Defending champions Northern Bulls looked set for a home play-off after skipping five points clear at the top of rugby’s Super 14 standings this weekend.
The Bulls, chasing a third Southern Hemisphere championship title in four years, took charge in the second half to down the Sharks 27-19 in a South African derby in Pretoria on Saturday.
The Stormers are favourites to join the Bulls as play-off hosts after consolidating second place with a crushing 42-14 victory over the Canterbury Crusaders in Cape Town.
The Crusaders, Queensland Reds and New South Wales Waratahs all suffered weekend defeats to mark time and enable the ACT Brumbies and Wellington Hurricanes to close to within two points of the top four with two rounds left.
The Reds yet again left Canberra as losers, going down 32-13 to the Brumbies, while the Waratahs lost 26-10 to the Otago Highlanders in wintry Invercargill on Friday.
The Hurricanes stormed back into finals’ contention with a come from behind 33-27 win over the Waikato Chiefs in Wellington.
In the weekend’s other matches, Central Cheetahs ended the semifinal ambitions of New Zealand’s Auckland Blues with a 36-32 victory in Bloemfontein, while Western Force condemned Golden Lions to finishing last with a 33-12 win in Johannesburg.
The Bulls turned a 3-12 deficit midway through the first half into a 12-point win over the Sharks to move to 43 points.
The Bulls take on the Crusaders at home next weekend before a final round showdown with the Stormers in Cape Town on May 15.
It was another impressive performance from the defending champions against the Sharks, who had won their previous five games and were still in with a mathematical chance of reaching the play-offs.
The seven-time Super rugby champions Crusaders suffered their second consecutive loss against the Stormers to undermine their play-off hopes.
After turning five points ahead, Stormers overcame the half-time retirement of injured Springbok wing Bryan Habana to score three tries and move closer to a home semifinal.
Queensland Reds could not take advantage of the Crusaders’ defeat and went down to a fired-up Brumbies in Australia’s national capital.
It continued Queensland’s exasperating run of never having won in Canberra in Super rugby and extended their losing sequence against the Brumbies to 12 encounters.
The Brumbies, despite the recruitment of high-profile Wallabies Matt Giteau and Rocky Elsom this season, have struggled for application and cohesion but this time they were in a determined mood against the Reds.
The Highlanders put a big dent in the Waratahs’ semifinal ambitions with a shock win to keep the Sydneysiders in fifth place.
The Waratahs never got to grips with the cold wet conditions or the never-say-die spirit of the 12th-placed Highlanders.
The Hurricanes fought back from a 16-point deficit to snatch a vital bonus-point on full time over the Chiefs to keep their playoff hopes alive.
The Hurricanes were on the ropes after 30 minutes when they trailed the injury-ravaged Chiefs 8-24 before staging a dramatic recovery to continue their late surge up the ladder.
The lowly Cheetahs, who fell behind midway through the second half, came again to extinguish the Auckland Blues’ play-off chances.
While the Blues collected two bonus points, they are seven points off the fourth play-off place with just two rounds left. – AFP