Our Super Rugby prediction series next takes us to the Africa conference where just two 2015 teams are present, but the conference is livened up by the return of the Kings and the arrival of the Jaguares.
The statistics are a bit thrown out by the fact that there are two ‘new’ teams – the brand-new Jaguares and the returning Kings – but strictly speaking, the Africa 2 conference is the weakest in the competition going by 2015 standards.
The two teams who did compete last year, the Lions and the Sharks, both missed finals, and had a combined total of 16 wins. The Lions (9-1-6) finished in 8th, while the Sharks (7-9) ended up 11th.
One of these teams will be in the finals, but whether they deserve to be is an ongoing source of debate.
Lions
In: Aranos Coetzee, Neil Rautenbach, Paul Schoeman, Sias Ebersohn, Fred Zeilinga, William Small-Smith.
Out: Dolph Botha, Caylib Oosthuizen, Coenie Oosthuizen, Ewald van der Westhuizen, Martin Bezuidenhout, Stephan Coetzee, Steven Sykes, Jonathan Adendorf, Heinrich Brüssow, Carel Greeff, Jean Cook, Renier Botha, Sarel Pretorius, Francois Brummer, Willie du Plessis, Joe Pietersen, Elgar Watts, JW Jonker, Johann Sadie, Danie Dames, Cornal Hendricks, Willie le Roux.
Full Lions Squad for 2016
Ruan Ackermann, Fabian Booysen, Marnitz Boshoff, Andries Coetzee, Robbie Coetzee, Ruan Combrinck, Ross Cronjé, Faf de Klerk, Stephan de Wit, Ruan Dreyer, Lourens Erasmus, Andries Ferreira, Corné Fourie, Stokkies Hanekom, Elton Jantjies, Jaco Kriel, Robert Kruger, Ruaan Lerm, MB Lusaseni, Lionel Mapoe, Malcolm Marx, Sampie Mastriet, Howard Mnisi, Franco Mostert, Martin Muller, Julian Redelinghuys, Courtnall Skosan, Dillon Smit, Dylan Smith, Warwick Tecklenburg, Akker van der Merwe, Jaco van der Walt, Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Jacques van Rooyen, Anthony Volmink, Harold Vorster, Warren Whiteley.
Sharks
In: Coenie Oosthuizen, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Ruan Botha, David McDuling, Keegan Daniel, Jacques Potgieter, Philip van der Walt, Paul Jordaan, Wandile Mjekevu, Willie le Roux, Joe Pietersen.
Out: Jannie du Plessis, Matt Stevens, Bismarck du Plessis, Mouritz Botha, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Marco Wentzel, Willem Alberts, Ryan Kankowski, Cameron Wright, Lionel Cronjé, Fred Zeilinga, Waylon Murray, François Steyn, Paul Perez, Jack Wilson, SP Marais.
Full Sharks Squad for 2016
Lourens Adriaanse, Hyron Andrews, Garth April, Ruan Botha, Renaldo Bothma, Dale Chadwick, Michael Claassens, Marcell Coetzee, Kyle Cooper, Keegan Daniel, Christiaan de Bruin, Johan Deysel, Jean Deysel, Jean-Luc du Preez, Dan du Preez, Thomas du Toit, Gerhard Engelbrecht, André Esterhuizen, Monde Hadebe, Conrad Hoffmann, Paul Jordaan, Francois Kleinhans, Sias Koen, Patrick Lambie, Willie le Roux, Stephan Lewies, Marius Louw, Khaya Majola, Mzamo Majola, Franco Marais, David McDuling, Wandile Mjekevu, Tendai Mtawarira ,Tera Mtembu, Giant Mtyanda, Lwazi Mvovo, Odwa Ndungane, Sibusiso Nkosi, Etienne Oosthuizen, Coenie Oosthuizen, JP Pietersen, Joe Pietersen, Barend Potgieter, Jacques Potgieter, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Cobus Reinach, Juan Schoeman, Ayron Schramm, S’bura Sithole, Stefan Ungerer, Philip van der Walt, Heimar Williams.
Kings
Full Kings Squad for 2016
Jacobie Adriaanse, Louis Albertse, Lukhanyo Am, JC Astle, Martin Bezuidenhout, Thembelani Bholi, Tom Botha, Chris Cloete, Aidon Davis, JP du Plessis, Leighton Eksteen, Jacques Engelbrecht, Schalk Ferreira, Martin Ferreira, Louis Fouché, Shane Gates, Siyanda Grey, Cornell Hess, Malcolm Jaer, Ntando Kebe, Kevin Luiters, Edgar Marutlulle, Schalk Oelofse, Tyler Paul, Junior Pokomela, Charles Radebe, Sti Sithole, Steven Sykes, Jaco van Tonder, CJ Velleman, Jurgen Visser, Luzuko Vulindlu, Stefan Watermeyer, Elgar Watts, Stefan Willemse.
Jaguares
Full Jaguares Squad for 2016
Matías Alemanno, Lucas González Amorosino, Felipe Arregui, Gabriel Ascárate, Rodrigo Báez, Gonzalo Bertranou, Emiliano Boffelli, Santiago García Botta, Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, Santiago Cordero, Agustín Creevy, Jerónimo de la Fuente, Javier Ortega Desio, Felipe Ezcurra, Juan Cruz Guillemaín, Juan Martín Hernández, Ramiro Herrera, Santiago González Iglesias, Facundo Isa, Martín Landajo, Tomás Lavanini, Juan Manuel Leguizamón, Tomás Lezana, Pablo Matera, Manuel Montero, Julián Montoya, Matías Moroni, Ramiro Moyano, Matías Orlando, Lucas Noguera Paz, Guido Petti, Nicolás Sánchez, Leonardo Senatore, Joaquín Tuculet, Joaquín Paz.
Prospects for 2016
The Lions weren’t too far off a finals sport in 2015 and will be hoping they can go a bit further this time around, while the Sharks were a fair bit behind the pack, and simply put will need to start winning more than they lose if they’re going to challenge.
A lot of talent has deserted the Lions, some of which now finds its way to the Sharks, leading us to think it’s the men from Durban will take the biscuits in the conference. We can’t see two teams making it through here.
The Jaguares and the Kings will both probably need to go through a bit of an adjustment phase this season though the possibility of a team putting it all together in the first year can’t be written off.
The Kings, expecially, have plenty of problems they need to deal with.
Argentina’s Jaguares are definite smokies, and will likely surprise a few teams. We pick them as second in this conference, but could definitely make the finals.
Prediction:
Sharks 4th
Jaguares 10th
Lions 11th
Kings 18th
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