NEW YORK, NY – The first regular season round of Super Rugby 2017 is upon us and if you weren’t aware, that’s ok, your not alone. The season is long these days that a lot of fans are cool to the touch for the start of the season. They wait until the midway point to warm up. This season though you have a British & Irish Lions tour during the season to distract New Zealand teams, so anything can happen. You can check out our preview of the season by clicking here. The New Zealand conference remaisn the most brutal with the Africa Conferences the softest, but that is all relative as the vast majority of the games will be a tug of war, so there will be no games off. Let’s look at the Week 1 match-ups.
Rebels v Blues – The Blues have yet to win in Melborne but the way this match lines up, it is likely that the Blues will be a little too powerful for the Rebels in this one.
Sunwolves v Hurricanes – One way traffic is the best way to describe this match-up. The Hurricanes get an extra pre-season game but with more intensity as they will dominate this match.
Crusaders v Brumbies – Two proud franchises going through so changes so it is tough to guess but the Brumbies have steadiness in the coaching chair so edge goes to them.
Waratahs v Force – The Waratahs are set to win this one. On paper everything is in their favor. An intra-country derby match is always hard to figure out but this is not as big as some of the others.
Cheetahs v Lions – The Cheetahs have improved but theya re still nowhere near the Lions level. Without a doubt the Lions will win this one going away.
Kings v Jaguares – This is an ugly match-up. The Jaguares almost won last season despite losing two men to a red card. They keep all 15 on the field this time and get a win on the road.
Stormers v Bulls – This will be the match of the round without a doubt. The winner gets to set the tone in the Africa Conference 1. The edge goes to the Stormers because they seem to have just enough extra fire power to make a difference when it is needed.
That’s all for now, please feel free to comment below, look for and “Like” our Facebook Rugby Wrap Up Page and follow us on Twitter@: @RugbyWrapUp, @Junoir Blaber, @MeetTheMatts, @Luke Bienstock, @Ronan Nelson, @Brian C Cole and @Declan Yeats.
And as always, stay low and keep pumping those legs.
