We enter the second half of the regular Super 14 season this week, and the form teams are starting to show. Nevertheless, this week, there are some very tricky games to predict.
The New Zealand derby is first up, and I’m backing the Crusaders who had a bye in the last round, and have only lost one game all season. It should be close, but their recent results suggest that Dan Carter and Richie McCaw’s team will edge it.
I’m expecting yet more misery for the Force against the Stormers, and then slightly controversially, I’m backing the Blues to end the Bulls’ unbeaten run. This is only the Champions’ second game out of South Africa, and although they have won every game, they’ve had a few scares and have looked beatable – and they’ve never beaten the Blues in Auckland.
I’m also predicting home victories for the Chiefs and the Waratahs against the Highlanders and the Cheetahs respectively, and then I’ve gone for the Reds to beat the Sharks in Durban – the Durban side have looked a little shaky, whilst the Reds have been very impressive with Quade Cooper and Will Genia running the show, so I can see a narrow away win.
Here are my Super 14 predictions for Round 8:
Game 46: Hurricanes v Crusaders: Crusaders by 5
Game 47: Force v Stormers: Stormers by 13
Game 48: Blues v Bulls: Blues by 6
Game 49: Chiefs v Highlanders: Chiefs by 9
Game 50: Waratahs v Cheetahs: Waratahs by 13
Game 51: Sharks v Reds: Reds by 5
Again we have a referee making a bad, bad, bad call to determine the outcome of a game. There was just no way that Jonathan Kaplan could have awarded the last try between the Crusaders and Hurricanes, gifting the Crusaders 2 points which they did not deserve. How do we stop this bad decision making from refs? The IRB should do something about it because it is p…..ing off spectators all over the world. Once a referee refers a decision to the teleref, they should be out of the decision – if Kaplan asked the teleref whether it was a try or not, it would have been for sure a held up or enough doubt to award a 5 m, but Kaplan wanted to control the outcome because he is too important to let someone else make the decision. The IRB should bring out a simple rule: refer it to the teleref and it is his decision from there on – the field ref should have no right to ask questions and then sooth his own ego by making the wrong decision (like Kaplan) which changes the result of the match and the course of the competition. He should be ashamed and hopefully SANZAR relegates him to the sidelines for the next couple weeks, same as they did with that idiot Marks!!!
While I am a Canes supporter, Kaplan did not make the wrong call on the last try. He was interviewed after the game, which was relayed on Radio Sport. He could see the ball was grounded for the last try, and he had a much better view than the video ref, the question he asked was “is there any reason I cannot award the try?”. He was looking for rabbiting (is that the right term?), when the player bunny hops across the line. That is what he was not sure of.
Saying that….. the quick throw in which allowed the Crusaders to score the earlier try should not have been allowed. A canes player had touched the ball which means it needed to be a full line out. That was a huge miscalling by the sideline ref.