The 2015 rugby union thread

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Axver

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Alright, we've got a big year of rugby, so I thought we should have a thread. There's the World Cup of course, but right now the big news is:

THE WELLINGTON HURRICANES ARE IN THE GRAND FINAL OF THE SUPER RUGBY!

Gather 'round, young Interference, it's story time.

Once upon a time at the end of an amateur era that feels so long ago, a series of regional club-based competitions were reorganised into the new Super 12 in time for the 1996 season. It featured five teams from New Zealand, four from South Africa, and three from Australia. Twenty years later, it's now called Super Rugby, and it has expanded to fifteen teams (from next year, sixteen) with the addition of extra South African and Australian teams. Indisputably the most awesome club are the Wellington Hurricanes.

Of the previous nineteen seasons, twelve have been won by Kiwi clubs. Unfortunately, the lion's share of that have gone to the Canterbury Crusaders - seven. The Auckland Blues have three, and the Waikato Chiefs two. That's right, Wellington have been denied glory. So have the Otago Highlanders. Even Waikato, once the worst of the New Zealand teams, came good. Poor old Wellington had only made the grand final once, in 2006, went into it as rank outsiders, and lost to Canterbury in a bizarre game where an almost impenetrable fog blanketed the ground. Even when the Hurricanes made it to the semis in a few other years, they got bundled out rather promptly. Usually by bloody Canterbury. And no matter what happened, the 'Canes were infuriatingly inconsistent. At least fellow Kiwi stragglers Otago just tended to stay stuck in a low gear. The Hurricanes would stammer through every gear, sometimes in the space of a single half.

But then the 2015 season happened! We have absolutely dominated the tournament, dropping only two games and finishing miles ahead of everybody else. We got the first week of finals off. Then tonight we knocked off the ACT Brumbies and HERE WE ARE! A HOME GRAND FINAL! I was starting to wonder if I would live to see the day. And just to cap it off, Otago - yes, that's right, the other Kiwi team starved of finals success - secured the other grand final berth by defeating reigning champions the NSW Waratahs. No matter who wins, it will be a massive occasion. Otago are my second team, since my family traces back to there, but oh my god HURRICANES! HURRICANES!

Tune in next Saturday to watch me post to myself during the game! :dancing:
 
:giggle: Axver , which channel(s) is/are broadcasting the match?
 
:giggle: Axver , which channel(s) is/are broadcasting the match?

I think in most countries it's on some form of pay TV. I'm lucky I've got a Foxtel login via a relative or I'd have to rely on a shitty web stream.

Not that I give a remote fuck about Super Rugby, but :up::up::up:

You may wish to tune into the final - the Hurricanes and Highlanders are the two most attacking, free-flowing teams in the competition. They met about a month ago and the final score was 56-20 in Wellington's favour. It should be an exciting final. Some of the stuff Wellington attempted last night was just ridiculous and the Savea brothers are walking highlights reels.
 
I think it'll be 5:30pm our time. Not sure which channel specifically, but put "super rugby" into Foxtel Go's search on the day and it'll come up.
 
I read that as "tune in next Saturday to watch me post myself dancing at the game." And now that I see it to not be what you said, I am disappointed.
 
There are few worse sights than me dancing, I assure you.
 
Crappy webstream for me then. Went to see the Chiefs vs. Highlanders during my NZ road trip. Instead of trying to go to the Sevens in Wellington. Never regretted it.
 
Hah, I grew up in Wellington before moving to Australia and I still haven't been to the Sevens.

What parts of New Zealand did you see?
 
Its bloody expensive so I don't blame you! (Al though with you actually living there would have saved you much money and trouble)


Me and a friend landed in Christchurch -> Kaikoura -> Greymouth -> Punakaiki -> Hokitika -> Frans Jozef -> Mt Aspiring NP -> Wanaka -> Arrowtown & Queenstown and Glenochry was our final destination there. We only had two weeks to explore there, which was too short.


Then over to Wellington -> Tongariro NP -> Taupo -> Rotorua -> Hahei & Whitianga -> Hamilton ->Auckland.

Also two weeks, which was way too short, going back there in a few years time. New Zealand is to good for tourists. Seriously.
 
That's a great itinerary. I'm glad you clearly spent a fair bit of time on the West Coast. One of my favourite parts of the world. I've taken a couple of holidays there in the last few years and I'm absolutely in love with Haast Past, the glaciers, and the Buller region (which it sounds like you didn't get to; it's probably the least visited part, but wild and stunning). I may be a North Islander born and bred, but the South Island is I think the better island in most respects. That said, there are some parts of the North I'm yet to visit. I've never visited Whitianga, or for that matter anywhere on the Coromandel Peninsula.

I apologise on behalf of all New Zealand for Hamilton though.
 
:lmao: Hamilton was MORE than okay for us. But we might have been bribed... Met locals during the Tongariro Crossing, and they invited us for a BBQ. Went to the game etc.

I might imagine we wouldn't have stayed very long otherwise.. Just suburbs and shitty shopping centre's.
So, apart from their horrible rugby team :giggle: Care to explain me what more so bad about Hamilton? Does the town have a reputation.
 
Haha yeah, Hamilton has a reputation as being this kind of ... vacuum devoid of anything good. Part of the city centre is nicknamed the Chlamydia Triangle for the calibre of its nightlife. At the last New Zealand election there was a satirical political party that had a policy of declaring national independence from Hamilton and building a 1km-high wall around it.

I spent a week there back in 2011 for work and found it generally dull. Like you say, suburbs and soulless shopping centres. The way it sprawls feels more like a car-dependent, pedestrian-unfriendly stereotypical American city than anything else in New Zealand. It doesn't help that Hamilton became the butt of jokes after its local council tried to rebrand it as "Hamiltron: city of the future". I think its main problem is that up until the mid-20th century it was just a large railway junction and rural service town that rapidly grew into a city in a car-dependent age and lacked careful planning. Parts of the city along the Waikato River are actually quite pretty and I feel like there's squandered potential there.
 
Ugh and Barrett just misses a chance to even the scores. Come on boys let's see some of that pace we know so well.
 
Oh fucking hell and now we gift them another penalty goal.
 
Barrett has finally found his kicking boots, thank god.
 
Oh just drop a try that's a great idea fuck a flying duck!
 
A penalty helps though. Four points in it. Feels like momentum may be swinging our way.
 
Totally having a heart attack here. Not sure how we managed to avoid conceding a try there. But not sure we have enough time left...
 
Well damn.

I like Otago very much and would be elated if they had beat anyone else, but this sucks.

The long and painful journey of being a Wellington fan continues.
 
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