Week Ten in the Super 14 was strange in that there were five blowouts in the six matches but somehow that didn't diminish the entertainment value of the incredible rugby being played. I guess what made the round different from earlier ones where the scorelines were similarly disparate was the quality of the effort from both the winners and the
losers. That can only mean one thing - the intensity brought on by the battle for playoff spots is getting ready to explode in some amazing contests over the next month!




The weekend kicked off with the Blues and Cheetahs in Auckland on Friday night. The Cheetahs needed a win to stay in the race and the Blues were trying to put some distance between themselves and the rest of the chasing pack. Even though they thoroughly dominated the match, the one thing the Blues didn't accomplish was a bonus point for scoring four tries - which may come back to haunt them at the end of the campaign when semifinal places are determined.


Next up was the Highlanders and the Chiefs in Queenstown. Both these sides were fighting to maintain legitimate playoff hope and it was the Chiefs who emerged victorious. This was the most fiercely contested match of the round and featured a bunch of thrilling tries.

Follow up:

The third fixture featured the Crusaders and the Force in Christchurch in what promised to be a relatively close one for at least a few minutes until the home side set about totally dismantling John Mitchell's side.
Man of the Match Ross Filipo scored a hat-trick and played one of the best individual matches of the year by a New Zealand lock. There was one scary moment when Brendan Cannon was stretchered from the pitch but it turned out that the move was simply precautionary and he's fine.


Game four of Week Ten was another blowout with the Sharks crushing the Reds in Brisbane. The South African visitors scored nine tries at Suncorp and even though the score was reasonable at halftime, the Reds never looked like beating them. The big win was needed by the Sharks after two consecutive losses and will have a huge confidence building effect on them as they head over to Auckland to take on the competition leading Blues.


The Stormers put in their best performance of the year versus the Lions in Cape Town and in the process ended the Lions playoff chances while giving themselves the slightest glimmer of hope. The Stormers loosies finally looked as good as expected -especially Schalk Burger - which won't necessarily help them this year but is good news for the Springboks! The postseason hopefuls the Stormers have left on their schedule (Blues, Sharks) will be much warier after watching that display at Newlands.


The capper to the weekend was an Easter Sunday fixture in Canberra between the Brumbies and the Waratahs. The visitors showed that their strong outing against the Crusaders last week in Sydney was indeed a fluke and that only the Reds' considerable inadequacies are going to prevent them from taking the wooden spoon. The Brumbies on the other hand are definitely for real and will benefit greatly from their upcoming bye with Stirling Mortlock a possible returnee in Week Twelve when they take on the Force.



Source: Matthew Brown, The Rugby Channel