This was the eleventh weekend of the 2008 season of the Super 14 Rugby tournament, which is now well into the second half of the competition. These are the results of the matches played on the eleventh weekend, of the Super 14 Rugby Tournament, 2008.

The first match of the weekend, played on Friday morning, was between the Crusaders and the Blues, in Christchurch. The Crusaders really wanted this one and hung on to their lead from 12 – 7 at halftime, to win by 26 – 22. They made sure of the bonus point by scoring 4 tries. The Blues ran in 3 tries.

The second match, later on Friday morning, was the Brumbies and the Lions, in Canberra. The Brumbies were too strong for the beleaguered Lions and took this game by 28 – 21, after having led by 13 – 7 at the break. The Brumbies missed the bonus by scoring only 3 tries. The Lions also scored 3 tries.

The third match, and the first on Saturday, was the game between the Chiefs and the Reds, played in Hamilton. The Chiefs were far too strong for the Reds and won by 32 – 20. They were ahead at the break, by 24 – 3. They scored 4 tries, to grab the bonus point, while the Reds scored 3.

The next match, on Saturday morning, saw the Waratahs face the Sharks, in Sydney. Well, although he Sharks are my team, I’m embarrassed by the result. The lethargic Sharks were outplayed by the Waratahs and never looked any more than second rate. Thy have lost the advantage they had of a home semi. The Waratahs were ahead by only 3 – 0 at the break, but pulled ahead in the second half, to win by 25 – 10. They scored 4 tries, for a bonus point, while the Sharks could only manage 1 try.

The next Saturday match, in the afternoon, was between the Cheetahs and the Hurricanes. The venue was Kimberley. Although the Cheetahs are playing good rugby, they never really had any hometown advantage, as this match was played in a neutral stadium, at Kimberley. On the day the Hurricanes were superior and ran away with a victory of 38 – 10, after having led at halftime, by 21 – 10. The Hurricanes made sure of the bonus point, by scoring 6 tries to only 1 by the Cheetahs.

Next up, the last game of the weekend, late on Saturday afternoon, was the Stormers and the Highlanders, in Cape Town. The Stormers were the only successful South African team this weekend and beat the Highlanders by 26 – 16. They had been level, at 9 – 9 at halftime. The Stormers dotted down 2 tries, while the Highlanders managed just 1 try.

The Bulls and the Western Force had byes this weekend.

So, after the eleventh week of the competition, there are only 3 weeks left before the semi finals are played. At present, the log looks like this. This is the first time that the log shows all teams having played the same number of matches. See how close it is near the top? Total points, followed by games played.

Crusaders 43/10, Waratahs 36/10, Sharks 32/10, Chiefs 32/10, Hurricanes 31/10, Stomers 31/10, Brumbies 28/10, Blues 26/10, Force 24/10, Reds 16/10, Bulls 15/10, Highlanders 11/10, Cheetahs 11/10, Lions 8/10.

Time now to make those predictions! This is the first time that I remember it being so close. Several teams are in the running and it is all going to boil down to a mere point or two. The Crusaders look like the only team guaranteed a home semi, while the next 6 teams on the log have only 8 points between top and bottom. That makes me worry about my team, the Sharks, who never seem to earn bonus points. That could actually be their demise.

I will my neck out here and say that the top 6 teams and those that will have to fight it out for the playoffs are going to be: Crusaders 57, Hurricanes 43, Stormers 43, Chiefs 42, Sharks 41, and Waratahs 41, but it is going to be a very close finish.

Free Downloads

As with previous rugby fixtures and the World Cup, we have a downloadable fixture list and scoresheet for you. One has all the matches and spaces for you to fill in the results and the other is a log summary, which you can update each week. They are both in PDF format. Use these links. Save to your computer and then print them out.

http://www.dersalsites.com/freebies/super14fixtures.pdf

http://www.dersalsites.com/freebies/logsummary.pdf  

Derek Robson is a South African Internet marketer, with a vision of empowering all fellow South Africans and other non U.S folk, to have equal opportunity and success on the internet, by finding solutions to the many obstacles facing them. He is a syndicated article writer. He and his wife Sally, have started a string of sites, resources, courses and articles, as part of Dersalsites. For daily postings and articles, on Internet marketing, South African online business, list building, affiliate marketing, article marketing, blogging, seo, the law of attraction, rugby and other general topics, visit Derek at: http://dersalsites.com/southafricanbusiness/