Kiwis and Saffers well ahead of Aussies
Roar Rookie By Ivan Nel, 13 Apr 2012 Ivan Nel is a Roar Rookie
- Tagged:
- Australian Rugby Union, New Zealand Rugby Union, Rugby Union, South Africa rugby union, Super Rugby
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It seems that after just seven rounds of Super Rugby in 2012, Australian teams are falling off the pace of the high-flying Kiwis and Saffers.
New Zealand is slightly edging South Africa thus far, with two SA and four New Zealand teams making up the top six of a combined points log.
If we count only non-neutral matches, New Zealand and South African teams have met 10 times, with five wins apiece. There are three away wins for New Zealand versus two away wins for SA. Evenly matched.
SA and Australian teams have faced off six times, with four wins for SA versus two for Australia. Two of the SA wins came in Australia, while none of the Aussie wins were in SA.
This gives SA a slight advantage over the Aussies.
New Zealand and Australian teams have played eight times, with six wins for New Zealand versus two for Australia. New Zealand have claimed two away wins; Australia has none.
It has been a one-sided affair.
In summary, it seems that the Aussie conference is somewhat weaker and more evenly spread than the others.
With the top Aussie side guaranteed a finals spot, yet currently lying seventh on the log, it adds fuel to an already under-fire qualification system.
South Africa 5 – 5 New Zealand
South Africa – 4 – 2 Australia
New Zealand – 6 – 2 Australia
New Zealand – 11 wins, seven losses for a win ratio of 61 percent (away wins 45 percent)
South Africa – nine wins, seven losses for a win ratio of 56 percent (away wins 44 percent)
Australia – 4 wins, 10 losses for a win ratio of 29 percent (away wins – 0 percent)
*Only non-neutral matches have been counted.
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April 13th 2012 @ 6:08am
mania said | April 13th 2012 @ 6:08am | Report comment
ok i’ll admit i’m the first to jump on the bandwagon when its anti aus, but this is just because of rivalry over the many decades i’ve been watching rugby.
aus rugby hasnt always been this bad. used to be a time when the wallabies greatest strength was beating the AB’s. wallabies were known not for their physicality but for their brains.
this SR season hasnt been great for aus. you’d think they’d won the WC and wre suffering from the hangover, but they’re still #2 in world. come test time you only need 15 quality players at a time to win a game. aus SR stocks are spread incredibly thing. Rebels seem to have more imports than locals.
but i believe come test time things will look better, maybe not great but better than it is now
April 13th 2012 @ 7:17am
nickoldschool said | April 13th 2012 @ 7:17am | Report comment
I dont see the wallabies as the current n2 in the world. True,they kept their irb ranking through a ‘lucky’ win against the Boks in the QF but a ‘real’ n2 wouldnt have lost at home to Samoa and a few weeks later to Ireland. I think 2 to 6 are pretty interchangeable these days (SA, Wales, Oz, France, England) far behind the kiwis.
When it comes to SR, no doubt we are behind. If the results are not good, the way we lose is even worse. The encouraging thing is that the supposedly weaker team on paper, the Brumbies, is doing well. there is hope.
April 13th 2012 @ 11:57am
Ryan said | April 13th 2012 @ 11:57am | Report comment
How many times do we need to beat SA in one year to prove we are ahead. I counted 3 from 3 last year. If the Wallabies ain’t number 2 then what are the Boks?? Sixth maybe??
April 13th 2012 @ 12:16pm
nickoldschool said | April 13th 2012 @ 12:16pm | Report comment
Would love to agree with you but i can’t: we beat an A’ Boks team twice during the Tri Nations (remember they rested a dozen players or so) and won a game we should have never won in the RWC.
April 13th 2012 @ 12:25pm
Ryan said | April 13th 2012 @ 12:25pm | Report comment
We beat them in Australia, In South Africa and in NZ. A team or not, that’s 3 out of 3. You can only play and beat the team they put on the park and the Wallabies did that 3 out of 3 times last year. You cannot expect the Wallabies to do any better than that.
April 13th 2012 @ 12:25pm
Ryan said | April 13th 2012 @ 12:25pm | Report comment
Actually was not possible to do any better than that.
April 13th 2012 @ 1:50pm
Justin said | April 13th 2012 @ 1:50pm | Report comment
Nick thats not right actually – we smashed the A team in AUS and then beat their proper side in SA – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Tri_Nations_Series
April 13th 2012 @ 4:05pm
nickoldschool said | April 13th 2012 @ 4:05pm | Report comment
True, i had forgotten they had put their A side for the second TN test in Durban sorry guys.
