This week we see the start of the Super 139,998,493,278,323 finals series where teams will be knocked out of the competition and we will eventually have a winner.
A few points have come up of late – some new some not-so-new.
It appears the equal opportunity employers, South African Rugby, have decided to throw two of their teams to the Guinness Pro 12. Bold and commendable I think. They are after all, in roughly the same time zone.
The other gets my goat. As if rewarding teams for just participating the points system is, well, completely fucked. Allow me to continue.
Let’s look at conferences:
| TEAM | PLAYED | BYE | POINTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Zealand Conference | |||
| Crusaders | 15 | 0 | 63 |
| Hurricanes | 15 | 0 | 58 |
| Chiefs | 15 | 0 | 57 |
| Highlanders | 15 | 0 | 51 |
| Blues | 15 | 0 | 37 |
| Australian Conference | |||
| Brumbies | 15 | 0 | 34 |
| Force | 15 | 0 | 26 |
| Reds | 15 | 0 | 21 |
| Waratahs | 15 | 0 | 19 |
| Rebels | 15 | 0 | 9 |
| South African Conference 1 | |||
| Stormers | 15 | 0 | 43 |
| Cheetahs | 15 | 0 | 21 |
| Bulls | 15 | 0 | 20 |
| Sunwolves | 15 | 0 | 12 |
| South African Conference 2 | |||
| Lions | 15 | 0 | 65 |
| Sharks | 16 | 0 | 46 |
| Jaguares | 15 | 0 | 33 |
| Kings | 15 | 0 | 28 |
What we can see is that Australian Teams have been woeful. The Lions have been great and the Kiwi teams showing their strength too. So the participation medals go to:
The Brumbies having a terrible season wouldn’t even make last place in the New Zealand Conference – get a home game against the Hurricanes? The Chiefs who have 14 more competition points than their opponents have to travel to the other side of the world to play the Stormers.
If we put the table into points earned and took the top 8 from there, it would look like this:
| Super Rugby Points | ||
| Lions | 1 | 65 |
| Crusaders | 2 | 63 |
| Hurricanes | 3 | 58 |
| Chiefs | 4 | 57 |
| Highlanders | 5 | 51 |
| Sharks | 6 | 46 |
| Stormers | 7 | 43 |
| Blues | 8 | 37 |
| Brumbies | 34 | |
| Jaguares | 33 | |
| Kings | 28 | |
| Force | 26 | |
| Reds | 21 | |
| Cheetahs | 21 | |
| Bulls | 20 | |
| Waratahs | 19 | |
| Sunwolves | 12 | |
| Rebels | 9 |
So all the New Zealand teams would be in and 3 South African sides. The powers that be are so lost in trying to create a system that’s fair and equitable that they have lost what professional competition should be about – winning and getting the best sides. The Brumbies getting a home quarter final is about as sensible as the Occupy Wall Street protests. In my opinion the quarters should look like this:
Lions v Blues, Johannesburg
Crusaders v Stormers, Christchurch
Hurricanes v Sharks, Wellington
Chiefs v Highlanders, Hamilton
Simplicity chaps – it’s really not that complicated. The sooner we are out of the SANZAR agreement the better.
Parting shot – I went to the All Blacks v Lions game in Wellington and was obviously disappointed with the result but despite one idiot Lions fan, the Lions supporters are welcome anytime. What a fantastic bunch of enthusiastic supporters. If they cull Lions tours or prune them – that would be a massive travesty.
mysportingvoice.com 