Defending champions Northern Bulls have secured a home Super 14 play-off but six teams are vying for the remaining three semifinal spots in an intriguing final round after this weekend’s matches.
The Bulls moved to 47 points — eight clear at the top of the table — after a controversial late try gave them a 40-35 win over the Canterbury Crusaders to plunge the New Zealand seven-time champions to their third straight defeat.
Heading into next weekend’s final round, the Western Stormers are second on 39 points, one clear of New South Wales Waratahs. ACT Brumbies and Wellington Hurricanes have 37 points each with the Crusaders on 36 and the Queensland Reds two further adrift. All have a play-off chance.
Spicing up the final-round drama will be three games involving top-six head-to-heads with the Stormers hosting the Bulls, the Crusaders home to the Brumbies and the Hurricanes away to the Waratahs, while the Reds host the lowly Otago Highlanders.
The Stormers missed out locking up a home play-off when they crashed to the Coastal Sharks 20-14 in a South African derby in Durban on Saturday.
The Waratahs stormed into third place with a 46-19 demolition of the Waikato Chiefs in Hamilton, while the Brumbies claimed fourth spot after a 31-3 bonus point home victory over the Highlanders.
The Hurricanes went on a 31-point second half spree to thump the Reds 44-21.
There was controversy at Loftus Versfeld when the Crusaders claimed there was a knock-on before winger Francois Hougaard dived over for his second try of a thriller.
Springbok flyhalf and the tournament’s leading pointscorer Morne Steyn converted for a match tally of 25 points as the Bulls clinched their third home play-off in four seasons.
The Bulls wiped out a 10-point deficit to lead 24-19 at halftime and snatched victory with 14 men after winger Gerhard van den Heever was yellow carded by referee Marius Jonker six minutes from full-time for a spear tackle.
The Crusaders will now have to down the in-form Brumbies to make their 12th Super rugby semifinal in the past 13 seasons.
Out-of-contention Sharks shocked the Stormers, although the Stormers secured a potentially precious bonus point.
The Waratahs burst back into semifinal reckoning with a seven-try hammering of the Chiefs to ensure a bonus point.
By halftime they had a commanding 20-0 lead, showing no hangover from last week’s shock loss to the Highlanders, and while the Chiefs claimed three late tries the result was never in doubt.
The Brumbies gave Wallaby great George Smith a fitting home farewell and kept alive their play-off chances with a commanding win over the Highlanders.
Smith, playing his first match in seven weeks after shoulder problems in his final season before heading overseas, played an instrumental role as the two-time champions scored four tries to claim maximum points and move into the top four.
The Hurricanes dominated the second half against the Reds in Wellington.
It was the second consecutive week the Hurricanes have overturned a halftime deficit as they continued a remarkable end of season run of four straight wins to put a serious dent in the Reds’ hopes of making the play-offs.
In this weekend’s other games, the Golden Lions became the first Super 14 team to lose 12 consecutive games during a season with a second-half collapse triggering a 56-14 defeat by the Auckland Blues in Johannesburg.
The Central Cheetahs registered a convincing 29-14 win over Western Force in Bloemfontein. AFP