Friday night free, and all over by seven on Saturday night. You don’t need to use a single pink ticket to get through this quarterfinal weekend!
Tank Lanning
On the menu:
Friday July 21
11h35 – Brumbies v Hurricanes, Canberra
Saturday July 22
09h35 – Crusaders v Highlanders, Christchurch
14h30 – Lions v Sharks, Johannesburg
17h00 – Stormers v Chiefs, Cape Town
A guaranteed a semi-finalist, and a sneaky second if the Stormers can make like they did in the pool stages! Not the worst result for a tricky 2017 …
An important “Meeting” on Friday morning that could accidentally end in a “Client lunch”, Saders on a spin bike to clear the head and earn the beers, Lions vs Sharks while the fire burns down, a quick round of nibbles before settling onto the coolerbox for the Stormers vs Chiefs game!
To see the weekend’s teams as they get announced, take in All Out Rugby’s Team Sheets.
My picks:
Hurricanes by 19
Crusaders by 11
Lions by 11
Chiefs by 9
What the Bookies say:
Hurricanes (1/5) over Brumbies (5/1)
Crusaders (5/11) over Highlanders (38/17)
Lions (1/7) over Sharks (7/1)
Chiefs (4/6) over Stormers (11/7)
The SuperBru Community picks:
Hurricanes by 13
Crusaders by 7
Lions by 12
Chiefs by 3
Like for almost every weekend this this year (a big part of the problems facing Super Rugby), the Bookies and Brus agree on all four quarter final results. Decisive in Canberra and Joburg they say, more than likely in Christchurch, but perhaps room for a cheeky upset in Cape Town.
I can’t fault them, I am afraid … The Brumbies don’t deserve to be there in the first place, the Crusaders will bring out their first rate “Scrum and smother” game to keep the Landers frustrated, and the Lions won’t be pissing about like they did last week.
I’d love to see the Stormers to “Upset” the Chiefs like they did at Newlands earlier in the year. It was an incredible game of rugby that required what was perhaps the pass of the season from Dillyn Leyds to notch up a “W” for the home side. Had that Hail-Mary pass not worked, a strangely off-kilter Chiefs side would have won. And that was then, before the Stormers had been on their tragic tour down under. Unlikely to be as open and entertaining, this will be a massive test for lightie Damien Willemse. Pass the test, and the Stormers might have a chance in front of what will no doubt be a massive crowd. Stumble, though – and Sam Cane is going to be all over him like a tight t-shirt – and the large contingent of Chiefs fans that will be part of that crowd, will be the ones celebrating a spot in the semis.
Below the current top 10 on the FRG leaderboard:
Nice work Kurajas. I am sitting at a lowly and embarrassing 310 out of 587 troops!!
Good luck out there.
