New Zealand sides Canterbury and Wellington joined New South Wales in the Super 12 rugby semifinals on Saturday, and South Africa’s Bulls moved into fourth place with destiny in their hands.
The Canterbury Crusaders — perennial semifinalists — downed the Otago Highlanders 27-13, the Wellington Hurricanes clinched a berth with Otago’s home loss in Dunedin, and the Bulls won their fifth straight, 23-17 over the cellar-dwellar Sharks.
Also on Saturday, the defending champion ACT Brumbies and Waikato Chiefs ended each other’s slim playoff hopes in a 28-28 draw, and the Stormers beat the Cats 25-20 at Cape Town to end a three-loss streak.
Super 12-leading New South Wales clinched a home semifinal on Friday with a 27-8 win over archrival Queensland — the Waratahs’ first defeat of the Reds in 10 Super 12 matches.
In next weekend’s final round, second-place Canterbury and third-place Wellington meet and will determine which team gets the home semifinal on the weekend of May 20-21. The Bulls will nail the final playoff berth if they beat the Stormers at Pretoria.
If the Bulls slip up, Otago or 2003 champion Auckland could slide in.
At Dunedin, All Blacks centre Aaron Mauger scored two tries to spark the Crusaders to the derby victory. Mauger’s first, in the 45th minute, was disputed and might have made the match controversial. But his second, four minutes from fulltime, secured the result, denying the Highlanders an important bonus point.
”We’re delighted to get away from here with a win,” said Crusaders coach Robbie Deans.
”There’s a lot of pride in this Highlanders team, they’ve had a good year, they threw everything at us and created a lot of stress. We got four points, essentially, and that’s what we came here to get. That gives us a guaranteed semifinal and from that anything’s possible.”
The Highlanders scored the only try of a tight first half, through winger Hayden Petersen who swooped on a wayward pass from Crusaders halfback Justin Marshall and scored in the left corner.
All Blacks flyhalf Daniel Carter kicked two penalties, the first of his five successful kicks at goal, to narrow the lead to 7-6 at halftime.
Mauger then scored the disputed try by pouncing on a kick into the in-goal, but television replays suggested Highlanders winger Anthony Tuitavake won the race to the ball. Marshall broke from a lineout to score the Crusaders’ second try in the 54th, and Mauger split the Highlanders’ midfield defence to make the game safe close to fulltime.
Worrying for Otago was seeing captain Anton Oliver, the All Blacks hooker, hobbling off after 30 minutes with a calf muscle injury, and Tuitavake leaving in the second half with a hurt shoulder.
The Bulls rallied from 17-10 down at halftime in Durban to shut out the Sharks 23-17 and continue a remarkable revival since midseason.
Hooker Gary Botha scored the match-winning try two minutes from time, off a rolling maul from a lineout.
The Sharks dominated up front at home in the first half, but the Bulls, the only South African franchise to emerge as a playoff contender, lifted their game after the break, and scored a 60th-minute try through lock Victor Matfield. However, the Sharks claimed referee Shaun Veldsman impeded them in the move.
Veldsman gave the Bulls a penalty try in the first half when winger Bryan Habana was chasing his kick and tackled without the ball five metres from the line.
At Canberra, ACT’s Owen Finegan scored a try in his 91st and last appearance for the Brumbies. Finegan will join English side Newcastle on a two-year contract.
Waikato trailed 28-14 with 20 minutes to go, but a stirring comeback by the Chiefs left both sides even. However, Waikato scrumhalf Byron Kelleher limped off after 30 minutes with a groin injury, a cause of concern for the All Blacks coaches.
Winger Breyton Paulse couldn’t give the Newlands Stadium faithful a fitting farewell with a try, but his Stormers overturned a 13-0 deficit at halftime to beat the Cats 25-20.
Paulse, leaving for France, had some chances, but the try-scorers were all inside him, with prop Eddie Andrews, Gus Theron and Jean de Villiers touching down and Gaffie du Toit making it safe with his second penalty two minutes from time.
On Friday, Wellington beat Auckland 22-10 for the first time in the 10-year-old competition. – Sapa-AP