April 13th 2012 @ 4:06pm
bluerose said | April 13th 2012 @ 4:06pm | Report comment
so that means Samoa beat an A Wallabies team last year? or its only applies to the Boks
April 13th 2012 @ 4:48pm
nickoldschool said | April 13th 2012 @ 4:48pm | Report comment
the wallabies were at home and at near full strength. If we really were ‘the n2 team in the world ‘ we should have done better than getting smashed by the n10-12 team imo.
April 14th 2012 @ 2:38am
AndrewCT said | April 14th 2012 @ 2:38am | Report comment
I think you’re missing the coaching factor, but I agree that Aus deserved the second spot last year.
April 13th 2012 @ 7:35am
Lippy said | April 13th 2012 @ 7:35am | Report comment
Im going to reserve judgment until after the Tri-Nations.
I believe the ABs will lose the Bledisloe this year with defections and injuries to key personnel Hansen has a tough job on his hands, plus throw in two home games for the Wallabies.
2012 is about rebuilding for the ABs and now is the best time to get one over the World Camps.
As for the Super Rugby its no surprise outside of Australia that they are travelling so poorly. When they only had three teams they won the competition twice and never took the wooden spoon.
April 13th 2012 @ 7:41am
mania said | April 13th 2012 @ 7:41am | Report comment
normally lippy i’d say your right. 1st season after WC is a rebuilding year. the difference with this year is that NZ has more class rookies than it ever has in previous post WC years and they all know that this is the prime time to break into the AB’s. yes we may lose the bledisloe this year, law of avearages support this, but i hope the AB’s do it being progressive and trying out a lot of new combinations instead of staying safe and sticking to the incumbents.
April 13th 2012 @ 9:05am
Justin said | April 13th 2012 @ 9:05am | Report comment
I didnt think we could use injuries as an excuse but apparently even 3 months out you can
You are right though since expansion it has made the Aussie teams easier to beat than previously. This will take team to change as the depth slowly builds. In the meantime SA and NZ teams should rejoice at playing AUS teams in the h&A rnds and finals shouldnt they?
April 13th 2012 @ 9:49am
mania said | April 13th 2012 @ 9:49am | Report comment
not really justin. you only play your best when your pushed to it by a great team. best test i’d ever watched was between aus and nz in 2000. AB’s scored 3 tries in the first 10 mins, by half time aus had equalised. aus went into the lead in the 2nd 40. AB’s won it by scoring a try in the last minute by lomu taking a pass from taineRandell. that was a great game and it was because there were 2 great teams that were pushing their skills to the limit.
i much prefer a competition than easy wins. losing a game teaches you so much much more than winning. if the AB’s are to get better than we need great teams to play against and (as much as it pains to say it) a few losses as well.
April 13th 2012 @ 9:52am
Justin said | April 13th 2012 @ 9:52am | Report comment
mania – Iwas talking Super not Tests. I think in the Test arena we will have benfeit from more teams, already have.
And yes that was a cracking test match as was the 93? Bledisloe.
April 13th 2012 @ 10:02am
mania said | April 13th 2012 @ 10:02am | Report comment
justin – AB’s lost that series but yeah there were some awesome tries and plays those games. remember coroza going over the line and then getting some rhino plaster work done by richardLoe.
April 13th 2012 @ 10:10am
mania said | April 13th 2012 @ 10:10am | Report comment
heres the high lights of the 2000 game
April 13th 2012 @ 2:38pm
Markus said | April 13th 2012 @ 2:38pm | Report comment
Would have been an even better game if Jason Little marked his man
April 15th 2012 @ 3:32pm
Moaman said | April 15th 2012 @ 3:32pm | Report comment
Mortlock had hair???
April 13th 2012 @ 9:30am
sixo_clock said | April 13th 2012 @ 9:30am | Report comment
For Australia the Super competition is marginally nationalistic. Some want to dilute that even further so I don’t think it is a reliable indicator of international readiness. The Wallabies have a good mix of World Class players and others that step up, we always have abundant self-belief so any test is always going to be decided by how the team gels on the day.
April 13th 2012 @ 10:20am
Nathan of Perth said | April 13th 2012 @ 10:20am | Report comment
“South Africa 5 – 5 New Zealand
South Africa – 4 – 2 Australia
New Zealand – 6 – 2 Australia”
Oooh, that leaves a mark…
April 13th 2012 @ 10:25am
Sam Taulelei said | April 13th 2012 @ 10:25am | Report comment
We’ve had 7 rounds of Super rugby. There are still 11 rounds remaining including a break at round 15 for the inbound June tests.
That means that with a minimum of a win without any bonus points there are 44 points on offer for all teams. Some teams have completed their road trips and others are still to travel. Winning games on the road is the great leveller in Super rugby.
