the play off matches is at stake. It remains to be seen whether fans will come to understand and accept it. We’re stuck with it, for now, and so long as the tournament’s format is fair or as fair as possible to all participating teams, we can live with the mystifying structure. It goes without saying that any sporting tournament should aim to provide an even footing upon which teams compete, something which isn’t negotiable. And this new format – at least from a South African perspective – is flawed and unfair. […]
So far, so good
Super Rugby 2016 is still very young indeed, but by just glancing at the log after two rounds, I see plenty of things to make me happy as a Sharks fan. […]
Gold is right – this format stinks
Sharks Director of Rugby Gary Gold had some interesting things to say about the new Super Rugby format in an interview he gave earlier in the week. […]
What they had to say: Sharks vs Bulls, Week 10
Morning Sharks fans. What’s there to say about the weekend? We put in a good effort, but I feel some of Jaco Peyper’s calls were a tad harsh. Still, the record books will reflect yet another loss for the Sharks, bringing us to 4 from 10. Not a pretty picture. […]