Sports After Dark

On the heels of two tryless games and some woeful refereeing, the Super 14 is rapidly becoming the Average 14. After showing some signs of once again being the world’s premier club competition in Week 2, Week 3 saw a return to poor handling, clueless attack and awful decision making. The only improvement for most teams came from their defense with far fewer tackles being missed.

Hurricanes vs Brumbies
Going against the current trend of playing badly, the Hurricanes are one of the form teams so far in the Super 14. With good wins over the Chiefs and Blues in the last two weeks, the Hurricanes are brimming with confidence. The Brumbies, by contrast, bungled their way to an ugly win against the Reds and are yet to turn in a convincing win. Neither team has really put their opposition away this season with the Hurricanes’ largest winning margin being 7 points against the Chiefs, and the Brumbies’ 6 against the same Chiefs.

The only signifigant injury to come out of last week’s games for either team with to Brumbies’ centre Stirling Mortlock who was almost decapitated by a shocking tackle by the Reds’ Lloyd Johansen. Mortlock misses this game with a head injury.

While both teams have records of 2 wins and 1 loss, the Hurricanes are the team in better form and should carve up the Brumbies.

Highlanders vs Stormers
After three away games the Highlanders will finally play their first home game of the season. The Highlanders’ tour of Australia and South Africa can hardly be considered a successful one with their only win coming against the Force back in Week 1. The Stormers have also only registered one win this season, coming last week when they beat the Chiefs in Cape Town.

Only one man in the Highlanders squad is capable of turning around their season: Nick Evans, and he is yet to play a single game. But even without Evans the Highlanders should be more than a match for the Stormers, who traditionally do not play well away from home.

Blues vs Reds
Although the Blues lost their undefeated record last weekend, they are still clearly one of the best teams in the tournament. With former All Black Ben Atinga returning to the line up, the Blues already powerful back line got even better. The Reds, however, are a team in trouble. After a good first round win, the Reds have lost their last two outings, including the lowest scoring game in Super Rugby history last weekend. Added to the lack of form is the loss of key players, prop Greg Holmes to injury and Lloyd Johansen to suspension.

Last weekend saw the Reds on the wrong end of some poor refereeing, and coach Eddie Jones was fined A$10,000 for pointing this out. However, even without help from the referee the Blues have too much firepower for the Reds.

Force vs Lions
At the beginning of the season these two teams were picked to be fighting it out for last place. Both teams have 2 wins and 1 loss records and have beaten some tough opposition. Last weekend saw the Lions grind out a win over the defending champion Crusaders, while the Force continued their winning ways against a good Bulls team.

Oddly enough, the Force have never won a home game in Super 14 rugby, but with both teams making the long flight from South Africa to Perth this week, home advantage may not be a big advantage. Force winger Cameron Shepherd has been the find of the season so far, scoring all but 5 of the Force’s 30 points against the Bulls last weekend. Big money signing Matt Giteau is starting to slot in well at first five, despite it not being his prefered position.

The Lions are not quite as good as their record indicates, having beaten the struggling Highlanders and a below par Crusaders. The Force should finally score their first home win this weekend.

Bulls vs Chiefs
Even with the return of lock Keith Robinson and fringe All Black Sione Lauaki, the Chiefs’ semi finals hopes are all but gone. With no wins from three games, the Chiefs have been the biggest disappointment of the season so far. Poor decision making by key players and handling errors have all contributed to the Chiefs’ woes this season.

Poor decision making also featured in the Bulls’ loss to the Force last weekend. With 5 minutes to play Bulls’ captain Viktor Matfield inexplicably turned down three chances to level the scores, ultimately costing his team the match. However, Matfield will have learned from his error and will likely take every shot at goal offered. With the Bulls’ massive forward pack, dominating the out of sorts Chiefs will be easy and a comfortable win should get the Bulls’ season back on track.

Cheetahs vs Crusaders
Would the real Crusaders please stand up? The team who played last week against the Lions might have been wearing Crusaders’ shirts, but they played nothing like the Crusaders. The Crusaders’ stated goal for this three game tour of South Africa was to win at least two games, with next week’s opponent the unbeaten Sharks, a good win is vital for the defending champions.

In the first half of last week’s game the Cheetahs put the Waratahs to the sword, dominating every facet of the game, but then fell away in the second half. The Crusaders often win their games in the last quarter, so if they can stay close to the Cheetahs they are in with a chance. But if they play as badly as they did last week, the Cheetahs will score a big win. Fully deserving of their current second place on the table, the Cheetahs should deal to the out of sorts champs, but losing two in a row is not the Crusaders’ style. This game will most likely be decided by less than 5 points.

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• Super 14 Week 11 Preview
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• Super 14: Can the chasing pack claw their way into the top four?
• Super 14: Crunch time as semi finals loom
• Super 14 Week 14 Preview

The Super 14 Week 4 Preview by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.