So far nobody has gone on the road unbeaten to Aus, NZ and SA. Anyone who does will be firmly in the driving seat.
For everyone who is writing off the Aussies, all I can say is watch out for the Reds to start their climb back into the top six.
They’re guaranteed four points with the bye this round and while they’ve got some tough matches ahead of them against the Stormers, Crusaders and Chiefs, two of them are at Suncorp which has been a fortress for them so far. They’ll welcome the return of some key players from injury which will strengthen them and they’ve already travelled to Africa.
It’s normally around this time that the frontrunners start to hit speed bumps and the chasers strike form and generate momentum which changes the landscape of the conference ladder and overall standings.
The Reds have lost the same number of games as the Crusaders, but nobody is writing them off and they haven’t been playing particularly well either.
It’s going to be very cramped in the NZ conference with only three teams playing this round. The Hurricanes and Highlanders have byes and will advance to 25 and 26 points respectively this weekend. The Chiefs and Crusaders have very tough opponents to overcome and losses for both of them reduces the gap between themselves and their rivals in the NZ conference and the chasing Reds.
April 13th 2012 @ 4:55pm
stuff happems said | April 13th 2012 @ 4:55pm | Report comment
Good post.Unbeaten on the road is a big challenge. Not sure how often it’s been done. The Stormers game tomorrow against the Crusaders & next week against the Reds should be a real pointer to the final stages. But as you say, long way to go.
April 13th 2012 @ 1:11pm
Riccardo said | April 13th 2012 @ 1:11pm | Report comment
Yep.
What he said…
April 13th 2012 @ 3:44pm
dcnz said | April 13th 2012 @ 3:44pm | Report comment
I think the ABs will retain the Bledisloe but I expect SA to be very strong, they have loads of in-form talent to choose from. Houggard is the best 9 in the world at the moment and Alberts and Broussow will challenge the ABs up front. Australia will have their backs to the wall and pull off some surprise wins …
April 13th 2012 @ 6:14pm
Jiggles said | April 13th 2012 @ 6:14pm | Report comment
I love it when South African’s claim the Springboks are stronger than the Wallabies… it always makes me laugh.
April 13th 2012 @ 9:38pm
Suzy Poison said | April 13th 2012 @ 9:38pm | Report comment
Wallabies are way better the Boks.
Three zip, last year, proves that point. ( And I am a Saffa )
Australia just know how to use the ball.
We Boks just kick it away.
What the Super 15 shows is that South Africa has way more depth overall than Australia.
However at a national level, the Boks play boring and brain dead footy.
Simply put, poor selection ( John Smit, Pierre Spies, Morne Steyn) and poor coaching nullifies any decent talent that they have to chose from.
As a Saffa, I am hopefully that Heyneke Muller might overturn this waste of talent, but not holding my breath.
It is interesting that Johan Goosen ( Cheethas number 10 has been selected for the first Bok camp)
But sadly it so political in SA, Heyneke will no doubt chose his Bulls buddies.
Australians may struggle to understand just how political it is.The Currie Cup is more than a hundred years old.
You simply don’t go play for a team, in a region, you don’t grow up in.
Perhaps the only way, to grasp it, is to think of the Brumbies of old.
They were made up of NSW and Queensland rejects, but man, did they prove a point.
There still exists that kind of inter-provincial angst, even now in. SA.
April 13th 2012 @ 9:40pm
Suzy Poison said | April 13th 2012 @ 9:40pm | Report comment
I meant Heynejke Meyer…too many wines.
April 13th 2012 @ 9:57pm
Justin said | April 13th 2012 @ 9:57pm | Report comment
More depth, not way more by any stretch. By the way Suzy did you watch the abomination of a match in Auckland? The standard was woeful…
April 13th 2012 @ 10:37pm
Ivan Nel said | April 13th 2012 @ 10:37pm | Report comment
I havent read anyone making such a claim – until we beat the ABs more often than they us (Boks) nobody has the right to make such a claim – I do however think that this year the Boks will be very strong. Some incredible new talent to pick from.
April 13th 2012 @ 9:48pm
matthew said | April 13th 2012 @ 9:48pm | Report comment
Agree Suzy. It’s excruciatingly painful for Bok fans knowing we’ve got the talent to compete with the All Blacks, (a 50/50 record over the last 8 games), but braindead conservative tactics, coaching and selection are always enough to fell even the strongest teams. There’s no way Australia should have been winning so many games against the Boks lately, but the facts are that they played a far smarter, spriited game with less resources at their disposle.
April 14th 2012 @ 3:24am
matthew said | April 14th 2012 @ 3:24am | Report comment
Any rugby fan with half a brain knows that SA have stronger players than Aus.
AB’s: Talent and Tactics
SA: Talent
Aus: Tactics