The Rugby Pod - SuperRugby Review & Highlights

In a historic week for Super Rugby, we had a franchise win their first ever game and the New Zealand sides flex their muscles again. Here are 5 talking points from week 9:

1) We have to start with the Sunwolves win over the Jaguares. What a turnaround from the humiliation of last week. The scenes of celebration at the end were superb - the crowd were always behind them and that lifted the players. It was great to see. On the other side of the coin though, the Jaguares have been very disappointing despite having the core of the Argentinian team in their ranks.

2) What a defensive effort by the Highlanders on Friday night. Going down to 14 men with Jason Emery’s red card in the 12^th minute always meant they were going to be up against it. They didn’t concede a try, scoring one of their own, and put so much pressure on the Sharks that they themselves had 2 players sent to the sin bin, one in each half. In the end, it wasn’t enough to come out on top, going down by a single point. However it was a performance to be proud of.

3) Last week I said the Brumbies were clearly the best team in Australia, well for the 2^nd time in a row, a New Zealand team has touched them up at home. In week 6, the Chiefs ran in 48 points, and this week it was the turn of the Crusaders to score 40 in Canberra. Once again, they were outclassed in every department conceding 6 tries. The normally stingy defence is creaking far too often and currently they are finding it tough to break teams down. This has got to be a worry for Australian rugby, with the amount of players heading over to France and the talent coming through.

4) Following on from that, there has to be some investment in the Western Force. They are in their 11^th year of competition, but it feels like there has been no improvement. They have had famous one off victories, most notably against an all-conquering Crusaders side a couple of seasons back, but they are regularly bottom of the table and were run ragged by a mediocre Waratahs team this weekend. I admire the fans for sticking with them but will not be surprised to see attendances dwindle out west unless they start to pick up results on a regular basis.

5) Every weekend there seems to be some ‘must watch’ rugby. This week that was produced by the Hurricanes and the Chiefs. Length-of-the-field tries, impossible offloads, committed defence and a moment that Jason Woodward will never want to see again. Dropping the ball in the 81^st minute with the line and the game at his mercy. Both these teams will be at the pointy end of the season.

Written by Rob Seltzer for www.TheRugbyPod.com