South Africa’s Bulls surrendered their unbeaten record and fell from first to fourth place in the Super 14 rugby standings after a 36-12 seventh-round loss to the Otago Highlanders.
The Bulls, tournament leaders since their second-round win over the Auckland Blues, were replaced initially at the top by the New South Wales Waratahs, who beat the Blues 27-22 on Friday. The Waratahs were then overtaken by the Sharks, who beat the ACT Brumbies 35-14 and who now hold a three-point lead in first place at the midpoint of the regular season.
The Bulls dropped another place when the Waikato Chiefs beat the Queensland Reds 50-22 on Saturday, leaving the tournament with a substantially rearranged top four and with eight points between its first and eighth-placed teams.
The Highlanders overran the Bulls in the first half of the first Super 14 match to be played at a neutral venue within New Zealand.
Otago moved the match from their regular home ground at Dunedin on New Zealand’s South Island to Palmerston North in the central North Island, drawing a larger than usual crowd.
Helped by intense crowd support and first use of a strong wind, Otago opened a 21-5 lead by halftime and effectively clinched the match with the first try of the second half.
The Bulls struggled to impose themselves on the match physically and, put off their game by the wind, resorted to catch-up rugby after halftime which damaged their pattern and fluency.
”These guys [the Bulls] like to be big bullies and boss you around the field but our boys were up to that tonight,” Highlanders captain Jimmy Cowan said.
Highlanders coach Glenn More praised Cowan, the All Blacks halfback, as a key figure in a win which lifted Otago to sixth place on the table, keeping alive their play-off chances.
”Jimmy was awesome in all facets,” Moore said. ”We almost ruled him out today [with an ankle injury] but he was adamant he wanted to play.
The injury would have kept a lot of players out but he showed awesome backbone and a lot of courage.”
The Sharks have risen up the table steadily, winning three of four matches in Australia and New Zealand and now seem ready to capitalize
on a draw which has them at home for six of their last seven games.
They scored five tries to two on Saturday to overwhelm the Brumbies, after leading 14-7 at halftime.
”We came back from a really successful tour, and in the second half we put together some really good phases, applied the pressure and the tries came,” Sharks captain Johann Muller said. ”It’s a step in the right direction for us.”
The Chiefs won for the fourth straight week to move into third place, on equal points with the Bulls but with a superior points differential after scoring 113 points in their last two games.
All Blacks Mils Muliaina and Sitiveni Sivivatu each crossed for two of the Chiefs’ six tries against Queensland, giving winger Sivivatu six tries in his last two matches.
”It was pretty good. We were pretty hungry at the breakdown,” Muliaina said. ”We’ve got a bit of momentum now, got a few wins on the trot. We’ve got to home now and look forward to the Lions match.”
The Wellington Hurricanes moved into fifth place with a 38-32 win over the Lions in Johannesburg, rushing to a 17-0 lead, then trailing 25-24 before reviving with a late try to All Blacks centre Ma’a Nonu.
”We’re very disappointed because we gave away too many tries and made too many errors. In this competition you can’t afford to do that,” Hurricanes captain Rodney So’oialo said.
”[A highlight] was the fact that the boys didn’t give up. We were behind and turned around and scored those crucial two tries.”
The Canterbury Crusaders kept alive their chances of defending their Super 14 title with an ugly 11-7 win over the Stormers, landing a 77th-minute penalty for the only points of the second half.
”The Stormers were coming off a bye so they’ve had a long time to work up for this one,” Crusaders captain Kieran Read said.
”They came out really firing tonight. We had to combat that and really hold on. It was a scrappy win but we’ll take it.”
South Africa’s Cheetahs and the Perth, Australia-based Western Force had weekend byes. – Sapa-AP