The Crusaders adapted best to the conditions to beat the Chiefs 26-19 in a tense Super 14 rugby clash here Friday.
With the wind behind them and a dry ground, the Crusaders ensured the game was played at a frenetic pace in the first half and turned with a 23-16 lead as they outscored the Chiefs two tries to one.
But when the rain came down at halftime, and the Crusaders faced the wind, they switched to a dogged pick-and-drive style as they slugged out the final 40 minutes in which the only rewards were a penalty apiece.
The Waratahs ran in 11 tries to thrash the Lions 73-12 at the Sydney Football Stadium on Friday.
The hosts fired on all cylinders as they outclassed a sorry-looking Lions side who have now lost five in a row. Drew Mitchell scored four tries, Lachie Turner and Josh Holmes both got braces while Wycliff Palu, Dean Mumm and Tom Carter also got in on the act.
The Brumbies managed to scrape past the Sharks for a narrow win in Canberra on Saturday.
For the second time in the week there was heartbreak for the Sharks as they fought all the way to death when a Matt Giteau penalty snatched back the lead to hand the home side victory.
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The Lions suffered their second successive defeat in Australasia when they went down 24-13 to the Brumbies in Canberra on Friday.
The wet conditions made for a forwards battle which the Brumbies’ all-Wallaby pack dominated. The Lions had very little possession to speak of and never really troubled the Brumbies on the scoreboard.
Flyhalf Daniel Carter won a goalkicking duel with former teammate Stephen Brett to lead the Crusaders to a 33-20 win over the Blues in Super 14 rugby Saturday.
Carter kicked seven goals from seven attempts - three conversions and four penalties - for 18 points to steer the seven-time champions to their third win in four matches.
Brett, in his first match for Auckland against his former team, kicked four penalties and a dropped goal for 15 points. Canterbury scored tries through flanker George Whitelock plus centres Ryan Crotty and Robbie Fruean, while Auckland had a late try by halfback Alby Mathewson.
Referee Paul Marks denied the Sharks a penalty try at the death to gift the Waratahs a four point win in controversial circumstances in Sydney on Saturday.
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It appears that Sharks coach John Plumtree will be sacked if they don’t have success on their Super 14 tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Even the support from the Sharks’ rugby bosses appears lukewarm after the team lost their first three matches in this year’s competition.
It was reported this week that Sharks coach John Plumtree was not prepared to comment when he was asked whether the coach’s job is safe.
And, to make things worse, the Waratahs have stated that they will have no mercy for the struggling Sharks in Sydney on Saturday.
The Sharks have a poor record in Sydney. The last time that they won there was in 2000.
Of the eight games they have played there against the Waratahs, they have won only two.
“It’s sometimes a case that a team full of champion players like the Sharks aren’t a champion team,” Waratahs prop Al Baxter told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Waratahs coach Chris Hickey said that he realised how dangerous a wounded side like the Sharks could be.
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The Vodacom Bulls continued their impressive title defence in the Vodacom Super 14 following their 48-38 victory over the Waratahs at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The victory by the Pretoria outfit was the only successful South African result after the Vodacom Cheetahs (24-31), Vodacom Stormers (19-17), the Auto & General Lions (33-18) and the Sharks (35-6) all conceded defeats this weekend.
Vodacom Bulls winger Francois Hougaard scored a brace of tries while Stephan Dippenaar, Gerhard van den Heever, Wynand Olivier and Jacques-Louis Potgieter all added five-pointers for the hosts.
The Waratahs though secured a bonus point for losing within seven of the Pretoria side. The defeat ensured that the Sydney franchise ended round three in eleventh position, while the Vodacom Bulls continued their dominance at the top of the log.
In Bloemfontein the Highlanders continued their undefeated run over the hosts in Bloemfontein on Saturday. The Otago side has now also won their last five games against the Vodacom Cheetahs, whose only win against the Highlanders was in Invercargill back in 1997 when the tourists outclassed the hosts to triumph 49-18.
The Auto & General Lions are still in search of their first victory in the 2010 Vodacom Super 14 following their 33-18 defeat to the Hurricanes in Wellington. The hosts secured their third win of the competition and are currently in second position on the log after round three.
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England fly half Andy Goode says the chance to play Super 14 rugby is just too good a chance to turn down. His set to make his debut for the Sharks against the Crusaders in Christchurch on Friday.
