/ 8 May 2011

Blues lead Super 15 as Crusaders beat Stormers

The Auckland Blues maintained their lead atop the Super 15 rugby standings with a 17-10 win over the Wellington Hurricanes in the 12th round of matches this weekend, as the injury toll continued to mount ahead of this year’s World Cup.

The derby matches between the Blues and Hurricanes and the Waikato Chiefs and Otago Highlanders — won 20-7 by the Chiefs — compounded the injury concerns for the All Blacks’ selectors with the World Cup only a few months away.

Meanwhile, the Canterbury Crusaders’ hard-fought win over the Cape Town-based Stormers was the best performance by a New Zealand team in the 12th round, although it also left the Crusaders ravaged by injuries.

The Queensland Reds are in second place overall and the Stormers are in third. Queensland and Auckland also lead their respective national conferences.

The Crusaders are fourth overall, the Durban-based Sharks are fifth after a 34-16 win over the ACT Brumbies and the New South Wales Waratahs are sixth after their 20-15 derby win over the Western Force.

Those top six teams occupy the play-off positions two-thirds of the way through the 18-match regular season. The top teams from each conference progress automatically to the play-offs and are joined by the next three teams on the table.

The Highlanders’ second straight loss to a New Zealand rival dropped them out of the top six for the first time this season, leaving them seventh but only a point behind the Waratahs.

All Blacks face injuries
The Pretoria-based Bulls and the Chiefs are in eighth and ninth places, respectively.

The All Blacks remain strong favourites to win the World Cup in New Zealand later this year but they face an increasing number of injuries due to the rough Super 15 season. Of the 29 players who took part in Tests in Britain at the end of last year, more than a dozen are now sidelined and several others have recently recovered from injuries.

The Crusaders were already without Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Ben Franks, Brad Thorn, Sam Whitelock and Andy Ellis before their match against the Stormers. Then, during the match, they lost four backline players to injury, including All Blacks fullback Israel Dagg and winger Sean Maitland, the tournament’s top try-scorer.

The Blues fielded a rearranged backline on Friday after losing inside centre Luke McAlister to an ankle injury and All Blacks fullback Isaia Toeava to a fractured hip socket.

All Blacks prop Tony Woodcock is also sidelined with a foot injury, lock Anthony Boric has a strained hamstring and flanker Jerome Kaino now seems in doubt with a neck problem.

The Blues have mastered the art of winning ugly this season, taking their last two derby matches against the Highlanders and Hurricanes by a total of 12 points, while scoring only one try.

Blues coach Pat Lam said he was confident his team could improve as the season continues.

“We’re in May and playing in New Zealand [in wet conditions], and we did a lot of preparation for this period,” he said. “We know we can play another style of game when the conditions suit.”

‘Worst game of the season’
The Chiefs kept their slim play-off chances alive with the win over the Highlanders. Second-half tries to halfback Brendon Leonard and flanker Liam Messam clinched the win after the Chiefs trailed 7-6 at halftime.

“We played our worst game of the season,” Otago coach Jamie Joseph said. “We were still in the show in the dying minutes and the fact that we never came away with the result was because there was a hungrier, more committed Chiefs side.”

The Crusaders showed their depth by beating the Stormers despite all of their injuries. All Blacks prop Wyatt Crockett scored two tries to give Canterbury the win.

“I think we stepped it up defensively,” Crockett said. “The Stormers threw everything at us but the defensive line was very strong. We knew we had to match the Stormers defensively.”

Queensland also lost several players to injury in its 33-18 win over the Melbourne Rebels. Center Mike Harris suffered a knee injury, winger Luke Morahan injured a collarbone and fullback Ben Lucas hurt his shoulder as the Reds won for the ninth time in 11 games.

Rebels coach Rod Macqueen said the Reds had the potential to win the tournament.

“Certainly, they are a team that can go all the way,” he said. “It is always good to see an Australian side in this position because, when the Wallabies have been successful at previous World Cups, one particular province has done really well.”

Replacement hooker John Ulugia scored the winning try as the Waratahs beat the Western Force.

“The boys really scraped that win and those wins are just so important in this competition,” Waratahs captain Dean Mumm said.

The Bloemfontein-based Cheetahs beat the Johannesburg-based Lions 53-19 in a South African derby while the Durban-based Sharks defeated the ACT Brumbies 34-16 after trailing 16-6 at halftime. – Sapa-AP