Can the Aussies retain the Super Rugby championship? (Part 2)

So is that T-sauce or BBQ?

As expected a half arse attempt at trying to be a keyboard hero. No response to the outright lie re the points accrued in each conference, no response to the fact that you continuously try to cheapen the ABs acheivement last year, but come hell or high water no one can say anything remotely off colour re your beloived Reds. Time to grow upi Jiggles, if your big enough to give out opinions be prepared to have them thrown straight back at you . At least some of us can do it in a respectful manner without resorting to poor attempts at humour to try and belittle.

What sauce would you like with that chip?

careful.. the blues and crusaders are always slow starters.. look at how the crusaders ripped apart the highlanders scrum with ease toward the end of the match last week. For the reds sake when they play the highlanders and the chiefs.. i hope they dont play kicksies all night. The highlanders and chiefs know you can only score tries with the ball in hand.

Jiggles lets get something straight here because I am sick and tired of your anti NZ sentiment. Its pretty clear that you will take any opportunity to have a go at NZ and kiwi posters at any chance you get however you cry foul when the same is given in return and no doubt go running to the moderators. There are many people who do not think the Reds deserved their title last year as they had an extremely favourable draw in an unfair system, it is not their fault re the draw and they did beat all comers so they took the title, however as can be seen more and more people agree the system hugely favoured the Reds, you argued on another post that all the finals teams accrued more points in their conferences when in actual fact that was an outright lie. The only teams to accrue more points were the Stormers and the Waratahs. When I highlighted this you like KPM refuse to respond to anything you simply can not argue with. I accept the Reds won the competition but I make no secret nor have I ever hidden the fact that I do not believe they were the best team in the competition and I have made my reasons very clear and as can be seen across SANZAR there is growing angst over the conference system that favours Australias top two teams considerably, to try and argue this point is ridiculous. I make no bones that I do not think the Reds will be there come the Final this year as I do not believe this team can back it up on the road against some of the stronger teams from SA and NZ. Everyones wetting their pants over two wins one against a flakey Waratahs outfit and the second against a pathetic Western Force, the QLD ego will only be ever more inflated this weekend when they give the Rebels an absolute pasting at home in Suncorp. The Reds are yet to play a team who can take it too them. This in turn also is the reverse for you when it comes to the World Cup you are adamant that NZ didn't deserve to win the WC final and you and your friend JB always look for ways to cheapen the ABs performance and claim that Joubert was on their side and screwed everyone else over so the ABs could win, much like how many people believe Dickinson shafted the Crusaders during the regular season against the Reds. The Waratahs and Reds are all but guaranteed spots in the playoff it will take a monumental shift in power and fortunes for any of the other three teams to come close. Of course if the WF beat the Hurricanes we will hear much gloating from the likes of yourself and JB which will be hilarious considering everyone myself included predicted the Canes to take the WS this year, so will a win by the WF be an upset whilst playing at home? The answer is a resounding NO, a win is expected. As for the Tahs based on previous seasons we and again I include myself here would expect them to beat the Highlanders however after the opening two weeks I think we are in for a right humdinger at Forsyth Barr Stadium. So in short, sure the Aussie teams more specifically the Reds can retain their title however they are going to have to play alot better than last year to do so and beat the traditional powerhouses on the road 4 teams in one season 3 of who have one 3 or more titles opposed to the Reds 1 title. The Warratahs must take full advantage of their draw as did the Reds in 2011, if they can't maximize the relative sweet hand they have been dealt by the draw they do not deserve to be in the finals let alone the"FINAL" Of course I look forward to your reply and your personal insults which I am sure will follow.

If things start to look ordinary for the Tahs I will watch with interest what sort of moves Foley makes. I would be moving his namesake in to 10 if they need to chase the game at any point.

I'm not saying that the Reds or Tahs will have it easy. Just that they are pretty much assured a finals place each currently. We all know that anything can happen on finals day - hence the advantage. I agree the Blues are pretty ordinary. It devalues the Crusaders win against them but I think the Crusaders will come good yet, maybe not next week.

Agree with the comments above that the inter conference games this weekend should tell us a lot. I think we should have a reasonable handle on the intra conference standings but the relative strength of NZ v SA in particular is hard to gaufe. I struggle to read anything into the Hurricanes having a good opening pair of games given we all thought they would be bottom of the NZ conference pre-season. Highlanders v Tahs I cannot wait for. Am tipping the scrums to be quite even. The Tahs to have a touch more power in tight but the Highlanders to have more petrol to get around the park. The Tahs backs are missing a strike runner such as Gear but will appreciate the second playmaker joining the line in Barnes. Will be most interested to see if the Tah defensive line can handle to two attacking lines that the Highlanders are employing, they run a first group of runners tight and either use them or skip to a second wave charging behind if they intend to go wide. Horne who has been known as a good defender will need to lift his efforts to control that line when the Highlanders aim to go wide.

I've got complete confidence that the Tahs will beat the Reds at Suncorp. The team is stengthening by the week and will be humming by that last round.

Good analyses, But i dont think the blues or the crusaders are the teams they were last season, alot of conclusions could be drawn from the first two matches which may or may not be true, for example the crusaders struggled to only just beat the blues, the highlanders grinded out the chiefs at home then grinded out the crusaders both were very consistent performances, the blues then lost to the chiefs.... this to me is pointing to the blues and the crusaders being both behind the 8 ball in NZ, it will be interesting to see how the crusaders and blues go in the other conferences as at the moment the games have almost all been derbys so its hard to pick a form side for the whole tournament. so alot more will be learnt with this weekends games.... im picking the cheifs, highlanders and bulls for the main match ups.

Bonus points are also king. they haven't got any yet, which may hurt them.

I'm not entirely sure about the benefits of playing the stronger teams at your home ground and the weaker teams at their home ground. It can work both ways. The Reds lost 3 games last year and still topped the table by a long way. This year, they can probably/possibly afford to lose their four tough away games in NZ and SA, provided they win all their home games and AU conference games (which is still a big ask of course). However, it is easier for the Reds to win all their home games if we take it as given that they are playing the weaker NZ and SA teams in Brisbane. Of course, they have the advantage of having already beaten the tahs in Sydney. Any wins they pick up in NZ or SA this year, could be viewed as a bonus. The challenge is to win at home and win their away games in AU. It is the last of these things that could easily prove to be the most difficult.

To be honest I am very happy the Reds are playing the Highlanders and Chiefs at home. The Blues and Crusaders have been pathetic and I am happy to play them away. Additionally if either Blues or Crusaders win this year, they are clearly not the best team as they couldn't and haven't beat then reds at home for a number of years now. Just thought I'd use some Kiwi logic.

I agree the Reds will be more deserving if they win again this year (in my slanted opinion) but they are still benefitted by the other three weaker teams in the race to the final 6. I don't really have a better solution than this format so the other teams just have to suck it up.

Mate - perhaps give Clyde's article a read :) I know how you feel though having been a Reds supporter prior to their recent rise in form. Very frustrating - but at least you didn't have to queue as much for more beers or the gents at hlf time. Also makes you appreciate the winning when it does eventually come that little bit more also I think.