The Stormers got their Vodacom Super 14 season off the mark with the win they were looking for, but most of the way they looked destined for a lot more than the 27-24 victory they scored over the Reds at Newlands. But they were guilty of playing too much like individuals and not protecting their possession enough, and their celebrations would have been muted with the knowledge that with 26 minutes to go they already had three tries and looked almost certain of the fourth that would have given them a full house. At that stage the Stormers were leading 27-5, and the 33 000-strong crowd buzzed in anticipation of the flood-gates opening up. Instead, it was the Reds who finished with all the momentum, scoring three tries in the last quarter hour to condemn the Stormers’ supporters to a far more anxious ending than they would have expected.

SCORERS

Stormers: Tries – Tonderai Chavanga, Andries Bekker, Sireli Naqelevuki. Conversions – Peter Grant (3). Penalties – Grant (2).

Reds: Tries – Quade Cooper, Saia Faingaa, Scott Higgenbotham, Van Humphries. Conversion – Ben Lucas (2)

A Stirling Mortlock conversion of a Mark Gerrard try on the hooter earned the Brumbies a thrilling 18-16 win over the Vodacom Super 14 champion Crusaders in Canberra on Saturday. The Brumbies appear to be getting used to close finishes now, and no-one would ever be able to say they don’t know how to win a game late by coming from behind. Last week, in Dunedin, it was a Christian Lealiifano drop-goal with two minutes to go that won it for them against the Highlanders in the opening match.

The Bulls stampeded to a record 59-26 victory over the Blues to maintain their position at the top of the Vodacom Super 14 log at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday night. The Bulls registered seven tries (including the bonus point for four tries within 23 min 22 sec) in a massively impressive performance against one of the more fancied sides in the tournament. Bryan Habana scored the first try in 3:53 as Fourie du Preez showed absolute faith in the winger’s pace by pushing through a grubber to the left-hand corner; Dewald Potgieter got his first Super 14 try in the 16th minute; Zane Kirchner was over in the 21st minute and the herculean Pierre Spies dotted down in 23:22 as he grabbed a chip-kick which was meant to clear his head and charged 50 metres to the line. Morné Steyn kicked three of the conversions and the Bulls were 26-0 up and heading for a win that will go down as one of their best in SuperRugby.

Scorers:

Bulls (32) 59: Tries by Bryan Habana (3 min), Dewald Potgieter (16 min), Zane Kirchner (21 min), Pierre Spies (23 min), Fourie du Preez (48 min), Spies (77 min), Wynand Olivier (79 min). Morne Steyn kicked four conversions, a dropped goal and three penalties and Burton Francis a conversion.

Blues (14) 26: Tries by Rene Ranger (25 min), Anthony Tuitavake (30 min), Benson Stanley (60 min), Isaia Toeava (67 min). Jimmy Gopperth kicked two conversions and Michael Hobbs a conversion.

Scrumhalf Rory Kockott was again the stand out performer for a Sharks team that powered to a 25-10 win over the Lions at Absa Stadium in Durban on Saturday. The Sharks scored three tries to one, and some might feel they fell short in that they did not grab the extra try for the bonus point, something that appeared on for them when they crossed for their third with almost a quarter of the match still to run.

Scorers

Sharks – Tries: Ryan Kankowski, JP Pieterson, Deon Carstens. Conversion: Rory Kockott (2). Penalty Conversions: Ruan Pienaar, Rory Kockott.

Lins – Try: Ashwin Willemse. Conversion: Earl Rose. Drop Goal: Earl Rose.

The Sharks and the Vodacom Bulls are amongst the early pace-setters in the Vodacom Super 14 after an interesting second round of matches.

It was a good weekend for Australian teams in the competition with three of their four sides securing wins. The New Zealand sides had an off-weekend, however, with four of their five suffering defeats.

The Bulls lead the standings after crushing the Blues 59-26 at Loftus in Pretoria on Saturday. It was their biggest-ever win over the Auckland side.

Source: sarugby.co.za