2016 Highs & Lows

[rowan]

A memorable year for rugby. Not perfect, but 2/3 of my wishes for the season came true (listed 1st and 2nd below). All I want to see in 2017 is the Pumas finally beat the All Blacks (that was my 3rd wish for 2016).

Highs

Fiji win Olympic gold
Canes win Super Rugby (after 21 years of choking)
Jaguares in Super Rugby (esp. the win over the Lions)
Italy beats South Africa (first time)
Pumas beat South Africa (again)
Ireland beats All Blacks (after 111 years of trying)
Inaugural Americas (6 Nations) Rugby Championship
Brazil beats USA
Korea's amazing comeback win v. Chile
Uganda beats Zimbabwe (promoted to top division)
Georgia's unbeaten tour of the Pacific Islands
Turkey 45 Finland 12

Lows

Olympic 7s repechage final (Spain 21 Samoa 18 deep into stoppage time courtesy dodgy reffing)
Italy in the 6 Nations
Springboks' season
Turkey withdraws from ENC
Super Rugby format
Sunwolves in Super Rugby
Kings in Super Rugby
Collective Aussie failing in Super Rugby (4/5 in bottom 1/2 of the table)
North American rugby (national teams suck, winless on the Autumn tours)
Fiji 38 Japan 25 (Japan take a big step backwards)
Germany 24 Uruguay 21 (deep into stoppage time courtesy dodgy reffing)
2 recent deaths in Kenyan rugby (1 a spinal injury)

[Adder]

A memorable year for rugby. Not perfect, but 2/3 of my wishes for the season came true (listed 1st and 2nd below). All I want to see in 2017 is the Pumas finally beat the All Blacks (that was my 3rd wish for 2016).

Highs

Fiji win Olympic gold
Canes win Super Rugby (after 21 years of choking)
Jaguares in Super Rugby (esp. the win over the Lions)
Italy beats South Africa (first time)
Pumas beat South Africa (again)
Ireland beats All Blacks (after 111 years of trying)
Inaugural Americas (6 Nations) Rugby Championship
Brazil beats USA
Korea's amazing comeback win v. Chile
Uganda beats Zimbabwe (promoted to top division)
Georgia's unbeaten tour of the Pacific Islands
Turkey 45 Finland 12 The great Rugby nation of Finland
Saracens winning the Champions cup
England going undefeated (even though they didn't play the ABs)
Connacht Winning the Celtic League

Lows

Olympic 7s repechage final (Spain 21 Samoa 18 deep into stoppage time courtesy dodgy reffing)#rugbyvalues
Italy in the 6 Nations
Springboks' season
Turkey withdraws from ENC
Super Rugby format
Sunwolves in Super Rugby First season in Super Rugby was always going to be hard
Kings in Super Rugby
Collective Aussie failing in Super Rugby (4/5 in bottom 1/2 of the table)
North American rugby (national teams suck, winless on the Autumn tours)It's been a while
Fiji 38 Japan 25 (Japan take a big step backwards)They are about the same level as Fiji
Germany 24 Uruguay 21 (deep into stoppage time courtesy dodgy reffing)#rugbyvalues
2 recent deaths in Kenyan rugby (1 a spinal injury)
Gooesen Terrible behaviour with RC 92
Boudjellal-Lorennzetti and the top 14
France first part of the year display
Overuse of TMO

[Which Tyler]

Adder - you forgot Solomona (and Sale) giving Goosen the idea in the first place; not to mention Bruce Craig for giving everyone the idea that contracts are inconvenient pieces of paper, rather than commitments between clubs and players (though that would be for 2011, not 2016).

[rowan]

Aside from Argentina beating NZ, I hope Italy will win a game in the 6 Nations this year (preferably England for the first time), that Turkey will return to the ENC, and, naturally, the Canes repeat as Super Rugby champions.

[Adder]

My Positives for 2017:
All teams turn up for the 6 nations and make it a real contest.
Celtic League teams in the Final of Champions cup (and hopefully Glasgow).
French clubs stop playing soporific rugby
Pacific teams joins Super Rugby
Lions stand up to NZ and make it a nice tour(Scots get selected for Lions, not just as token players).

[rowan]

Pacific teams joining Super Rugby is not on the agenda for next year. I was looking more at plausible wishes, otherwise I could dump a truckload right here. I am pretty sure we will see changes to the Super Rugby format in 2018, however. I don't think anyone likes the current model, but by the time they figured that out it was already too late for 2017. & who knows what 2017 may bring? They'll be in a much better position to move forward once they are able to assess the 18-team format on the basis of two seasons. Personally I think they should go with 3 conferences of 6, with the Sunwolves joining the Aussie conference and the Jaguares joining NZ. That may be a tough ask for the South Americans, in terms of both opposition and travel, but imagine how much benefit it will be to them being involved in a Kiwi conference and playing All Blacks week in, week out. I'm sure they'd jump at the chance. Ultimately I'd like to see the Sunwolves replaced by a Pacific Islanders franchise, thus restoring the Southern Hemisphere geographical identity of the championship, but I don't think that will happen before the RWC as World Rugby itself pushed for Japanese inclusion in order to 'toughen them up' for 2019.