This past week the lure of the World Cup diminished but I woke up to Proteas all at sea against spin in Sri Lankans, Tour de France cycling after work and Wimbledon tennis in between and after that.

Sorry Virgin Active I know summer bodies are made in winter but someone needs to stop these big sporting events taking place in July or you won’t be seeing much of me during this part of the year. I try and avoid the bathroom scale during these winter months but when I do happen to spot myself in the mirror I go for the - I am “bulking” during the “off season” excuse (yeh right!).

Of course apart from the cycling, cricket, tennis and soccer there is still a weekend of rugby to get through as well… On freaky Friday the 13th it was always going to be a preview of a potential knockout clash as the Chiefs hosted the Canes. The Chiefs were out the blocks in a flash yet again and charged into a 21-0 lead within the first half hour. The Hurricanes were able to save some face, and potentially win back some much-needed momentum, in the second half of the clash. These two will dust themselves off and go again this coming week. It promises to be a titanic battle in Wellington and the winner is arguably also the only team capable of stopping a crusade to yet another Super Rugby crown for the Crusaders.

In other Super Rugby newsthe Waratahs continued to show they are more up and down than your average ride at Disneyland. It honestly is a circus in the Tahs camp this season and the fact that they topped the Aus conference just shows the dismal place Australian rugby finds itself in at present. The Sydney faithful will be hoping for entertainment rather than embarrassment from their local clown shown when they take on the Highlanders for the right to move on in the competition. At their very best the Waratahs have a lethal backline and they will need to fire to have a chance against the New Zealand visitors.

A Rebels loss (despite a valiant effort in Dunedin) and a workmanlike win from the Sharks saw the South Africans sneak into eighth place as the biggest change/move of the weekend. The only problem for all Sharks fans is that the “reward” for winning is a trip to Christchurch. The defending champs have only been defeated by fellow Kiwi opponents over the past two season so when the Sharks line up next to their opponents challenge I see a picture in my mind of an old Mazda 323 (with a few dents and tires bald like slicks) head to head with a pristine Ferrari 458. Good luck guppies!

On the topic of the quarterfinals or knockouts one can’t help but mention the fact that there is something seriously wrong with the structure of Super Rugby at present. The competition started in February with 15 teams and five months later we still haven’t even halved the field. A top eight is unnecessary for such a long competition. In all honesty you probably could have stopped the tournament after two months and just slotted four Kiwi sides against each other to determine the best of the lot as the rest have just been nowhere close.

OMF MOMENT

The Crusaders scored a brilliant first phase try as the set-play from a lineout near the halfway saw them bring in the blindside winger who sliced his way through the defensive line and score a brilliant try – this truly is how rugby is meant to be played.

Yet my OMF Moment comes from another sport altogether. By no means the biggest tennis fan I only wait for the big matches at a few of the Grand slams to have a glance at. I did however catch the final set of Kevin Anderson and John Isner’s semi-final. It proved a much longer watch than I had expected but boy what an effort from both men. A special tip of the hat to big Kev. I gave him little chance of getting past the semi after his historic victory over the great Roger in the preceding match. Yet the South African showed very un-South African qualities of composure, temperament and good old heart and guts to get himself into the main event. SA Rugby and specifically SA Cricket can do worse than forgetting about the idea of getting head doctors and motivational specialist in to help the team when clearly someone like our very own big Kev or a Chad le Clos are more than capable of teaching these blokes a thing or two about getting the job done on the biggest stage.

WTF MOMENT

The Waratahs might have won the Australian Conference but at times against the Brumbies it seemed they were under the impression that they were in a touch rugby tournament as they hardly laid a hand on their opponents on defence. Kurtley Beale might be a magician with ball in hand but when it comes to having to try and stop opponents he is like Siegfried or Roy - he disappears!

It is often said that the value of one player is overestimated in sport, and especially rugby. Yet the Highlanders felt the absence of Ben Smith in a big way this past weekend. Replacement fullback Josh Ioane stepped up to kick a penalty kick to the corner and missed touch – TWICE. To put a cherry on top of his stinker he had a kick charged down for a Brumbies try. A WTF performance of note.

Who is Couch Critic?

Hein Diemont is the resident “Couch Critic” in the Goodforthegame Forum and he shares his weekly Super Rugby Blog the “Post Match Scuffle” or “PMS” with us.

In his blog Couch Critic channels his usual weekend swearing, ranting, cheering, whinging and bickering to the written word. Brutally honest opinions of how the Super Rugby action went down from his perspective – no punches pulled, it’s PMS time…

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You can follow Hein on Twitter @HDCouchCritic and he also posts his blogs on Word Press

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