Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: Super 14 Pick of the Week

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Super 14 Pick of the Week - Round 11

Round 11 of the Super 14 brought about a shifting of the top four as we saw a few outstanding performances, some upsets, and a change of no less than nine positions on the table.

The Hurricanes moved into top spot after heavily defeating an uncharacteristically poor looking Brumbies side in Wellington. They jumped from fourth on the table up to number one after the impressive 56-7 win that included a classy try scored by young Zac Guildford, who got two on the night.

The Sharks had a bye on the weekend so they moved down from table leaders to fourth place as the Bulls and the Chiefs battled it out at Loftus for second and third positions respectively.

The Cheetahs sprung an upset by beating defending champions the Crusaders in Bloemfontein, but they still remain at the bottom of the table, with the Crusaders still in contention at eighth place.

The Reds put in a great performance to beat the Blues 31-24, scoring an excellent team try that was finished off by Digby Ioane.

The Stormers finally picked up a win on the road before heading home, as they beat the Highlanders 18-11 in Dunedin. It was the home side who scored the try of the match though, through wing Ben Smith but set up by Israel Dagg who was superb on the night.

Drew Mitchell and James O’Connor both scored excellent team tries for the Force as they jumped three places on the table after thrashing the Lions 55-14 in Perth. O'Connors in particular was superb from the Force.

Round 12 will be as tightly contested as ever, making for an exciting weekend of rugby ahead.

Time: 03:17
Music: Know Your Enemy by Greenday

Some sweet tries in there.

By Anonymous, at April 29, 2009 1:26 pm
James O'Connor looking like the real deal at such a young age. Some neat little touches by him in both the Force tries.

By Shaft, at April 29, 2009 2:14 pm
wow thats some really good rugby!

By minstrel boy, at April 29, 2009 3:02 pm
CHEETAAAAHHSSS!!! YOU BEAUTIES!!!

VRYSTAAT!

By Cheis, at April 29, 2009 3:14 pm
daniller's try shouldn't have been awarded, mcdonald was taken out illegaly... but good work by the cheetahs overall, crusaders performance has been quite embarrassing this season - and i'm a 'saders fan :(

sweet try by guildford! that behind-the-back-pass by ripia! amazing :)

By opfazonk, at April 29, 2009 3:37 pm
that hurricanes try was so f***ing good! what a sick pass!

By Anonymous, at April 29, 2009 5:13 pm
love the way adam thompson nearly rides his team mate over the line

By Anonymous, at April 29, 2009 6:06 pm
my favorite has to be the hurricanes try because he is help over the line by his own team mate
lol

By no9, at April 29, 2009 6:39 pm
@ no.9

They're called The Highlanders, mate.

By Cheesekiwi, at April 29, 2009 7:38 pm
Who is the Hurricanes #10 for the first try from the 22? Absolutely sensational hands there.

By @PlainsOfAlmeria, at April 29, 2009 7:59 pm
nice seeing o'connor doing well :)

By Anonymous, at April 29, 2009 8:51 pm
this might sound like a stuiped question but i missed the chiefs game this week....and living in ireland theres no highlights.........but who won the chiefs match??

By Anonymous, at April 29, 2009 9:35 pm
O'Connor :)

By Flow, at April 29, 2009 10:26 pm
The Bulls beat the Chiefs 33-27..

By MrInfo, at April 29, 2009 11:08 pm
Oh and the Hurricanes #10 who did the neat lil flick pass is Willie Rippia.

By MrInfo, at April 29, 2009 11:10 pm
I have to agree with "shaft" James O'Conner really coming on at a young age, setting up one try and finishing another. Having only turned 18 last December it really puts things in perspective.

By Anonymous, at April 29, 2009 11:48 pm
how many forward passes?!?! also cant Super 14 players tackle low?!?! none of these teams would get anywhere near the Heineken cup final FACT!

By Anonymous, at April 30, 2009 12:34 am
Here we go again with the ridiculous comments about missed tackles .. note: it's a highlights vid of tries so by definition there are going to be missed tackles, that's how rugby works in both hemispheres .. the point is that in most cases it's the quality of the running and off-loading that causes the tackles to be missed. As for tackling low, there are a couple of perfect low tackles in the first try but they still couldn't stop the try being scored.

By robert, at April 30, 2009 1:09 am
HC teams are full of players from the S14.
Yet still the S14 produces the best players in the world.
Go Euro rugby!

By Anonymous, at April 30, 2009 3:29 am
The amount of forward passes in that vid was outrageous.

By Anonymous, at April 30, 2009 3:54 am
Its really quite disappointing to see all these negative comments about the quality of tackling and of the rugby. I'm pure NH but seriously guys the southern hemisphere has dominated world rugby for the past two or three decades and I can quote numerous northern hemisphere stars saying the the southern hemisphere teams (SA and NZ in particular) are more aggressive and physical than anyone else, period. One of such sources is Paul Wallace and I think he would know better than you lot.

I watch a lot of both NH and SH rugby and have to say the Super 14 is a lot better than any of the NH competitions.

And whats all this about forward passes? I don't know what video you've been watching.

By Glorz, at April 30, 2009 4:35 am
guys, get used to the cam ankle, it's not forward, at the most it might be flat...

By opfazonk, at April 30, 2009 5:07 am
Nearly all the Hurricanes tries last week deserve to be in this video. That one by David Smith where he gets the pass from Conrad Smith, then kicks ahead and regathers was absolutely outstanding.

