Super Rugby - Round up & Highlights

Super Rugby returned this week with a bang after the International hiatus. There was some superb, flowing rugby on show to suggest that the players have not missed a beat. Now there are only a couple rounds left to go in the regular season, teams are really starting to fight it out for those finals places. Here are 5 talking points from this week:

1) Points: an avalanche of them. Over 500 points were scored this week across 9 games. The crowd in Melbourne were treated to an 81 point bonanza as the Stormers racked up 50 against the Melbourne Rebels. With conditions less than ideal at a couple of the games, the skill levels were superb and the attack coaches certainly had smiles on their faces.

2) How about those Lions. This week they became the first team to qualify for the finals after a convincing 37-10 win against the Sharks, even without their inspirational skipper Warren Whiteley. The Sharks didn’t get on the board until deep into the 2^nd half, as the Lions totally and utterly dominated them in every facet of the game. Their Springbok heroes again put in a huge shift with Faf De Klerk, Elton Jantjies and Ruan Combrinck continuing their form, but as usual this was a team performance and it is fitting that this team are the first to cement their place at the end of season dance.

3) It was a pretty historic night on Friday. Fiji hosted their first Super Rugby game as the Chiefs and the Crusaders battled it out in Suva. The horrendous weather conditions didn’t put off a capacity crowd who got to see their heroes Nemani Nadolo and Jone Macilai-Tori don the Crusaders shirt. The event was a huge success, and hopefully one that will be repeated in taking the Super Rugby brand global.

4) Has there been a more breath taking 25 minutes of rugby ever than the opening to the Hurricanes v Blues game? A quick look at the scoreboard at that time would have shown you the score of 17-24 in favour of the Blues. Whilst we are used to seeing great tries and exciting attacking play from the offset, these two teams took it to a whole new level, raining tries. The Hurricanes outlasted the Blues to win 37-27 in what was a must-win game for the franchise.

5) Talking about a burst of points - The Highlanders scored 28 in the final 10 minutes against the Kings. It was significant, as the Highlanders knocked the Waratahs out of the Wild Card places. In a conference this tight, every point will be crucial and this bonus point could prove meaningfult. Shorn of most of their All Blacks and losing their skipper Shane Christie, the Highlanders huffed and puffed a bit. A Matt Faddes hat-trick was the catalyst, as the full back (his 3^rd position of the season) joined Lionel Mapoe, Israel Folau, Sergeal Petersen and Akihito Yamada on 9 tries. A tough trip to Buenos Aires is next up for the ‘Landers, whilst the ‘Tahs have a home game against the Hurricanes. This one will be going down to the wire.

Rob Seltzer writing for www.TheRugbyPod.com