nortie
Ex Wallaby and NSW Waratah skipper Phil Waugh
The NSW Waratahs have received the ultimate nod of approval, with the state’s most-capped player declaring Michael Cheika’s record-setting class of 2014 as possibly the most complete team in Super Rugby history.
Boasting 18 internationals and the inside running to a home grand final, former captain Phil Waugh believes only the Crusaders or an injury to attacking trump Israel Folau can stop the Waratahs from winning their maiden title.
”The talent and experience and the potential of the team they’ve got together now in that squad is right up there with one of the best that not just the Waratahs have seen but also probably Super Rugby has seen,” Waugh said.
Tiaan Liebenberg will start at hooker for the Stormers at Newlands this Saturday in the absence of injured incumbent Deon Fourie.
Fourie sustained a hamstring injury in last week’s win against the Bulls. He has been ruled out of the Stormers’ last league match against the Sharks, which is also the Cape side’s last of the season.
Coach Allister Coetzee has made no further changes to the starting XV. A victory against the Sharks this Saturday would allow the Stormers to finish the season with eight wins, and two against the South African conference champions.
Craig Dowd
Craig Dowd, writing in his latest column seems to think that the Crusaders are once again peaking at the right time.
The Crusaders cop a lot of criticism, and I suggested last week in assessing the New Zealand Super Rugby teams that they “don’t look like a title-winning team”, but, really, you can’t fault them; yes, they have the fewest bonus points of the New Zealand sides, but they always turn up at the end of the year with enough points to qualify for the top six. At the end of the day, what more can Todd Blackadder do?
As a coach he gets shafted because someone like Dan Carter has taken a sabbatical – last year, Richie McCaw did the same – and then he loses Kieran Read with concussion worries and injury. But he is still developing new players and bringing them through. And yet poor old Todd gets criticised for the Crusaders not winning finals, but they are still the conveyor belt of New Zealand rugby.
Jake White
Does Jake White have a valid point in blaming player fatigue on the last couple of results that went against the SA Conference leaders, the Cell C Sharks?
While it is true that the Sharks lost a few players to the national cause, it wasn’t as if it was the bulk of their side. Frans Steyn played one match, Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira and Willem Alberts were all either rested or rotated during the 4 Test matches in June. JP Pietersen had the biggest work load for the Bok team if measured in minutes played.
In contrast, the Waratahs players who were involved in the Test series against the French, for the Wallabies, seemed to have lifted their game to an ever higher level.
The same can be said of the All Black players who were involved in a tough 3 Test series against a strong England side.