Things You Didn’t Know About the Super 14
Super 14 Facts & Figures
Overall Try-scoring
- The match between the Blues and Hurricanes which kicks off the 15th Investec Super rugby season will be the 1067th game of Super rugby played since the annual championship began in 1996 with a match between the same two teams at Palmerston North.
- To date, 6095 tries have been scored in 1066 games, at a rate of one for every 13.9 minutes of rugby that has been played through the era.
- The Super 12 era (1996-2005) accounted for 4191 tries from 690 games at an average of 6.07 per game.
- To date, after four years and 376 games of the expanded Super 14 format, 1904 tries have been scored at an average of 5.06 per game, or one for every 15.79 minutes of playing time.
- While the try-scoring average for matches has decreased slightly in the Super 14 era, it should be remembered that of the nine matches in Super rugby that have failed to produce a try; four occurred in the one season – three years ago in 2007, while another happened last year.
- The 94 Super 14 matches that were played last year saw 514 tries scored. This tally a record 10 from the final, where the Bulls crunched the Chiefs 61-17 in the most one-sided of the competition’s 14 finals to date.
Try-scoring trivia: The first try in Super rugby was scored by Hurricanes centre Alama Ieremia during his team’s loss to the Blues in the inaugural Super 12 game, which was played at Palmerston North in February, 1996.
Playoffs Qualification – How many points/wins do you need?
- The importance of gathering bonus points is highlighted by the fact that, in each of the previous editions of the Investec Bank Super 14, at least one team finishing outside of the semi-final positions has won as many games as has the fourth placed getter.
- In two instances – in 2009 & 2006 – the fifth placed side has actually won a match more than has the fourth semi-final qualifier. Last year, the Waratahs won nine matches to the Crusaders’ eight but missed out. In 2006, the Brumbies won eight games, but were pipped for fourth by the Bulls on differentials, even though the South Africans won one game less. 2006 provided the tightest finish for the fourth semi-final position, with the Bulls, Brumbies, Chiefs and Sharks all finishing tied on 38 log points.
- 41 log points has been the marker for a fourth placed finish in each of the last two seasons, earning the Crusaders (2009) and the Hurricanes (2008) away semi-finals against the leading qualifier.
- 2007 saw 42 points required for the Blues to finish fourth, while the Bulls scraped in with 38 in the inaugural Super 14 in 2006.
- The condensed or otherwise nature of the point’s table tends to be dictated, to some extent anyway, by the overall dominance of the leading side. The Crusaders clocked up 51 points (11 wins) in 2006, with their dominance helping even out the competition behind them to such an extent that four teams finished tied on the same number of log points (38) and had to be split by differentials to establish the fourth placed side.
- The 52 points accumulated by the Crusaders (from 11 wins) in 2008 is the most scored by the top qualifier to date in Super Rugby. The Crusaders scored 51 in 2006, the Bulls 46 (10 wins) last year, and the Sharks 45 to top the table in 2007.
- Such was the condensed nature of the 2007 competition, the Sharks topped the log with 45 (from 10 wins) but the fourth placed Blues were less than the point’s value of a win behind them, finishing with 42 log points.
- The Brumbies have either won as many, or more, games than the fourth placed qualifier in three of the four Super 14 competitions to date (2006, 2007 & 2009) without having featured in the semi-finals.
Home Town Rules?
- Home advantage is an important factor in a truly international competition such as Super Rugby, although as the tournament has developed over the years - and familiarity with the venues and the country’s has increased; it has become less of a plus than it once was. This is highlighted by the fact that when, last year, all seven home teams were successful in round two of the competition; it was just the second instance of a home clean sweep throughout the four-year Super 14 Era. The previous instance was round 10 of 2008.
- In total, there have been 17 home team sweeps from the 176 rounds of competition played since Super Rugby adopted the round robin format in its second season, but their frequency has lessened to such an extent that it has only occurred twice in the last six years. The seasons & number of rounds of home shut-outs that have occurred is as follows – 1997 (4), 1998 (2), 1999 (1), 2000 (1), 2001 (4), 2002 (1), 2003 (1), 2004 (-), 2005 (1), 2006 (-), 2007 (-), 2008 (1), 2009 (1).
By the Margins
- The closeness of the various office tipping competitions is reflected by the results spread that was provided in last year’s championship, with home 1-12 narrowly shading away 1-12 as the most produced outcome. The full breakdown of the 2009 results and their tipping margins was – Home 13+: 26 matches, Home 1-12: 31 matches, Draw: 1 match, Away 1-12: 30 matches, Away 13+: 6 matches.
