WXV Mid-Season

[My Chumps]

Cape Town

Current position: 10th, 4-4

Best Win: Round 8 victory of rival Cairo Sands was a huge result, and evened the ledger for Cape Town.

Worst Loss: The round 6 loss against New Delhi was clearly the most costly, though a loss to New York and a missed opportunity against Dublin also rates.

The story: Cape Town have been up-and-down all year, and seem far from the side that made the finals the last 2 years. The big story was a couple of coaching infringements that saw them lose a point. Still hope though, at a 4-4, and the return of ruckman Zac Smith.

Remaining fixture: Have a couple of big matches to come against Mexico City and Sao Paulo, challenging matches against Seoul, London, Toronto, Moscow and PNL, and matches they should win against Wellington and Pacific. It is a tough draw, but if they are good enough, they can do it.

Those losses will end up costing me I bet. Need to win at least 3 of those games against London, Toronto, Moscow and PNL, or get an upset over City or Sao Paulo.

Zach Smith back should definitely help. Even if he only averages 70 from here out, it's probably at least an extra 20 valuable points.

[ossie85]

Tokyo

Current position: 12th, 3-5

Best Win: Round 4 Tokyo notched up 152, led largely by two debutants in Lloyd and Gleeson, and shocked the highly rated Dublin Destroyers. Tokyo showed they can beat anyone on its day!

Worst Loss: Went down to Pacific away on Home Ground Advantage, which could prove the difference between a shock finals appearance and not.

The story: Really hard to get a read on this team, with players like Kieran Jack, and the 3 Lukes (Parker, Dahlhaus and Shuey) playing particularly well. They have scored post 150, and sub 120! Sam Mitchell's injury hurts though, but Kurt Tippett back is a bonus!

Remaining fixture: The next 5 weeks are crucial to the Samurai, as they face off against 5 tough teams in Toronto, Sao Paulo, Moscow, Berlin and Buenos Aires. If they are any chance to make the finals, they will need to win at least 3 of those (bringing them to 6-7), and they meed need to win there final 4 (New York, Beijing, PNL and Seoul) which will also be difficult. Unfortunately I don't think Tokyo will be able to do it.

[kilbluff1985]

thanks ossie

injuries being the key word would be nice to see how we would be going with Henderson, Ibbotson and Judd just have not been able to put our best XV on the field which is really annoying

one thing i'm happy with is our drafting most of the guys have played or going to play

Tom Derickx
Patrick Ambrose
Sam Lloyd
Anthony Miles

will be wanting to promote 3 rookies come draft time

[ossie85]

Toronto

Current position: 13th, 3-5

Best Win: Round 6 Toronto had a do or die match against the PNL Reindeers, a loss would have seen them in the near impossible position of 1-5. But they came out strong with a 158-149 victory!

Worst Loss: Hard to go past the Round 1 shocker against Moscow, a 112 from a team that had made the last 2 finals series is not the kind of tone they wanted to be setting.

The story: Started the year with 0-4 record, and although that was a terrible start, they did play 4 very good teams (all currently in the top 7), before recovering well over the last few weeks to be at 3-5 and still a chance of finals football. Scott Pendlebury his usual awesome self, and Ryder has been solid, but the others have been touch and go.

Remaining fixture: Toronto are still in finals contention - they play only 2 current top 8 sides in the final 9 rounds (Seoul and Mexico City). However, they still might need to find 7 wins to give themselves the best shot of finals. It is tough, but not impossible.

[ossie85]

Wellington

Current position: 18th, 1-7

Best Win: Only the 1 win this year, but it was a big upset, edging out Cairo 123 to 121. But this game was more about Cairo being bad than Wellington being good.

Worst Loss: Some pretty poor performances to choose from really, and they've been scoring pretty lowly consistently, but the ugliness of the 47 point loss to Dublin in Round 3 showed they'd struggle to be competitive.

The story: Wellington has averaged only 118, with a high score of only 125. Wellington have disappointed in its stalled improvement, and look to be the favourite for a 2nd Wooden Spoon. Murphy has been solid, as has stalwart Lenny Hayes, but big recruit Brett Deledio (who they traded #1 pick for) has struggled with fitness. Good to see HMac on the park, and they need to promote Adam Schneider as soon as possible.

Remaining fixture: The best they can hope for is to avoid the wooden spoon, and they will likely need to win at least 2 matches and hope results go their way. Best chances of winning come against Pacific (in Round 9) and New Delhi (in Round 17), but in between that they play quality teams that would require a big upset to win.

[Master Q]

Beijing

Current position: 17th, 2-6

Best Win: Round 4 victory over Seoul the highlight, with the Magpies a shot at the finals this year, this showed Beijing's increased competitiveness this year.

Worst Loss: Round 5 loss to Toronto, not so much the loss, but the way they lost - it was the Thunder of old.

The story: Matt Kreuzer's injury and Harry Taylor's poor form has hurt Thunder this year, but huge positives coming from Oli Wines, Cale Hooker and James Aish.

Remaining fixture: Last 9 matches features games against 3 of the top 4, and only 1 of the bottom 4. New Delhi's its best chance to notch a win in Round 14, and maybe New York in Round 10, but I can't see Beijing winning more than 4 games.

Q/Toga - what are your thoughts?

Great thread Os, only saw it now.

A few let downs for us this year but most of the guys who were expected to lift SC wise have this year. Caddy's injury was a shame too, hope to see him back as soon as possible as he a future star for us. Would like to see a few more wins this year, all building up to the next few years where we could push for the 8.