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Round 1, what a great start to the season last week was! A cracking weekend full of action right from the outset, from that very first minute at midnight on Saturday all the way through to 3.45am Sunday morning.
Two huge days of rugby to open the 2018 season in style. Brilliant.
This weekend, though, somehow, SANZAAR are going to spread the Super Rugby menu over three days, and I don’t know how we’re all going to cope. Seven whole games! That’s a whopping 350 per cent increase in rugby action in just a week. You don’t get that in many other sports.
And if 350 per cent more rugby isn’t enough for you, Super Rugby Round 2 will also be played in 300 per cent more countries. Three hundred per cent! It must simply be the biggest round-on-round increase in the history of televised sport.
It’s almost trivial that Nobes, myself, and The Crowd managed a perfect round over those two huge days of rugby last weekend, and naturally, we won’t make too big a deal of that. But we do have the biggest ever weekend of rugby ever assembled in front of us, and we must try and tip our way through this comparative smorgasbord.
Take us away, Nobes…
Nobes
TIPS: Highlanders, Rebels, Brumbies, Crusaders, Waratahs, Lions, Hurricanes
The first round went well for The Crowd, Brett, and myself, and the matches, were much closer and entertaining than I first expected. I hope this is a contagious trend for the remaining of the season.
I am tempted to go for the Blues against the Highlanders, but my home rule selection fully applies when it comes to close games, so my tip for the Blues will have to wait for next round.
The Rebels have made the best incorporations for this season, while the Reds have fallen into several domestic issues that I am not sure they have worked them up yet, so my tip goes to the Rebels.
(AAP Image/Julian Smith)
My home team rule tip will reverse itself in the northern hemisphere, so the Brumbies will beat the Sunwolves. The Crusaders will show the Chiefs why they are the current champs. Waratahs at home over a red-eyed short-men Stormers.
Jaguares will bring a point from Johannesburg. The Bulls in Pretoria will have a run against the ‘Canes but they will come out short.
Sure thing: We will have an upset.
Brett
TIPS: Blues, Rebels, Brumbies, Crusaders, Waratahs, Lions, Hurricanes
Pretty decent way to start the tipping year, for sure; clearly, you’ve got to know what you’re doing to start off as perfectly as Nobes and the mob and I have. But I’m not going to go on about it; we’re big on humility up this top end of the table, so nothing more about 100 per cent records from me.
This weekend is going to be ripper, with at least four of the games on a knife’s edge. One of the them is in Melbourne, and I am going to back the Rebels to prove that we shouldn’t read anything into trial form. Ditto for the Brumbies, who left a very pleasant summer’s afternoon in Canberra for the depths of a Tokyo winter.
(AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
Crusaders to start their defence with a win, Waratahs to win despite their pessimistic supporters (you guys are funny), Lions to tame the Jaguares at Ellis Park, and yeah, ‘Canes by plenty at Loftus.
Toughest game of the weekend? Undoubtedly the first. It and absolute coin flip, and it’s a rare event that I’d pick more than two away teams in a round (even though away teams won just over 40 per cent of games in the last two seasons). But I still can’t shake this feeling I’ve got about the Blues.
Sure thing: A couple of Australian losses, sadly. But two ‘local’ ‘derbies’ make that unavoidable.
Geoff
TIPS: Blues, Rebels, Brumbies, Crusaders, Waratahs, Lions, Hurricanes
After last weeks’ gentle toe in the water, great to get a meaty, man-sized prime rib of a round happening!
The toughest one to pick is the opener. It’s a dangerous tactic to underestimate the Highlanders but if the Blues are to fulfil raised expectations it has to start right away. The Rebels won’t be a well-oiled machine just yet but will be keen to give ‘old man’ Wessels a fitting 35th birthday present against the Reds.
Crusaders pick themselves, Brumbies comfortably, same for the new improved Waratahs, and the Lions against the also improved but not by enough, Jaguares.
Everyone is guessing about the Bulls, which makes the Hurricanes the safe pick, while the Sharks get a much-needed week off to fix their hopeless scrum.
(Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
Sure thing: the first dropped ball or mis-kick by the Reds backline will send the internet into meltdown, as angry fans and Tokyo taxi drivers shout, “just like we told you!” and demand the return of Quade and the head of Brad Thorn.
Harry
TIPS: Highlanders, Rebels, Brumbies, Chiefs, Waratahs, Lions, Hurricanes.
The Blues will run and pass a lot, but the Highlanders will kick better. Wessels v Thorn: the real coach will take the cake. The Brumbies will definitely pay the Tokyo taxi drivers as they celebrate into the wee hours. The Chiefs will pull the only real upset in Round 2; in the Derby between Deplorables.
The Waratahs and the ‘already-transformed’ Stormers (eight of last week’s starting XV were players ‘of colour’) will combine for a basketball score, with at least ten clean line breaks each. Livewire guns Seabelo Senatla, Damian Willemse, and Dillyn Leyds cannot be contained all game, but the Tahs are fully loaded with missiles of their own.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Last week, the Stormers and the Jaguares kept ball in play for 34 of the 80 minutes, phenomenal in the dry heat; the Jags only kicked ten times and nine of those were exits from in-goal. The teenaged Willemse completed three offloads and kept the Argentines guessing all match. The match in Sydney will be popcorn time. Machooka will have a happy ending, finally.
The Lions will need to elevate their game to see off the Orange Visa; the visitors will change the angle of attack far more than the route one Sharks did last week (187 passes by Jags at Newlands; only 99 by the Sharks at Ellis Park). Lions by a point or two, because Elton finds his radar.
Digger will be sweating during the last match. He is gardener of some repute, our guru from Upper Hutt. He’ll need to rub his lucky squash and water the prize pumpkin for luck. The Bulls are back. Canes by a fraction.
Sure thing: The Waratahs’ game plan will be: “Kick to Raymond. Izzy, run at Raymond. Everyone loves Raymond.”
Digger
TIPS: Highlanders, Rebels, Brumbies, Crusaders, Waratahs, Lions, Hurricanes
In New Zealand, both the unimaginatively-named colour side and ‘hanging with Mr Cooper’ have a touch of uncertainty around them and they are both away from home, so it’s the conservative track for me in tipping both of the Southerners.
In Australia, the slightly breezy cold front won’t do any damage to the flower patch, and on the basis of the recruits, seemingly less distractions and the benefit of playing at home has me siding with the Rebels over the other unimaginatively-named colour team. And though I am not overly confident with this pick, while the mob of horses should have no fear of predators in Tokyo.
In South Africa for the battle of the ‘thunder cats’ Lion-O should prevail over Jaga, while up in Pretoria, well… ‘Canes by plenty.
Sure thing: I am picking two men who have had extended time away from the game, Ben Smith and Israel Folau, to hit the ground running this season and win man of the match awards in their respective matches this weekend.
Get your tips in now – The Crowd’s tips will be revealed Friday afternoon AEDT.
Who gets your tip? Got a sure thing yourself? Let us know in the comments below, and enjoy your rugby this weekend…