Super Rugby News

Tim

Oh come on! Which NZ Super Rugby squad would he make?

Better than Pocock? What bullshit.

MajorStokes

Any of them, surely. I think you are vastly underestimating just how good George Smith still is.

Maybe he's not currently better then Pocock, but he's surely miles ahead over his career as the better player.

Tim

Any of them, surely. I think you are vastly underestimating just how good George Smith still is.

Maybe he's not currently better then Pocock, but he's surely miles ahead over his career as the better player.

God damn it, the headline is still rates among.

There's no way I'd have him in the Blues. He would not be in the top 100 players in the world currently, and the headline was ludicrous.

MajorStokes

@Tim you seem to have completely ignored my first line on that quote ...

Saying a player currently playing may not currently be as good as Pocock doesn't immediately mean they are shit btw ... Pocock is in the upper echelon of global players.

From wiki ... Smith made a move to England to sign for Wasps in the Aviva Premiership from the 2015-16 season.During his season with Wasps, Smith won a number of awards; including Wasps' Players' Player of the Year, Wasps' Player of the Year, Aviva Premiership Players' Player of the Year and Green Flag Forward of the Season.

The guy is a fucking legend.

EDIT .. also players player of the year ... across the whole english premiership

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-3585784/George-Smith-named-Players-Player-Year-stunning-season-Wasps.html

Stargazer

First time I'm reading about this. Whatever is wrong with Christie, it's terrible that even specialists don't seem to know what it is ...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/89671053/highlanders-coach-tony-brown-names-two-runon-debutants-for-season-opener

Siam

@MajorRage said in Super Rugby News:

@Tim you seem to have completely ignored my first line on that quote ...

Saying a player currently playing may not currently be as good as Pocock doesn't immediately mean they are shit btw ... Pocock is in the upper echelon of global players.

From wiki ... Smith made a move to England to sign for Wasps in the Aviva Premiership from the 2015-16 season.During his season with Wasps, Smith won a number of awards; including Wasps' Players' Player of the Year, Wasps' Player of the Year, Aviva Premiership Players' Player of the Year and Green Flag Forward of the Season.

The guy is a fucking legend.

EDIT .. also players player of the year ... across the whole english premiership

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-3585784/George-Smith-named-Players-Player-Year-stunning-season-Wasps.html

Fuck yeah. Same class as McCaw AND still playing

Absolute frak of a player, then and now

Crucial

If George Smith was a kiwi I would expect that the only teams that wouldn't consider him would be those with a mid term plan on bringing through a youngster.
The Highlanders would likely be keen, the Blues also. If Karpik wasn't in the Chiefs plans he would be a great squad member.
My Smith better than Pocock line was based on full career. I would place Smith just behind McCaw in my all time opensides ranking.

antipodean

@Tim said in Super Rugby News:

Better than Pocock? What bullshit.

Easily.
https://twitter.com/rugbyhack15/status/825704692365660160

Siam

@Crucial said in Super Rugby News:

My Smith better than Pocock line was based on full career. I would place Smith just behind McCaw in my all time opensides ranking.

Judging by the amount of influence Smith had beating the ABs, compared to Pocock beating the ABs, it ain't even a fair fight in my opinion

nzzp

It will be interesting to see how he goes. A reason to watch the Reds though - he may be in the late stage of his career, but I'd expect him to be a real influence on games.

Check back here in 6 weeks to see if the Premiership is genuinely a level below Super rugby

mariner4life

@antipodean i could watch that all day

Smith is better than Pocock. Over the course of their careers, and now. Saint David is really fucking good at one thing. George Smith was really fucking good at that one thing as well, but also really fucking good at a lot of other things. At his prime, possibly the most skillful all-round rugby player i have seen.

I'll watch Reds games just to see him go this year.

Tim

You know that SANZA is doing a great job when on the opening day of the season the only topic of discussion is "How much of a has been will Smith be?"

mariner4life

@Tim yea, opening the season with two irrelevant teams, in a non-rugby market was a poor move

Tim

@mariner4life On a Thursday night ...

Shouldn't the opening game be something like Hurricanes vs. Waratahs?

mariner4life

The first game is generally an all-kiwi affair, which instantly lifted everything.

I don't understand the Thursday night start, especially with a home Rebels game, against a side who hasn't played finals in a decade.

MajorStokes

Theres a game on today???

Crucial

There are always these articles at the start of the season about 'players to watch'. Most of them are hastily written space fillers written with one hand on google.

I rate Sumo though as someone who really does ask around, is respected by the coaches and manages to get a bit of insight about players. Here is his version of 'who to watch'

http://thespinoff.co.nz/sports/23-02-2017/five-rising-stars-to-keep-an-eye-on-in-super-rugby-this-year/