Super trooper

Supertrooper71 is in pole position in the rugby365 prediction challenge after the opening round of this year’s Super Rugby tournament.

With only two Australian derbies kicking off the campaign, the general consensus was that the home teams would come away with the spoils.

That’s exactly what happened as the Rebels saw off the Force 30-23 in Melbourne on Friday and the Brumbies brushed aside the Reds 24-6 in Canberra on Saturday.

The key was thus to focus on the margins of the victories to pick up the all-important bonus points for the correct or closets picks in the pool.    

Over 25 members of the 251-strong rugby365 challenge SuperBru pool hit the nail on the head by predicting a seven-point win for the Rebels and therefore each earned a quarter of the bonus point.

Supertrooper71, or Andre Ernstzen as his parents named him, had the Rebels winning by 20 points. He stuck with his 20-point strategy and it won him the yellow cap as it earned him the full bonus point ahead of Roelf and Dunx who had the Brumbies by 15.

Supertrooper71 heads the standings on 3.5 points with Fynsny a close second on 3 points and 22 players sharing third place on 2.75 points.

The race for the pool prize (a South African franchise jersey of the overall winner’s choice) will heat up in no uncertain terms when the first full round of seven matches kicks off on Friday.