Week Five of the Investec Super Rugby season opened with two games on Friday but no Friday night encounter in South Africa. The opening two games were played in New Zealand and Australia, with the first match-up in the round being a tense affair hampered by rain in Hamilton, New Zealand. The home town Chiefs entertained the Sharks from Durban, South Africa, in a game dominated by errors and penalties. The wet weather didn’t aid either team but the Chiefs prevailed to take a 15-9 win and hand the Sharks their first loss of the season.
Hours later in Queensland, Australia, the Reds welcomed the competition’s newest team to their home when they took on the Rebels. The game started off tight with both teams trading penalties to leave the contest tied at 3-3 before the Reds took hold of the game. They scored a total of three tries in the first half to lead the game 25-3 at the break, then took complete control of the game in the second 40 with a further 4 tries to win the game 53-3.
For the first time this season two games were played in New Zealand on the same day. With a late afternoon kickoff, the Highlanders – fresh from an overseas tour to South Africa – played home against the Crusaders. Veteran fly half Tony Brown missed a lot of first half penalties and a Crusaders try by Robbie Fruean aided the visitors to a 13-6 halftime lead. The talent and experience of the Crusaders told in the second half, however, as the visitors scored a further four tries to cap a comfortable 44-13 victory.
The later game in New Zealand on the Saturday turned out to be an exciting affair as the Hurricanes traveled to Auckland to face the Blues. The game was played at pace and with flair, and taking a two tries to one advantage the Blues led at the half 20-14. The Hurricanes clawed closer with a penalty to trail 20-17 before the game fell apart for them. Inside the final 14 minutes of the match the Hurricanes let in 3 tries as the Blues ran away with the game for a 41-17 win.
On the first leg of their overseas tour, the Cheetahs of South Africa took on the Waratahs from Sydney at a very quiet and almost empty Sydney Stadium. The home fans did not leave pleased as countless schoolboy errors cost Australia’s leading franchise dearly. The Cheetahs played spoilers and took their two main try-scoring chances with aplomb and ran out eventual 23-3 winners. The Sydney crowd left no one mistaken about their feelings about their team’s performance as they booed the Waratahs from the field.
In South Africa the Lions, fresh off a win last weekend, entertained the Force from Australia, but even though the Perth based franchise had not won a game all season they took the game to the hosts. The game was close inside the second half, with the Force leading 14-12 with half an hour to go, before the visitors scored a fabulous try and then a couple of penalties saw them home with a 27-15 victory.
The final game of the round produced a bruising encounter in Pretoria as the defending champion Bulls entertained the Stormers from Cape Town in a brutal South African derby. The game was filled with hard hits and no love lost, yet there were no major incidents for the referee to deal with. However, after the match, Bulls lock forward Bakkies Botha was cited for a dangerous tackle and looks set to receive another lengthy ban in his ill-disciplined career. In the game itself the Bulls could not hold out the Stormers, who finally played some good attacking rugby and managed to score a brace of tries as they took a 23-13 victory.
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