The Rugby Pod - Super Rugby Review - Week 13

Down South the days are getting shorter, and the weather is getting worse, but that doesn’t seem to have affected the quality in this year’s Super Rugby. Here are 5 talking points from week 13.

1. Another dominant week for the New Zealand teams. There were three trans-Tasman match ups and all three went the way of the teams from the Land of the Long White Cloud. The Crusaders beat the Waratahs at home, the Chiefs beat the Rebels in Waikato and the Blues traveled to Perth and held off the Force. The Blues are the lowest placed Kiwi team on 29 points, while the Waratahs, who lead the Australia conference, have 30 points. It just shows the gulf in class.

2. One bright note for Australian Rugby fans was Israel Folau. His move to 13 seems to be inspired. Every time he got the ball on Friday night, he troubled the stingy Crusader defence. He is a strong, powerful runner with good feet so getting the ball into his hands as much as possible is imperative for this ‘Tahs team. With Adam Ashley-Cooper now playing in France and Matt Toomua heading to Leicester next season, a midfield of Tevita Kuridrani and Israel Folau may be a bit special.

3. It isn’t often in rugby you see a team kept to 0. Although it was ‘only’ the Kings, you have to give the Sharks a lot of credit. Their discipline was great and they soared into a 4 try lead in 20 minutes, thus meaning penalties would not do anything for the Kings. Their defence held resolute (not a word I can use for the Kings defence, with some of their attempted tackles), even through the raft of changes, they scored some very exciting tries. A very good day for the Durban-based outfit.

4. The feel-good story of the season racked up another huge win, with the Lions again surpassing the 50 point mark. Conversly the Jaguares were very disappointing AGAIN! For a team so full of top-class internationals, the amount of basic errors and missed tackles is simply not good enough. I think I will leave this one here.

5. The Bulls v Stormers game showed a huge gulf in rugby mentality and skill between nations. Comparing this game to the free-flowing Highlanders v Crusaders game of a couple of weeks ago was chalk and cheese. One try for both teams, defences nullifying their opposition, both teams playing for penalties to win the game - didn’t make for much of a spectacle. The Bulls won the game, but the New Zealand teams really are on a planet of their own at the moment.

By Rob Seltzer - Written for The Rugby Pod - www.TheRugbypod.com