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'Rivalry' match ups in Super Rugby draw

Jack Goodhue of the Crusaders is seen on the bench after coming off the field (R) during the round 10 Super Rugby Pacific match between the Crusaders and the Melbourne Rebels at AAMI Park on April 24, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images)

Three “rivalry” match ups for each team are a feature of the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific draw announced on Sunday.

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Each of the 12 teams will play 14 regular season matches, meeting every other side at least once and playing three designated opponents twice, home and away.

Next season’s competition also sees Fijian Drua playing six home matches in Fiji after being based in Australia last season while New Zealand-based Moana Pasifika will play an historic first home match in Apia against the Queensland Reds in round eight.

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Defending champions the Crusaders kick off the season on Friday, February 24 in a home clash with the Chiefs.

Round two is the previously-announced Super Round at AAMI Park in Melbourne where all 12 teams will gather.

All teams get one bye round in weeks 7, 8 or 9 and the top eight teams will again qualify for the finals.

Afternoon kick-offs are another feature of the draw with 24 daytime matches.

The “rivalry” matc h ups for the home and away clashes are mostly against teams from the same country .

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The match ups are:-

Brumbies v Queensland Reds, Melbourne Rebels and NSW Waratahs

NSW Waratahs v Fijian Drua, Melbourne Rebels and ACT Brumbies

Queensland Reds v Fijian Drua, Force and ACT Brumbies

Melbourne Rebels v Western Force, NSW Waratahs and ACT Brumbies

Western Force v Highlanders, Reds and Rebels

Blues v Hurricanes, Highlanders and Crusaders

Chiefs v Crusaders, Hurricanes and Highlanders

Crusaders v Blues, Chiefs and Moana Pasifika

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Highlanders v Blues, Force and Chiefs

Hurricanes v Blues, Chiefs and Moana Pasifika

Moana Pasifika v Hurricanes, Highlanders and Fijian Drua

Fijian Drua v Moana Pasifika, Reds and Waratahs.

“Being able to play regularly in front of home fans, and to travel across the Tasman and around the Pacific is massive for the competition, especially for fans, who can support their teams through a full home schedule,” s aid Rugby Australia CEO Andy Marinos.

“Everyone saw what Super Rugby Pacific had to offer in its first season and all 12 clubs have taken that excitement into the off-season and will be primed for a shot at the title in 2023.”

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Flankly 1 hour 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
N
Nickers 1 hour 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 1 hour 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.

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