Only the Bulls are certain of competing in this season’s play-offs as rugby’s Super 14 series builds to an exciting climax in next weekend’s final regular round of matches.
The Bulls climbed to the top of the southern hemisphere provincial championship standings on 42 points after a bonus-point 29-20 win over the Central Cheetahs in Pretoria on Saturday.
The Pretoria team is one point clear of New Zealand’s Waikato Chiefs (41), with fellow Kiwis, Wellington Hurricanes (39) and defending champions Canterbury Crusaders (37), filling out the top four with a round left to decide the semifinal lineup.
The Bulls, who are away to the Coastal Sharks next week, are five points clear of the fifth-placed ACT Brumbies, but are cushioned by a points differential of 57 over the Canberra side.
The Brumbies have a difficult final away match against the resurgent Chiefs next Friday.
The Chiefs leapfrogged the Hurricanes into second spot with a hard-fought 16-8 win over Wellington to join the Bulls as favourites to host this season’s play-offs.
The Crusaders kept alive their title defence with a crucial bonus point 32-12 win over the struggling Queensland Reds in Christchurch to improve to fourth ahead of their decisive away match against the Blues in Auckland next Saturday.
The Brumbies ended the Blues’ season hopes with a 37-15 victory in Canberra where Stirling Mortlock became the all-time leading Super 14 pointscorer.
The Sharks had a setback at home losing 16-12 to the NSW Waratahs, who joined the Durban outfit on 36 points, one point outside the top four ahead of the final weekend.
Australia’s Western Force dropped out of the finals’ reckoning after a controversial 25-24 loss to the Western Stormers in Cape Town, while the Golden Lions beat New Zealand’s Otago Highlanders 27-22 in a match of no finals’ bearing.
Bulls’ Springbok winger Bryan Habana scored an intercept try in the final moments to ensure victory over the Cheetahs.
It was a fiercely-contested clash between two of South Africa’s biggest rivals, with the Bulls securing their win late in the second half.
In Hamilton, flyhalf Stephen Donald scored all the Chiefs’ points as they knocked the Hurricanes off the top perch before a sell-out 25 000 crowd.
The Chiefs led 9-8 at half-time from three Donald penalties and struck the winning blow in the first minute after the restart when Donald stepped through three tackles to score and seal the outcome.
In Christchurch, the Crusaders always had the Reds’ measure with five tries.
Wallabies’ skipper Mortlock surpassed All Black great Andrew Mehrtens’ record of 990 by four points after scoring 12 in the Brumbies’ five tries to two bonus point victory over Auckland.
The Brumbies rebounded from trailing 10-6 at half-time to dominate the second half with five tries to finish the Blues’ play-off chances.
A blunder by Sharks fullback Stefan Terblanche gifted the Waratahs the try that earned victory in a drab encounter in Durban.
Terblanche misjudged a low grubber kick from centre Kurtley Beale and winger Peter Playford touched down 24 minutes into the second half.
While the sides still have a mathematical chance of making the semifinals, both crucially missed out on a much-needed bonus-point victory.
In a dramatic finish at Newlands, Force coaching staff raged at the assistant referees for not bringing the alleged obstruction of Force centre Ryan Cross by Dylan Des Fountain to the attention of South African referee Marius Jonker.
The incident occurred as Cross and his teammates tried to prevent full-back Joe Pietersen crossing for a 71st-minute try that centre Peter Grant converted to give Stormers a 25-17 advantage.
Force flyhalf Matt Giteau kept his team in the game with a try five minutes from full-time that he converted to leave just a point between the teams but time ran out for the Australians. – AFP
