Well, well, well, so now we have 2 Kiwi teams, a S.A team and an Aussie team in the playoffs! This was the last weekend of round robin stages of the 2008 season of the Super 14 Rugby tournament, which is now almost over.

In fact, there are only the semi finals and finals left. Next week are the semis, then on May 31st, the finals will be played. Then the Super 14 Rugby Tournament of 2008 will be over and done with until next year.

These are the results of the matches played on the fourteenth and final weekend, of the Super 14 Rugby Tournament, 2008. Last week, we knew that the Crusaders were far enough ahead to ensure they were in the semi finals of this year’s Super 14 Rugby Tournament and another six teams were all close enough to win the remaining 3 spots.

The first match of the weekend, played on Friday morning, was between the Blues and the Hurricanes. The venue was Auckland. The Blues beat the Hurricanes 19 – 17, after having been down 16 – 17 at the break. The Blues only scored 1 try to 2 by the Hurricanes. The loss of the Hurricanes placed them in danger of missing the semi finals. 

The second match, on Friday afternoon, was the Force against the Brumbies, in Perth. Again, this turned out to be somewhat of an upset, with the Force wining by 29 – 22. They had trailed by 29 – 22 at the break, but fought back valiantly, to take the win. Both teams scored 4 tries, but neither could make it to the semis.

The third match of the weekend was between the Crusaders and the Highlanders. This match was played in Christchurch, on Saturday morning. The Crusaders were the only team assured of a home semi, no matter what, and it looked like they took the day off and absorbed a loss to the Highlanders, of all teams! A bit like David and Goliath, but anyhow, it made no difference to the standings. The Highlanders won by 26 – 14, after having led at the beak, by 23 – 14. They scored 3 tries, while the Crusaders only scored once.

The fourth match, played on Saturday morning, was the game between the Reds and the Waratahs. This was played in Brisbane. The Waratahs had a healthy lead of 12 – 3 at halftime, but battled a bit to hold the Reds back and had o fight for a win of 18 – 11. The Waratahs scored 2 tries and the Reds only managed 1. The Waratahs had hoped for 5 points, but still jumped to second spot, on 43 points.

The next match, on Saturday afternoon, saw the Lions facing the Stormers in Johannesburg. The Lions put up a brave fight and it looked like they might even have caused an upset, but the Stormers found their feet and secured the win, by 22 – 13. The Stormers were only 8 – 0 at the break and then sat on 8 – 8 for a while, before waking up. They limped into 4th spot, but never really did enough to cement their placing.

The next Saturday match, played early evening, was between the Cheetahs and the Bulls, in Bloemfontein. This match would never have any bearing on the semi finals and was more of a local derby. The Cheetahs fought valiantly and at the end of the first half, they trailed by only 17 – 18, but the Bulls had a far better second half and ran wild, to win by 60 – 20. The Bulls ran in 8 tries, to 3 by the Cheetahs.

The next Saturday match, later that evening, and the last in the build up to the playoffs, was between the Sharks and the Chiefs. The venue was Durban. Because it was the last game and because either team could cause a change to the semi standings, it became the focus of every rugby enthusiast and a high pressure match was expected. The Chiefs had nothing really to gain by winning, except to deny the Sharks a chance. The Sharks were under terrific pressure and knew they had to secure a win. In fact they had to get 5 points, or win by a margin of 18, or more, to claim a berth in the top 4.They did both. The Sharks won by 47 – 25 and claimed a bonus point. They had led by 21 – 8 at the break and managed 7 tries. The Chiefs scored 3 tries. Thus the Sharks leapfrogged both the Hurricanes and the Stormers, to grab 3rd spot, just behind  the Waratahs
 
There were no byes this weekend. This brings to a close the weekly derbies we love so much and in 2 weeks time, the Super 14 Rugby Tournament 2008, will be all over.

So, now the semi finals are to be played. We know that the top 4 teams are the Crusaders, the Waratahs, the Sharks and the Hurricanes.

At present, the log looks like this. See how close it is near the top? Total points, followed by games played.

Crusaders 52/13, Waratahs 43/13, Sharks 42/13, Hurricanes 41/13

These teams play next weekend in the semi finals of the Super 14.
1 plays 4 : Crusaders vs. Hurricanes, in Canterbury
2 plays 3 : Waratahs vs, Sharks, in Perth

These teams failed to make it to the playoffs:
Stormers 41/13, Blues 40/13, Chiefs 34/13, Force 33/13, Brumbies 30/12, Bulls 28/13, Highlanders 19/13, Reds 18/13, Cheetahs 13/13, Lions 12/12.

Midway, I stuck my neck out, by saying that the top 6 teams and those that would have to fight it out for the playoffs would 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. Not bad, hey? Okay, I expected the Crusaders to grab 5 points over the Highlanders!

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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