He has some serious speed that guy.

By V99, at April 30, 2009 7:36 am
i have never seen so many missed tackles in my life!
and the stadiums are empty , no atmosphere

By Anonymous, at April 30, 2009 11:33 am
no atmosphere? are u high? bad defence? hard to defend with such quick ball. no low tackles? when offloads and support is so good, better to wrap up the ball... some people are just ignorant i guess

By beast4president, at April 30, 2009 1:18 pm
he means no atmosphere as crowds are dwindling and theres never any away support due to the distances.

youre the one being ignorant if you dont see that.

By Anonymous, at April 30, 2009 3:15 pm
Glorz is clearly from the SH

By Anonymous, at April 30, 2009 3:26 pm
"I can quote numerous northern hemisphere stars saying the the southern hemisphere teams (SA and NZ in particular) are more aggressive and physical than anyone else"

And several players from the SH have said that the Heineken Cup, Top 14 and Guinness Premiership were more aggressive and physical when they played there.

By Anonymous, at April 30, 2009 4:34 pm
If the Super 14 was as great as some people make out, why is it in such a mess? The officials are constantly talking about re-jigging the structure of the tournament and already feel the need to spread it over 3 countries with 1000s of miles travelled and around 2 away fans at every game.

The whole things seems so superficial and uncompetative, especially when you see the Europeans leagues with the added bonus of the Heineken Cup with full pool and knockout stages with some games attracting 60,000+ fans. In countries where rugby isn't that much of a "big deal".

By Anonymous, at April 30, 2009 4:39 pm
Oh my word when will this ever END!!!??

Can the NH people just give it a rest already? Or, does it make you feel better to slag off the Super 14? Clearly it does... but it's pretty lame tbh.

Don't watch Super 14, don't care about it.. stay in your comfort zone of wet, slow fields with penalty kicks and low scoring matches.

I watched the GP and Magners league highlights this week, and there we just as many missed tackles, with less dynamic play. Doug Howlett (SH btw.. in case you forgot) runs through defenders and people call him a Munster legend. If he did the same for the Blues (Auckland) you'd be moaning about the defense.

For the life of me where is the logic?

And with all due respect to this awesome website, it seems like a lot of you guys are basing your views about the Super 14 on what you see here? That's pretty stupid, considering they're TRIES videos. I'm pretty sure TRIES videos from the NH tournaments would also include missed tackles. Or do you guys run around everyone? hmm

Frustrating attitudes, particularly as I'm from the SH, but am a fan of all rugby, and watch everything I can with equal enjoyment.

Rant over.. but ffs, just enjoy the clips and quit trying to sound smart by slagging off the Super 14, the French etc. ESPECIALLY when most of your clowns post as Anonymous. Super lame.

As an aside, I'm looking forward to the Heineken Cup semis. :)

By FrankyH, at April 30, 2009 7:54 pm
i assure you that if you went to watch a match somewhere like kings park (aka ABSA stadium) even as a neutral you would feel the atmosphere.... really entertaining. and why does a NH person always have to throw in a negative first when all other comments were appreciating the good rugby in this clip. i cant see any other reason for it other than jealousy... stop bitching and only comment when england are back to their 2003 form and when any of the other home nations become good (eg. when they get a few wins against SH teams including argentina- lets not forget about them). good day

By Anonymous, at April 30, 2009 7:57 pm
SH fans leave exactly the same comments on NH rugby clips. So you can slag our rugby off but we cant do the same to you?
Arrogant fools.

By Anonymous, at April 30, 2009 10:02 pm
I've never been south of the equator as a matter of fact. I think I would know where I live better than you, Mr. Anonymous.

I've heard several SH players say the competitions are tougher in the NH because they play in multiple tournaments and its more competitive maybe...please, tell me, who has said its more physically aggressive?

By Glorz, at April 30, 2009 10:50 pm
canes v blues, 5 tries in 20minutes with even the nz commentators calling poor defence

By Anonymous, at May 01, 2009 9:58 am
i agree franky!
cant wait for the semis!

By welshno7, at May 01, 2009 11:51 am
Shame that the southern hemisphere seem to ignore the forward pass rule. There were about 10 in there.

By Anonymous, at May 01, 2009 12:38 pm
I'm a NH person/fan and apart from the multitude fo forward passes, when it comes to tries and running rugby S14 is way ahead of NH

By Anonymous, at May 01, 2009 12:42 pm
" Glorz said...
Its really quite disappointing to see all these negative comments about the quality of tackling "

i take it you havent seen the hurricanes and blues game yet?

By Anonymous, at May 01, 2009 2:00 pm
Point taken on the slagging off of competitions based on the highlights videos alone, I resolve never to be so judgemental in the future :P

I'm looking forward to the lions tour where we'll be able to see some comparison of NH v SH rugby.

Croke park tomorrow will be something to see too - a crowd of over 82000 expected. It may not be a great game but it will be an amazing occasion!

By Litet Parlan, at May 01, 2009 5:01 pm
Loving the big hit at 1:19, watch the small fella getting creamed after he released the ball. Didn't change anything, but bet it felt good to be putting that in.

By Knappa, at May 01, 2009 9:27 pm
Hurricanes all the way! Quite a few forward passes mind. we will see if the south african sides can play the same open rugby against the lions!

By martin-offload, at May 03, 2009 1:00 pm
o'connors try for first force try ws slick...chaps a legend

By Anonymous, at May 03, 2009 1:30 pm