Coaching Notes
- 2010 sees just two ‘new’ coaches enter the Super Rugby cauldron, but they are both second-time-rounders; with Ewen McKenzie slotting in at the Queensland Reds, while Springbok assistant coach Dick Muir has taken command at the Lions. McKenzie, who returned from Paris-based club Stade Francais to take over in Brisbane, guided the Waratahs for five campaigns from 2004-08. NSW twice made the final during this period, falling to the Robbie Deans-coached Crusaders in 2005 and 2008. NSW also reached the semi-finals in 2006. Muir becomes the second Bok assistant to inherit what some would say is a poisoned chalice at the Johannesburg-based Lions, following on from Australian Tim Lane, who presided over 12th placed-finishes by the then Cats in 2003 and 2004, while still associated with the Springbok coaching staff. Muir shares with McKenzie, the experience of having taken a side to the final, having been in charge when the Sharks hosted the 2007 final, only to lose in over-time to a try by Bulls winger Bryan Habana. During Muir’s three seasons in charge at Durban, the Sharks finished fifth in 2006, first on the championship ladder a year later, and third in 2008, bowing out to McKenzie’s Waratahs in the semi-final at the SFS.
- While McKenzie and Muir return, Hurricanes coach Colin Cooper is at the other end of the spectrum, as he embarks on his eighth and final season at the helm. While still to win the title, Cooper has taken the ‘Canes to the 2006 final, as well as semi-finals in 2003, 2005, 2008 and last year.
A Coaching Centurion: Qantas Wallabies coach Robbie Deans finished his time in Super rugby as the only coach in the competition to have been in charge of a side in more than 100 matches. Deans was Crusaders coach between 2000 and 2008 and ended with an overall record on his watch of 120 matches played for 89 wins, 1 draw and just 30 defeats – a 74 percent success rate.
The Race to 1000
- Last year, Stirling Mortlock appeared certain to be the first Super Rugby player to surpass 1000 points, but the return of the Crusaders’ point-scoring machine Daniel Carter promises to at least make the ‘race’ interesting. After skipping last year in favour of a sojourn with French club Perpignan, Carter returns with 925 points alongside his name, and fourth position among Super Rugby’s all-time scorers. Expect him to keep climbing though, as the third-placed Matt Burke (959) and second-placed Andrew Mehrtens (990) will not be adding to their tallies. Mortlock can, and should beat Carter to the thousand, even if he is not goal-kicking for the Brumbies, given that he currently sits on 995 and can break four figures with the addition of a solitary try. Another ‘returnee’, Carlos Spencer, should also rise up the ladder; beginning his second ‘life’ in Super Rugby as a Lion with 608 career points alongside his name.
Approaching Australian Appearance Milestones
- Even if he plays in every match featuring the Brumbies (which he usually does!), George Smith won’t become the most capped player in Super Rugby – but he’ll finish the year fairly close. Smith starts his 11th Super Rugby campaign with 120 appearances, 16 behind the competition’s most capped player, ex-Brumbies and Wallaby captain George Gregan. Smith’s last 53 appearances have been consecutive after he played his first 66 in a row prior to missing the 2005 match against the Chiefs.
- Smith is one of five Australian ‘centurions’ who will be active in this year’s competition, with Phil Waugh (110) and Sean Hardman (112) already the most capped players in Super Rugby for the Waratahs and Reds respectively, while Stirling Mortlock (117) trails only Gregan and Smith at the Brumbies, last year eclipsing Stephen Larkham’s 116 appearances to become the franchise’s most capped back.
- Australia’s fifth centurion is Nathan Sharpe, whose 119 caps are spread across the Reds (70) and Western Force respectively. The Western Force skipper’s next match will be his 50th for the Perth-based side. He will be just the second player to a half century of games for the Force, behind hooker Tai McIsaac, who retired after achieving the milestone last year.
- Waugh last year became the third Waratah to 100 Super Rugby appearances following on from Chris Whitaker (107) and David Lyons (100), but this year should see the trio joined in the ‘100 club’ by Al Baxter. Australia’s most capped Wallaby Test prop has already played over 100 games for his state but he starts this year’s competition six appearances short of hoisting 100 for NSW in Super Rugby. Justin Harrison could also post a century, re-starting his Brumbies career with 90 previous Super rugby appearances to his name.
Approaching 50 Super Rugby Appearances
NSW Waratahs – Berrick Barnes (45), Dean Mumm (40), Kurtley Beale (37), Lachie Turner (36).
Brumbies – Adam Ashley-Cooper (49), Mitchell Chapman (47), Patrick Phibbs (44).
Queensland Reds – James Horwill (46), Greg Holmes (44), Digby Ioane (38). Quade Cooper (35).
Western Force – Chris O’Young (44), Matt Hodgson (43), Richard Brown (39), David Pocock (38), Ryan Cross (37).
