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Can’t wait for the Super Rugby final? Good news, the first half is this weekend.

during the round two Super Rugby match between the Chiefs and the Lions at FMG Stadium on March 5, 2016 in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Missing the Lions already? Well, the other Lions are back playing this weekend. The 14-1 finalists from last year, who also wear red jerseys, are part of an interesting final round of Super Rugby – one that could see them get the home final they seemingly tossed away 12 months ago. But it’s a long shot.

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Of course, everyone was banking on the final being held in Johannesburg as soon as the 2017 draw came out. The Lions have played no NZ sides so far this year, and they’ve only dropped one game to have 61 points going into the business end of the season.

And yet, in an ironic twist, it’s that one loss that could cost them so dearly. It was at the same venue and same opponent as their crucial loss last year – the Jaguares in Buenos Aires. Back in July of last year the Lions infamously sent an understrength team to BA, losing to the Jags and handing the top spot on the table ultimately to the Hurricanes. A few weeks later and the Lions found themselves playing in their first final – not in a warm, packed Ellis Park, but an horrifically cold and hostile Westpac Stadium.

Now this year it seems the Jags could be their undoing again. Despite all the talk of the competitiveness of the NZ Conference, the Crusaders have unbelievably made it through to this point without losing a game. They sit atop the competition table with 63 points, and will be gunning for a perfect season for the second time in their history.

The Lions are relying on the Crusaders losing in Wellington to the Hurricanes, another irony given that was the scene of their grand final demise last year. Meanwhile they need to get over the Sharks in Durban, however they’ll know whether that’s an exercise in futility given that the Wellington fixture happens first.

Of course, both teams actually have to make it through the playoffs in order for the potential Christchurch or Johannesburg finals to take place. History is firmly on their sides though: the team that has finished top of the regular season table has not only gone on to host, but also win Super Rugby finals five out of the last six years.

Although the main focus will be on the battle for the top spot, the Hurricanes themselves have added motivation on top of being the spoilers for the Crusaders. A win at home will mean they’ll most likely have a playoff game in Canberra against the Brumbies, while a loss will mean a long trip to Cape Town for a match with the Brumbies.

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Meanwhile, the Sharks spot at eighth is unlikely to change even if they win – they need a bonus point victory and the Highlanders to lose to the Reds. The latter half of that equation isn’t going to happen, as the game is in Dunedin and the Reds are horrible. The best scenario for the Sharks is that they end up playing the Lions again next weekend in Johannesburg, their only other fate is a trip to Christchurch.

So while this weekend doesn’t quite have the potential for the insanity that we saw in the last regular season finale, it’s still all on for the main contenders. Given how much home ground advantage plays in the big dance, it’s pretty much the first half of the final right here.

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Flankly 0 minute ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
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Nickers 9 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
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Nickers 38 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

43 Go to comments
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