Charles Darwin’s picks: Super Rugby Round 3

  • Breaking
  • 27/02/2013

Determining a winner in Super Rugby can be equated to one of the great evolutionary theories - Survival of the Fittest.

With that in mind, Darwin's work has been applied to the rugby pitch, pitting the team monikers against each other to find who is tops in the rugby food chain and Super Rugby week-in and week-out. Darwin's skipped the first two rounds as this has been an evolutionary thing.

Here’s the picks for Round 3:

Blues v Crusaders

The pressing question in finding a winner for Friday night’s clash at Eden Park is simple: what exactly is a Blue? There's the St Louis Blues in ice hockey's NHL, named after the American city's affection for the music genre. But for Auckland and the northern provinces, are we just talking about the colour, the surrounding ocean or last season?

But after a successful start to the season Darwin will go with the area's splendid nautical features.

Up against a horde of religious zealots that brought down empires who travelled mainly on horseback, the Blues home advantage could leave the Crusaders bogged down and their reach restricted. With that in mind, Darwin’s picking the Blues.

  • Darwin picks: Blues.

Reds v Hurricanes

The same theory applies to the Reds.

The Queensland team is represented by a koala on their jersey, but we're going to go with the climate and oppressive heat being the red in question. In that environment, how will the Hurricanes cope?

If recent events are anything to go by, a good hurricane can be devastating to the Brisbane region, and could even morph into a spectacular tropical storm. Darwin’s backing the Hurricanes to swamp the Reds.

  • Darwin picks: Hurricanes

Chiefs v Cheetahs

The phrase might say that "too many chiefs" can cause problems, but the Chiefs turned that expression on its head last season with two captains holding aloft the trophy.

Against the fastest land animal on the planet, the Chiefs will need all hands on deck. Home advantage will count for little against the lightning fast felines, but evolution has shown us that over time a lack of opposable thumbs has really held back the development of the big cats.

Darwin’s money is on the Chiefs to be sporting cheetah-skins at full time.

  • Darwin picks: Chiefs

Warratahs v Rebels

A warratah is large shrub found in south eastern Australia. Not poisonous, no thorns, generally not very menacing at all, particularly against a team of rebels.

Although, rebels have a tendency to come out second best to the establishment, without any real defence to speak and nothing to be gained from playing at home, Darwin backs the Rebels, and suggests this is going to be a long season for the Warratahs.

  • Darwin picks: Rebels

Bulls v Force

Playing at home will be the key to victory for the Bulls.

Darwin’s interpreting the Force's name to represent the Fremantle Doctor, the sea breeze that rolls in to the Western Australian city late in the day. Pretoria is a long way from the coastline, meaning the Doctor will have little effect on rampaging bulls, other than bring some relief to the late summer temperatures.

  • Darwin picks: Bulls.

Sharks v Stormers

The shark is the ocean’s great predator - the top of the underwater food chain. And from below the waves, it's hard to see anything the Stormers can whip up causing the big biters any real problems.

But even if the Stormers manage to knock around the Sharks a little, it's still going to be greater than anything a great white could inflict on a storm. Darwin’s going with the Stormers to prevail.

  • Darwin picks: Stormers.

3 News

source: newshub archive