Goode - who is playing for the Sharks on a loan deal, after being released by his French club Brive - linked up with his new teammates at the start of this week and he is raring to go in what he describes as his “greatest rugby adventure yet”.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, not many England players have had the opportunity to play Super Rugby at my age,” he tells rugby365.com, ahead of his bench appearance for the 2007 Super 14 finalists this Friday.
“It all happened pretty quickly for me… I’d say I got the call from [Sharks coach] John Plumtree and about four/five days later I was getting ready to board a plane to Australia.
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‘Old man’ John Smit is set to reach an impressive milestone on Friday night when he becomes the first local player to represent the same franchise in 100 Super Rugby games.
Bulls loose forward Pedrie Wannenburg will join Smit a day later when he becomes a centurion for the Pretoria-based side.
AJ Venter holds the record for playing the most Super Rugby games, but his 125 games were for different teams (94 for the Sharks, 19 for the Cats and 10 for the Stormers).
Ollie le Roux, who is unlikely to phone Smit to offer his congratulations for the milestone that is being achieved against the Cheetahs on Friday night, played 108 games. However, 94 of those were for the Sharks and the rest for the Cats and Cheetahs.
Smit criticised Le Roux in his autobiography that was released at the end of last year.
Albert van den Berg played 95 of his 102 Super rugby games for the Sharks and the rest for the Cats.
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The contract dispute between the Lions and Sharks regarding the services of Willem Alberts and Louis Ludik will be resolved on Wednesday.
The South African Rugby Union on Monday confirmed that a hearing into a complaint against the KwaZulu-Natal Rugby Union and the two players, Ludik and Alberts, would be heard on Wednesday.
In a statement the South African Rugby Union confirmed that Koos Basson – the former chairman of the SARU disciplinary committee – has been appointed as Judicial Officer and will hear the complaint at SARU’s offices in Newlands on Wednesday, February 10 at 10.00.
The Golden Lions Rugby Union last month laid a formal complaint with SARU against the Sharks - as well as Ludik and Alberts - after Alberts played in a pre-season game for the Sharks against the Force and Stormers at Newlands.
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The Stormers impressed once again by beating the Sharks from Durban 29-14 in the final Neo Africa Tri-Series match at Newlands on Friday night.
There has been some speculation in the pre-season that the Stormers might this year usurp the Sharks as the team that joins the Super 14 champion Bulls outfit as the best South African challenger for the trophy. As Stormers captain Schalk Burger conceded, it is still early days, but on the evidence of this match it would seem that the critics have it right.
The Sharks made a significant lift on the intensity shown in their previous game against the Western Force on Tuesday, and they troubled the Stormers for a while in the first half with their ferocious onslaught at the breakdowns. Whereas the Sharks got more numbers to the recycles, however, the Stormers did always appear to be the more accurate and clinical of the two sides.
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The contract dispute between the Sharks and Lions over the services of Louis Ludik and Willem Alberts may land the Sharks in some hot water.
The Golden Lions Rugby Union on Wednesday laid a formal complaint with the South African Rugby Union (SARU) against the Sharks - as well as Ludik and Alberts - after Alberts played in a pre-season game for the Sharks against the Force at Newlands on Tuesday.
Manie Reynecke, the GLRU CEO, told rugby365.com that he has lodged the complaint, as promised, because the Sharks have breached SARU’s regulations.
“I have maintained, from day one, that they [Alberts and Ludik] have legal and binding contracts with us,” Reynecke told this website, adding: “There are rules and regulations for a reason and those should be adhered to.”
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Schalk Burger has recovered from the injury that kept him out of the match against Western Force and will lead the Stormers in their final Neo Africa Tri-Series match against the Sharks at Newlands on Friday.
The Springbok flank was out of action last week with a haemotomae on his calf and had to undergo a fitness test at the Western Province High Performance Centre on Wednesday morning before being cleared to play.
“I came through the test okay and I am looking forward to captaining the team for the first time this season,” said Burger.
“It was a bit frustrating sitting out last week. I have been on the sidelines a lot in the past year, with suspensions and injuries, and didn’t want to have another week’s break. As I have not been playing that much, I suppose you could say that I am fresher now than I have been before some new seasons.”
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