Super14

[Angelcynn]

The best and most exciting Rugby Union league in the world is the Super14. 5 teams from New Zealand, 5 from South Africa and 4 from Australia battle it out every year. They all play each other once and then the top 4 go into the semi finals where 1st play at home to the 4th placed team and 2nd place play at home to 3rd place team. The top 4 teams this year are.... 1st Sharks (SA), 2nd Bulls (SA), 3rd Crusaders (NZ) and 4th Blues (NZ). What will interest people is that these South African teams are still largely white despite massive efforts from the government to play more blacks. The Sharks regularly start 3-4 black players out of 15 where as the Bulls only start 2 and never more. The only pride that the Afrikaaner people of South Africa can display now is through their natural sporting abilities despite numbering only about 3.5million out of 5.5million white people in South Africa out of a total population of 45million. New amazing South African talent has emerged this year in the likes of Bradley Barritt, Ryan Kankowski, Francios Steyn, Ruan Pienaar, Bismarck du Plessis who all play for the Sharks. Fourie du Preez of the Bulls has proved he is the best scrumhalf in the world and the 2nd best overall rugby player in the world, 2nd only to the great New Zealander Daniel Carter.

 

[Kiwi]

Fourie du Preez no. 2 in the world? That's a pretty big call. Personally i would put Richie McCaw, Brian O'Driscoll and Schalk Burger ahead of Fourie at the moment.

 

[Angelcynn]

Richie McCaw and Schalk Burger are two of the best forwards in the world but a forward will never be best player in the world in my view because they lack that extra break of speed, skill and agility that the backs have. Brian O'Driscoll being the world class player he is hasn't been great this season possibly due to his niggling knee injury that won't seem to go away. Seeing as you are a Kiwi im sure you've watched the Super14 this year and if you've seen the Bulls I don't understand how u can disagree especially including his Springbok performances and that recent demolition of the Blues which was orcastrated by Du Preez himself. Even your own Sean Fitzpatrick says he is 2nd best only to Dan Carter. Anyway, nice to know someone else on here has some knowlage of rugby. Cheers!

 

[Kiwi]

Yeah i'd have to admit he is definitely the best halfback in the world at the moment, but it is kind of hard compare players in different positions....except for Dan Carter

. As for the games this weekend it looks like its going to be very hard for either of the NZ teams to win, but if theres any team that could do it, it would have to be the crusaders. Even as a kiwi though, it will be good to see a final held in South Africa for once.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

i love rugby, but sadly i don't get to watch much of it.


what happened to Johnny Wilkinson from England? i remember watching him in thr Rugby World Cup a few years back, and he was clearly the best player on the field every time out. that guy was AWESOME!


also, thanks for the rugby info!

 

[backrow]

Richie McCaw and Schalk Burger are two of the best forwards in the world but a forward will never be best player in the world in my view because they lack that extra break of speed, skill and agility that the backs have.

i respectfully disagree! well, i might not be completely objective seeing how i played flanker all my life

but to cite an example, what about Zinzan Brooke for example?

 

[Kiwi]

Jonny Wilkinson's career after the 2003 world cup resembles something of a train wreck. During the world cup final he fractured his shoulder and since then he has just kept getting injured. His shoulder kept him out of most of '04, and since then he's injured his arm, groin(twice), kidneys, had his appendix removed, and blown his knee out(3X). Its taken him till this year to play for England again since 2003. He's been really unlucky but I also think the guy overtrains. If he doesnt injure himself between now and the world cup he might just have a chance of playing for england there.

 

[Angelcynn]

Yea around that period when England won the World Cup in 2003 Jonny Wilkinson was certainly seen as the best player in the world. No one had ever seen such a good kicker before and he was so composed for his young age. But then as Kiwi mentioned he was plagued (and still is) with multiple injuries. A major factor for this was whether he was playing national or international rugby he was the target for every opposition to hit with hard tackles. It's taking it's toll as he's not exactly a big guy even though he returns a very good hit himself. It's a sad situation and England havent been the same since.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

damn. that stinks. he was a phenomenal player.


i just hope that he is able to fullyrecover. thanks guys for the info.


i've heard from several international guys i'm friends with that many wings have elite speed, not to mention that all rugby players have the kind of conditioning that most American football players can't even compare to.


who are some of the fastest, most exciting runners from the rugby world?

 

[Kiwi]

I think theres a general rule you can use when you compare rugby players to American Football players: Rugby players have more endurance, while Football players have more explosive power. There are exceptions of course, but rugby requires a lot more endurance than Football so its inevitable that you'll trade in a bit of power for extra endurance. For example it is vary rare to see a rugby player who weighs 270lbs or more able to compete at the highest level.

Fastest guys:
Bryan Habana (Black) 10.6
Lelia Masaga (Samoan) 10.4
Sosene Anesi (Samoan) 4.56 40m = 4.2 40 yards (roughly)
Tom Varndell (Black)
Brett Stapleton (White) - hes only 19 and he runs a 10.2!
Brent Russell (White) 10.6
Mark Jones (White)

Best steppers:
Anthony Tuitavake (Samoan)
Shane Williams (White)
Jason Robinson (Black)
Christoph Dominici (White)
Corey Jane (White)
Sitiveni Sivivatu (Fijian)

Best line-breakers:
Rupeni Caucaunibuca (Fijian) 10.8
Brian O'Driscoll (White)
Isaia Toeava (Samoan)
Ma'a Nonu (Samoan)
Jacque Fourie (White)
Stirling Mortlock (White)
Joe Rokocoko (Fijian)
Lote Tuqiri (Fijian)
Jean De Villiers (White)


I've probably missed out a few but IMO these guys are some of the best around

 

[Angelcynn]

Nice selection Kiwi. I wouldn't say Habana is black though, as he's only 1/4 black and doesn't appear or act black. I'd add Fourie Du Preez to best steppers and Dan Carter to best line breakers. It has to be said Fijians and Samoans are athletic freaks especially with their small populations. What would the rugby world be without them! Did you watch the Super14 semis (Bulls 27 - 12 Crusaders & Sharks 34-18 Blues)??? Bet you are dissapointed yet it's great to see South African rugby at it's best again. The Bulls pack of forwards has to go down as one of the most powerful world rugby has ever seen. All Afrikaaners aswell although Victor Matfields name is British he sure sounds and looks like an Afrikaaner. Nice to see 2 packed stadiums with 55 odd thousand at each venue. Who do you think will win the final? I'm going for the Bulls despite the Sharks home advantage, mainly because of their dominating forwards.

 

[Kiwi]

Yeah I watched the semis - starting from 1:00 in the morning!. I thought the Sharks/Blues game was very good, lots of skill shown from both sides. As for the other game, well I may be somewhat biased as a crusaders fan, but I thought the ref was awful. That's not to say the Bulls didn't deserve to win, but I thought the ref ruined the game as a spectacle. I think the sharks are going to win the final though. They're playing at home, and they will test the bulls ruck defence a lot more than the crusaders, who naively tried to run around the Bulls. Also, with Francois Steyn and Monty in the Sharks back three, they'll be able to keep the bulls in their own half. In saying that I think it will be very, very close.