Supe Rugby/ Super Ugby four-week round-up

The competition that makes these months our favourite time of year is in full force and after the first four weeks the logs have begun to take shape.

2010 Currie Cup champions, the Sharks, top the pile after being the only team to have taken four wins from four. The Durban boys have looked clinical without being overly impressive but so has become the successful pattern of Sharks rugby over the last 8 or so months. The Stormers remain the only other unbeaten side but their apparent inability to score points outside multiples of three may see them come unstuck in the not so distant future. The Bulls have looked far from their dominant best of the last two seasons and have struggled to maintain their impressive ability to score points despite conceding them at the other end. This may have something to do with the fact that their wingers need to be given the ball with an open try-line for them to cross it. The much talked-about Lions have finally ended their infamous 17 match losing streak against the hapless Cheetahs; showing that naive and brash play may at least prevent them from retaining the wooden spoon. The Cheetahs have started poorly but they have their little scavenger Heinrich Brussow back from a long injury which will give them a big boost in confidence.

In New Zealand the Highlanders lead the conference but for slightly different reasons than usual the Crusaders have been grabbing the headlines. Their outrageous centre combination of 'Money-Bill' SBW and Robbie Fruean have seen them trounce the Waratahs and Brumbies in consecutive weeks. One recommendation in taking on this pair is to to not pick gnomes like Christian Lealiifano and Matt Toomua against them like the Brumbies did in the second half last week. They have responded well to an opening-week loss to the Blues and the disaster earth-quake to get back to second in the NZ conference. Returning to the Highlanders is by no means an uninteresting task as the boys from the south have proven incredibly difficult to beat. Much of this can be explained by the core of their team coming from the Southland outfit that impressed in the ITM Cup (NZ's version of the Currie Cup). The other New Zealand sides have produced their usual enjoyable brand mixed with the atrocious most typified by the Chiefs. One of the most entertaining teams in the comp must, however, leave their fans wishing they had taken a trip to Tokyo this last weekend, or perhaps ripping their hair out if you'd prefer, rather than watch the simple errors their team is so prone to make. An injury to Mils Muliaina has seen Tim Nanai-Williams get a bit of regular game-time which has seen many rugby fans jump for joy. In the words of Scotty Stevenson "this boy is on a drug called Charlie Sheen" and if this is what results then bi-winning doesn't seem so bizarre after all.

In Australia the 'Tahs have set the pace and looked not to far from unstoppable until they came crashing into the 12 and 13 of SBW and Fruean. They will respond well and with my cousin Kurtley Beale and Drew Mitchell at the back they will surely be too much for the Cheetahs this week. The Reds haven't continued on the run that they had last season but expect a pick-up from them in the next few weeks. Quade Cooper has let many people down by not adding to his property through dubious means or anything else of the sort but aside from that seems to be developing into a more complete ten. Despite not being last in the Aussie conference the Brumbies have performed like bottom-feeders and seem to be missing George Smith a bit more than they were hoping as they have struggled to get good clean ball for Matt Giteau. The Force and the Rebels, without the wins on the board to prove it, have exceeded expectations and will make it difficult for the more fancied sides in the conference to qualify. The Rebels, in particular, have looked much better than the horse-shit that was predicted in the last two weeks picking up a win and a narrow defeat to the Sharks. Back to the Force it seems quite unbelievable how the tub of lard known as Fat, oh sorry Matt, Dunning still qualifies as an athlete but stranger things have happened (remember that guy from Bermuda taking that catch in the slips in the last cricket world cup).

So now that we have that out of the way we will get into a few more detailed and hopefully more original posts in the near future. Comments will be most welcome but any along a negative line will require the author to be run down by Willem Alberts.

Written by James Beall