South Africa’s Western Stormers put the Western Force to the sword to remain the only unbeaten team after six rounds of the Super 15 series this weekend.
The Cape Town-based Stormers routed the Australian franchise 51-16 with six tries to secure their first bonus point of the season and jump to the top of the combined standings in the southern hemisphere provincial championship.
The Stormers lead Australia’s Queensland Reds by three points with another two points to New Zealand’s Auckland Blues.
Seven-time champions Canterbury Crusaders take on the Coastal Sharks at Twickenham in London later on Sunday.
The Reds thrashed bottom team Central Cheetahs 41-8 in Brisbane on Saturday to lead the Australian conference heading into a four-week tour of South Africa.
The Blues relied on three Luke McAlister penalties to edge out the Waikato Chiefs 16-13 in a New Zealand derby on Saturday.
The NSW Waratahs needed a try in the final seconds to squeak home 29-22 over the ACT Brumbies in Canberra to recharge their play-off hopes.
Two-time champions Northern Bulls completed a season double over neighbours Golden Lions with a 30-23 victory in Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
In the weekend’s remaining match, Melbourne Rebels bounced back from a 50-point demolition the previous week to hammer New Zealand’s Wellington Hurricanes 42-25 in Melbourne on Friday.
It all clicked for the Stormers after scoring just two tries in their first four matches as they smashed the Perth-based Force at Newlands.
They were off the mark through Jacque Fourie within 90 seconds and restricted the Force to just one try in reply in a dominant showing.
Queensland Reds continued their recent outstanding form by overwhelming the Cheetahs after putting the cleaners through the Rebels 53-3 at home the previous week.
Queensland were relentless and would have won by more had they not butchered at least three certain tries.
The Blues downed the Chiefs despite being outscored two tries to one and needed McAlister’s goalkicking in driving rain to put them top of the New Zealand conference ahead of the Crusaders who have a game to play.
The match in Canberra appeared headed for a draw before a try from replacement forward Sitaleki Timani stole a win for the Waratahs over the Brumbies.
With just seconds left Timani surged for the line and somehow evaded the the Brumbies defence to pinch victory.
The Bulls beat the Lions by four points in Johannesburg on the opening weekend and prevailed again to get back on the winning trail after two home losses.
It was the fifth defeat in six outings for the Lions under former All Blacks coach John Mitchell and once again basic errors cost them dearly.
In Melbourne, the Rebels stormed back from 17-0 down after as many minutes to inflict a six-tries-to-four morale-boosting win over the Hurricanes for their second home win in their inaugural season.
Their astonishing turnaround came after a 53-3 humiliation to the Queensland Reds the previous week. – AFP