Super 14 highlights 2010 – Round 4: Part 2

09 March 2010 in Super 14 by Dooley

Part 2 – Saturday’s games:

Crusaders VS Blues: Since the inception of Super Rugby, these two teams have been at the top end of the spectrum. The two powerhouses of New Zealand rugby faced each other in the fist of Saturdays Super 14 games.

The Blues took an early lead off the (vastly improved from last week) boot of Stephen Brett, but the Crusaders drew first blood in the try scoring department after Dan Carter broke the Blues’ line and offloaded to Jarred Payne, who passed to Whitelock for the try.

My two cents worth:

Stephen Brett may have put his kicking boots on this round, but he continues to miss an alarmingly high amount of tackles, missing 4 against his former team mates.
Kurtis Haiu more than doubled anyone else in tackles for the Blues, with 19 on the night.
Dan Carter made 3 turnovers.
The moment of the match for me was when Ryan Crotty scored an intercept try from out of nowhere, very much against the run of play.
I was expecting more out of a game between such powerhouses of Super Rugby.

Crusaders VS Blues 2010 Highlights: [WRNrugbynews]

Scorecard:

I wonder when the IRB are going to send me that rule book, cause I'm not sure what the f$@k I'm doing here!

Waratahs VS Sharks: In yet another game marred by the referee and his absolutely kak decision making, the Sharks were robbed of a win against the Waratahs on Saturday.

The Sharks were down to 13 men early on through silly infringements after Jannie Du Plessis was caught out for a trip and Andy Goode entered a ruck from the side. The scores were locked at 6 all when the Waratahs took a line-out without the Sharks pitching up. Ryan Kankowski intercepted the Waratahs’ pass, stepped Drew Mitchell and then proceeded to burn both him and Berrick Barnes en route to the try line.

The Waratahs hit back minutes later with a try of their own, closing the gap in the scoreline and trailing by just one point. Then came another of many questionable decisions when Tom Carter was judged to have scored a try which looked like it was grounded short and then had a hand under the ball once it finally did cross the line.

But the kakest decision of them all, and probably one that overshadowed the whole weekend of rugby, came just minutes from half time when Waratahs replacement, Kurtley Beale, in what can only be described as a professional foul, tapped the pass down, between Stefan Terblanche and Ryan Kankowski, with the try line open and the try imminent.

My two cents worth:

Tom Carter was excellent on the night, running hard and crossing the gain line at every opportunity.
Janie Du Plessis is a Springbok and should know better than to get caught out for silly incidents like tripping.
Once again I refer to Law 10.2a, which refer to unfair play:

Intentionally Offending: A player must not intentionally infringe any Law of the Game, or play unfairly. The player who intentionally offends must be either admonished, or cautioned that a send off will result if the offence or a similar offence is committed, or sent off.

Sanction: Penalty kick

A penalty try must be awarded if the offence prevents a try that would probably otherwise
have been scored. A penalty try must be awarded if the offence prevents a try that would probably otherwise have been scored.

A player who prevents a try being scored through foul play must either be cautioned and temporarily suspended or sent off.

Then there was the incident of apparent obstruction at the death when the Sharks were camped on the Waratah’s line. I have watched the replay countless times and still have no idea where the obstruction occured.
All in all a Super Kak showing by referee Paul Marks!

Waratahs VS Sharks 2010 Highlights: [WRNrugbynews]

Scorecard:

Three strides to the try line

Stormers VS Highlanders: The Stormers faced up against the Highlanders in Saturday’s first game on South African soil. The men from Cape Town were desperate for a win after last week’s narrow defeat to the Brumbies, and came out guns blazing with the return of talismanic Stormers captain and Springbok, Schalk Burger, who went on to have one of his best performances in the blue jersey in quite some time.

Deon Fourie who replaced a sick and slightly injured Tiaan Liebenberg was one of the catalysts up front and opened the try scoring after just 15 minutes, in what was to be a Stormers only bonus point try scoring show.

The Highlanders tried hard to stay in the game, but couldn’t quite finish on their opportunities to score, and were held to a scoreless defeat by a Stormers team who were leaps and bounds better on the day.

My two cents worth:

Schalk Burger was amazing on the day, but might well find himself in hot water due to a “shove” on the referee, albeit a tiny one.
I would lie to see Jaque Fourie getting some more ball and showing the Newland’s faithful why he is arguably the best #13 in world rugby.
Michael Hobbs has had a great Super 14 season thus far, but was nowhere to be seen on Saturday.
Sireli Naqelevuki decided to play some rugby for a change. What a difference. Let’s just hope he keeps it up.
Did you see the look on Jimmy Cowan’s face after the Highlanders’ medical staff tried to put his finger back into joint…? Ouch!
Andries Bekker was absolutely amazing at line-out time.

Stormers VS Highlanders 2010 Highlights: [WRNrugbynews]

Scorecard:

: Out for 8 months with torn knee ligaments.

Cheetahs VS Hurricanes: The Cheetahs managed to score the second and last major upset of round 4 of the 2010 Super 14, when they ground out a well worked 28 – 12 win over the Hurricanes at Vodacom Park on Saturday.

The Cheetahs will be happy with the win, but it has cost them dearly in the process, losing Springbok flank, Heinrich Brussow to a knee injurywhich rule him out of rugby for the rest of the year.

The Hurricanes will be dsapointed with thedefeat which ended their winning streak in tis year’s competition and helped the Bulls remain ontop of the standing without even playing. That being said though, it was more the case of the Cheetahs being good on the night rather than the Hurricanes being so bad.

My two cents worth:

Ma’a Nonu needs to work on his discipline. He’s becoming quite at home in the sin bin these days.
Lionel Mapoe gained 116m with ball in hand and is maintaining his run from last year which saw him just miss out on Springbok selection.
Both teams were shocking on defense, with the Hurricanes missing 27 tackles, whilst the Cheetahs missed a staggering 37, but were able to use their opportunities better.