Super Rugby 2011 Review

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=M_A_Williams]M A Williams
The 2011 Super Rugby competition was the first time Super Rugby was played with 15 teams. Super Rugby has always been played between teams from New Zealand, South Africa and Australia. The Melbourne Rebels from Australia joined in 2011, marking the first time an equal amount of teams come from each country. 2011 was also the first time Super Rugby used a conference format. The five teams from each country formed a conference where each team played each other twice. Each team also played four teams from each of the other two conferences.
One of the criticisms of the new Super Rugby format is the fact that not all of the teams play each other. Two of Australia's teams in particular, the Western Force and the Melbourne Rebels are considered to be two of the weaker teams in the competition. The injustice is that all of the Australian teams get to play those two weaker opponents twice and likely get maximum points. However, some of the teams in the other two conferences will not get to pay those weaker teams at all. The Crusaders, for example, did not get to play the Rebels, who lost to all the other New Zealand teams. That disadvantage, not to mention being disrupted by earthquakes that condemned their home ground, was not enough to stop the Crusaders, who still topped the New Zealand conference.
In the final wash-up of the 2011 Super Rugby tournament there were two teams from each conference who made the finals. The Reds from Queensland came top of the ladder, lead by star halves pairing Quade Cooper and Will Genia. The Stormers from South Africa came second with the strong defense orientated game. Both teams earned a bye in the first week of the finals and a guaranteed home semi final. While no New Zealand teams made the top two of the table after the round robin, New Zealand arguably had the most successful tournament. Their lowest ranked team, the Chiefs came eleventh. This means all of their teams were ranked eleven and up and the lowest four places were occupied by Australia and South African teams. New Zealand also got to host both quarter finals. However, if wins go the wat of table rankings then these could be the last Super Rugby games in New Zealand this year. Not that this will mean much to their fans as the Blues stadium, Eden Park, was only a quarter fill for their first finals match since 2003. Perhaps New Zealand rugby union fans are saving themselves for the World Cup later this year.
Filling out the final six of the Super Rugby tournament was the Waratahs and the Sharks. The Waratahs limped into the finals being completely decimated by injury. One of the stars of the tournament, Kurtley Beale was forced to move to fly half for the quarter final and their tireless leader, retirement-bound Phil Waugh looked like he played most of the tournament on one leg. The Sharks had a rematch of their Twickenham match against the Crusaders. However, they will have to overcome even more travel issues to overturn the thrashing they got in Europe.
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Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Super-Rugby-2011-Review&id=6377223] Super Rugby 2011 Review