2018 Super Rugby Finals

[Stargazer]

Round 19 results:

Chiefs 28 - 24 Hurricanes
Reds 48 - 27 Sunwolves
Highlanders 43 - 37 Rebels
Crusaders 54 - 17 Blues
Waratahs 31 - 40 Brumbies
Lions 38 - 12 Bulls
Sharks 20 - 10 Jaguares

Final points tables after the round robin:

.

Quarter Finals:

The Highlanders will be happy. No significant travel in the QF. Still have to go to SA or Arg if they win though. Obviously, the Sharks will be a more difficult opponent for the Crusaders than the Rebels, but the Sharks have the travel.

Kick-off times and dates aren't available yet, but IIRC, the Canes v Chiefs match will be on Friday, and all other QFs on Saturday (local times).

[Chris B.]

@stargazer Pretty good outcome for the Highlanders - though really, their best chance of winning the whole thing was probably to throw the game against the Rebels and hope to get a crack at the Crusaders first up, with a guaranteed in NZ semifinal if they won that - before a final away somewhere.

If the Highlanders and Jags both win then that semi would surely be in Dunedin, since the Highlanders are the higher ranked team.

[Bovidae]

@chris-b

The Canes and Chiefs will be cheering for the Sharks to get a home SF.

[Chris B.]

@bovidae Without doubt the winners of that game will be - and pretty much anyone else with a live ticket to the trophy.

[KiwiMurph]

Glad the Sharks made it. While theyve been inconsistent - their young core have looked really classy at times - especially against NZ teams so the Crusaders v Sharks should be interesting.

[ShadowTrooper]

@kiwimurph I'm glad of the following;

1. The four NZ teams have no significant travel
2. Two NZ teams host QFs
3. The best 8 teams made it anyway, despite the rigged conference system

I always maintained the Aus teams did not deserve a 2nd team in the playoffs the way they have played this season, whilst crediting the Sharks with some good performances, especially in NZ
Shame the Chiefs couldn't have made it a home QF, i go back to that loss against the Jags, that really hurt, and came back to bite them in the end.

[Milk]

Impressive result from the Chiefs as most pundits were picking them to be bottom of the NZ teams, even below the Blues... and I think those predictions came even before they got decimated with injuries.

[Hooroo]

So it looks as though the Chiefs have got this quite comfortably as the guaranteed home final after sweeping past the Crusaders in the Semi Final. I'm surprised that the Highlanders are helping us achieve this by beating the Aussies and then the South Africans to join us there but alas, that travel factor will be a trip too far when we turn them upside down in the final.

Somebody start planning the parade!

[shark]

I'm pleased the Sharks scraped in ahead of the Rebels because they're the better side, a more traditional rival (I quite like the symmetry of a repeat of our '98 semi) and this makes for a more interesting game to go to this Saturday than it might have otherwise been. For mine, a loss is a very real possibility whereas the Rebels would have been fodder. I can't forget the home game against the Sharks 2-3 years ago when they were down to 14 men for a large part of it and 13 men for ten minutes, and they still beat us.

Sanzaar have changed the finals system this year though to group teams on one side of the finals draw or the other - in order to limit short-notice travel issues apparently - rather than basing the Semi Finals on ranking. This means the Crusaders, Sharks, Chiefs and Canes are on one side of the draw as 1, 4, 5 and 8 but in reality it's the top three sides (on points) and #8. Tough on all of them really.

[Chris B.]

@milk said in 2018 Super Rugby Finals:

Impressive result from the Chiefs as most pundits were picking them to be bottom of the NZ teams, even below the Blues... and I think those predictions came even before they got decimated with injuries.

Yeah - credit to Cooper - he's done much better than I thought he would.

[NTA]

Highlanders will fucking murder the Tahs, just like last time they were in Sydney for a finals game.

[antipodean]

@nta said in 2018 Super Rugby Finals:

Highlanders will fucking murder the Tahs, just like last time they were in Sydney for a finals game.

Based on the performance against the Bumbies, I fear you're correct.

[Tim]

nb. The Blues beat both the Waratahs and Lions away.

[Hooroo]

@tim said in 2018 Super Rugby Finals:

nb. The Blues beat both the Waratahs and Lions away.

Really? That doesn't sound right....

[KiwiMurph]

Highlanders haven't been super convincing since the June break themselves - losing 2 out of 3 and conceding 45, 45 and 37 points in the 3 games.

[shark]

Yep the Rebels were missing cattle as well, but the Highlanders were at home and only just got through

[Hooroo]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/105500270/chiefs-to-play-waiting-game-on-injured-crew-ahead-of-super-rugby-quarterfinal

[shark]

Just a further thought on the 'tweaked' finals format this year. Sanzaar would have fairly comfortably known that NZ sides were likely to finish in 1st, fourth and fifth positions on the conference ladder. Therefore it's hard not to consider the possibility that they've amended the format this year at least in part to limit the possibility of an all-NZ final and therefore broaden the international appeal of the competition showpiece. To the absolute detriment of the 'integrity' of the competition.

[nzzp]

@shark said in 2018 Super Rugby Finals:

Just a further thought on the 'tweaked' finals format this year. Sanzaar would have fairly comfortably known that NZ sides were likely to finish in 1st, fourth and fifth positions on the conference ladder. Therefore it's hard not to consider the possibility that they've amended the format this year at least in part to limit the possibility of an all-NZ final and therefore broaden the international appeal of the competition showpiece. To the absolute detriment of the 'integrity' of the competition.

That is some serious conspiracy theory shit

NZ has the deck stacked against them to finish first in the comp. So many good local teams.

Alternatively, they are trying to push that this is a genuine ladder (It's not -- the conference winners get priority), and therefore give the top qualifier the chance to play no 4 rather than 2 or 3.

[Stargazer]

@shark said in 2018 Super Rugby Finals:

Just a further thought on the 'tweaked' finals format this year. Sanzaar would have fairly comfortably known that NZ sides were likely to finish in 1st, fourth and fifth positions on the conference ladder. Therefore it's hard not to consider the possibility that they've amended the format this year at least in part to limit the possibility of an all-NZ final and therefore broaden the international appeal of the competition showpiece. To the absolute detriment of the 'integrity' of the competition.

This was the 2017 Finals format:

The result of that format, with the current standings and conferences, would have been the same QFs and SFs as with the 2018 format:

QF:
1 Crusaders v 8 Sharks
2 Lions v 7 Jaguares
3 Waratahs v 6 Highlanders
4 Hurricanes v 5 Chiefs

SF1 (CRU/SHA) v QF4 (HUR/CHI)
SF2 (LIO/JAG) v SF2 (WAR/HIG)

So the finals format hasn't been tweaked, just renumbered.