Monday, 28 March 2011

SupeRugby Round 6 Recap:

With four teams winning with a score of 40 or more points if you didn't watch an interesting game of rugby this weekend you weren't watching SupeRugby! The Stormers put 51 points past the Force.The Crusaders and Rebels both stormed (sorry about that) to comprehensive victories over the Sharks and Hurricanes respectively. Both the Stormers and Crusaders have put themselves in great positions to qualify at the top of their conference this early.If they carry on playing like they have this past week nobody will argue that statement either.
Right, here we go...

  • The Rebels destroyed, and that is a nice way of describing the Hurricanes performance, their visitors from Otago on Friday by 42-25. It was an inspired performance and they are proving to be the most unpredictable team this year. Read my write up here.
  • The Reds brought the Cheetahs back to earth with a thump as they beat them 41-8. Quade Cooper is in sublime form and was clearly in the mood to show off his skills with no look passes and a crazy cross field kick-pass to Digby Ioane behind their own try line, which nearly resulted in a try for the Reds. 
  • The Chiefs lost a home derby versus the Blues in a rather uneventful game in terrible conditions. The game saw three tries with two going to the Chiefs. The Blues try came from makeshift centre Jared Payne who, I must say looks very comfortable at 13.
  • The Australian derby was between the ACT Brumbies and the NSW Waratahs which was won in the last move of the game by a try from Sitaleki Timani of the Waratahs. The game looked destined to be a draw but the Waratahs had different ideas. With the lead changing five times in 80 minutes you would expect it to be close. The Brumbies however didn't capitalise on Tom Carter's 64th minute yellow card, they only added 3 points off the boot of Matt Giteau.
  •  The Stormers finally slept well on Saturday evening after having played to their potential against the Force at Newlands. The Stormers more than doubled their tries scored this season in one game by running in six against the Australian franchise. A brace of tries from Deon Fourie & Jaque Fourie were sights for the sore eyes of the Newlands faithful. Jean de Villiers & Andries Bekker added 5 pointers too. James O'Connor was the only contributor for the Force with a try, conversion and three penalties.
  • The Bulls ran in three tries to the two of the Lions as they beat the visiting team by 30-23. The Bulls are still not firing on all cylinders and are not looking at all like the championship winning side that they were in 2010. The Bulls start the away leg of the tournament next week as they take on the down and out Hurricanes and will be looking to start the tour with a win.
  • By far the best game of the weekend (Rebels v Hurricanes came close) the Crusaders crushed the Sharks at Twickenham by 44-28. There were at total of nine tries scored of which five were scored by the Crusaders who are in the best from I have ever seen them in. An unbelievable display by Dan Carter , Sonny Bill Williams and Robert Fruean.The Sharks fought back valiantly but leaked too many points before half time. A mention must go to Tendai 'Beast' Mtawarira who was out there to prove a point and did. He scrummed well and was running like a backline player.
What a great weekend which saw the first ever SupeRugby game played outside of South Africa, Australia or New Zealand. Twickenham is the proud owner of the Northern Hemisphere's first ever glimpse of SupeRugby, and what a spectacle the Crusaders and Sharks put on.

Player of the Week: Tendai 'Beast' Mtawarira
Team of the Week: The Melbourne Rebels
WTF of the Week: Jacques -Louis Potgieter (He was just poor against the Crusaders)

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