This was the thirteenth weekend of the 2008 season of the Super 14 Rugby tournament, which is now almost over. In fact there is only 1 more weekend of the tournament and then it is into the semi finals. These are the results of the matches played on the thirteenth weekend, of the Super 14 Rugby Tournament, 2008. It’s getting really exciting now, with several teams in the running for the playoffs.

The first match of the weekend, played on Friday morning, was between the Hurricanes and the Force. The venue was Wellington. After having led by 10 - 3 at halftime, the Hurricanes went on to win by 21 – 10. They ran in 2 tries, to 1 by the Force.

The second match, on Friday evening, was the Bulls against the Brumbies, in Pretoria. The Bulls looked a better team, but have left it too late. They beat the Brumbies 29 – 17, after having led by 18 – 10 at halftime. The Bulls scored 3 tries and the Brumbies scored 2.

The third match, early on Saturday morning, was the game between the Highlanders and the Blues. This was played in Dunedin. The Blues ran wild over the luckless Highlanders and won by 40 – 15. They had led by 26 – 3 at the break. The Blues scored 5 tries and the Highlanders managed 2 tries.

The next match, also on Saturday morning, saw the Reds facing the Crusaders in Brisbane. The Crusaders are really in a class on their own. They are by far the best team. They never really annihilated the Reds, but won by 27 – 21 and scored 4 tries to make certain of 5 points. They were down 8 – 14 at halftime. The Reds scored 3 tries. 

The next Saturday match was between the Sharks and the Cheetahs, in Durban. Being back home and playing with a dry ball seems to have helped the Sharks. This was expected to be a humdinger, but the Sharks won easily, by 33 – 14, after having led by 14 – 7 at the break. The Sharks scored 5 tries for the much needed bonus point, while the Cheetahs scored only twice. The Sharks slipped up on kicking and could have claimed at least another 8 points.

The next Saturday match, later that afternoon, was between the Lions and the Chiefs. The venue was Johannesburg. The Chiefs were expected to thrash the Lions, but on the day managed to upset the Chiefs. The Lions won by 33 – 27, after having led by 17 – 13 at halftime. They both scored 3 tries.

Next up, the last game of the weekend, early on Saturday evening, was between the Stormers and the Waratahs, in Cape Town. It was a wet night and with the wet ball it was a closely contested battle. The Stormers trailed by 5 – 6 at halftime, but managed a draw at 13 – 13. The Stormers scored 2 tries and the Waratahs scored one.

There were no byes this weekend.

So, after the penultimate week of the competition, there is only 1 week left before the semi finals are played. At present, the log looks like this. See how close it is near the top? Total points, followed by games played.

This team is assured a semi final:
Crusaders 52/12,

These teams are all still in the running:
Hurricanes 40/12, Waratahs 39/12, Stormers 37/12, Sharks 37/12, Blues 36/12, Chiefs 34/12,

These teams are out of the running:
Brumbies 28/12, Force 28/12, Bulls 23/12, Reds 17/12, Highlanders 15/12, Cheetahs 13/12, Lions 12/12.

A couple of weeks ago, I stuck my neck out, by saying 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, with 6 teams jostling for 3 positions. So far I have been spot on, but the Blues have re-entered the fray.

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/  

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