Obviously basketball has taken priority in my life and that is reflected on the website. I’ve missed posting the last two weeks of Super 14 Rugby results. While I doubt anyone was seriously troubled by this, here are the results from the past two weeks and the slate of games for this weekend with a brief analysis. Read it while you can because soon this post will get bumped by my pre-NCAA Tournament College Hoops Observations wherein I celebrate Duke’s ACC title and look at the bracket (spoiler: I love Western Kentucky chances).
Week 4 Results (as always, the home team is on the left):
Chiefs 31 v Western Force 13
Waratahs 15 v Reds 11
Hurricanes 29 v Cheetahs 12
Blues 31 v Sharks 35
Highlanders 6 v Crusaders 0
Bulls 14 v Stormers 10
(the Brumbies and Lions had byes)
Comments: The two biggest stories are that the Crusaders, who are the defending champs, got shut out. As good as they were last year is as bad as they are this year. Conversely, last year the Bulls broke with tradition and had a poor season. This year they’ve corrected whatever was wrong in ’08 to assert themselves as the best team in Super 14. The Stormers, who barely lost to the Bulls, are in dire straits and on the verge of firing their coach.
Week 5 Results:
Blues 46 v Cheetahs 12
Brumbies 21 v Waratahs 11
Crusaders 23 v Western Force 23
Highlanders 10 v Chiefs 14
Reds 25 v Sharks 13
Stormers 56 v Lions18
(the Hurricanes and Bulls had byes)
Comments: Coming off their bye week the Brumbies surprised the Waratahs, who until this week were undefeated. Western Force and the Crusaders put up the first tie of the season and given the Crusaders’ struggles of late perhaps Western Force should’ve won this one outright (although they did suffer a bunch of injuries during the game). The undefeated Sharks lost to a suddenly feisty Reds team. But the biggest story is that the Stormers gave up the first two scores of the game to the Lions and then proceeded to rally by racking up 56 points. This saved their coach’s job (for now) but the larger question is whether or not it saved their season. The Stormers now have to tour Australia and New Zealand. None of those away fixtures will be easy but the fact that they got a win plus a bonus point for scoring more than 4 tries puts them in a good spot to challenge for a playoff spot.
Week 6 Fixtures:
Hurricanes v Bulls
Highlanders v Cheetahs
Chiefs v Blues
Waratahs v Crusaders (a rematch of last year’s championship game)
Western Force v Sharks
Lions v Brumbies
(the Stormers and Reds have byes)
The Standings After Week 5
|
Team |
Nation |
P |
W |
L |
D |
PF |
PA |
PD |
Bp |
Ttl |
|
|
1. |
(SA) |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
122 |
65 |
57 |
2 |
18 |
|
|
2. |
(AU) |
5 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
97 |
77 |
20 |
2 |
18 |
|
|
3. |
(SA) |
5 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
115 |
96 |
19 |
1 |
17 |
|
|
4. |
(NZ) |
5 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
142 |
133 |
9 |
4 |
16 |
|
|
5. |
(NZ) |
4 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
103 |
79 |
24 |
2 |
14 |
|
|
6. |
(AU) |
4 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
88 |
83 |
5 |
1 |
13 |
|
|
7. |
(SA) |
5 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
116 |
90 |
26 |
4 |
12 |
|
|
8. |
(NZ) |
5 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
80 |
75 |
5 |
4 |
12 |
|
|
9. |
(AU) |
5 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
96 |
105 |
-9 |
2 |
12 |
|
|
10. |
(AU) |
5 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
102 |
91 |
11 |
3 |
11 |
|
|
11. |
(NZ) |
5 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
82 |
90 |
-8 |
4 |
10 |
|
|
12. |
(NZ) |
5 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
80 |
103 |
-23 |
4 |
8 |
|
|
13. |
(SA) |
4 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
71 |
125 |
-54 |
2 |
6 |
|
|
14. |
(SA) |
5 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
65 |
147 |
-82 |
2 |
2 |
