A fantastic set of results saw the Bulls move back into first position, and masters of their own destiny. For the Horrocanes and Chiefs, they’ll both battle for the second home semi-final spot, with the Horrocanes most likely to be kicking themselves for now facing the possibility of having to travel away. The Sharks now look to be gone, whilst the Crusaders somehow may sneak into familiar territory at this stage of the competition.

Picks 6/7

Crusaders (32) v Reds (12)
The Crusaders were finally able to string together some tries and keep their play off hopes alive. As a team who are use to playing the big games they will still be fairly confident heading into the last weekend

Lions (27) v Islanders (22)
A dead rubber, with the Lions showing the greater intensity and desire when it mattered most. Unfortunately Earl Rose blotted his claims for a Springbok position with a massive error that conceded a try, but that is the way he plays and he will make the odd mistake. His try and the one scored by Vermaak however were of great quality. There now seems to be support for Eloff to stay as coach. I fear that nothing will change for the Lions very quickly.

Chiefs (16) v Hurricanes (8)
This was semi-final intensity rugby. For all the South Africans who consistently talk about the travel factor, how is that the Chiefs can travel back from South Africa and win against a team that only had to travel a couple of hours? The Chiefs certainly didn’t lack fitness in the final quarter, which just goes to show how important state of mind makes. The Horrorcanes just couldn’t get anything going in attack, whilst I thought the Chiefs were very smart in playing the second half down in Horrorcanes territory with some smart kicking from Donald and Bruce. They look to be the team to beat. In the end it was the perfect result for the Bulls with neither team getting a bonus point.

Brumbies (37) v Blues (15)
Stirling Mortlock became Super rugby’s highest points scorer, and the Brumbies convincingly beat the Blues. They still have a shot at the play offs and can do me a massive favour by beating the Cheifs, or at least denying them a bonus point.

Sharks (12) v Worrytahs (16)
The Worrytahs don’t do much with the ball. The Sharks do even less. The Worrytahs defence won them the game, but the Sharks looked awful. They are clueless. For the first 40 minutes they lacked any intensity, and whilst they did become more desperate in the second half, they simply don’t construct anything worthwhile. There is a lack of straight, hard running. Often when Jacobs gets the ball he moves sideways, which is not necessarily a problem if he has wingers and a fullback that can straighten the line. Unfortunately that doesn’t happen, and lack of crisp, clean passes in front of players unfortunately leads to the Sharks moving sideways and not forward.

In the forwards, no one stuck their hand up. Bismarck Du Plessis tries hard, but makes too many errors, Sykes made some ground, Muller simply runs straight into the opposition and in the loose forwards, Deysel was inconsistent, Botes doesn’t carry the ball forward, and Kankowski hides when the game becomes tight. I thought Smit tried hard, tried to be direct and got over the advantage line when he came on, but why would you play the national captain even less than some of your other front rankers? It doesn’t make any sense. Plumtree may have won a Currie Cup, but he has done little else. What disappoints me most is the Sharks look to be regressing rather than moving forward.

Bulls (29) v Cheaters (20)
What intensity at Loftus. The Bulls were behind for 65 minutes and showed great character. The sort that will win them the Super 14.
Why don’t the Cheaters simply play with that sort of effort and commitment every week? They’d then be in the top 4, not last on the log. Their defence was outstanding, and they were fortunate to be able to get some tries from individual brilliance and opportunism that kept them in the game.

Meanwhile the Bulls played some great rugby, showing the Sharks how to run straight and hard. It gets you over the advantage line and unfortunately the Bulls simply couldn’t finish and weren’t helped by a very stubborn Cheaters defence that refused to give in. Habana showed how dangerous he can be when he gets the ball in midfield and has some space to move. His ability to swerve and set up Ndungane for his first try was brilliant. It doesn’t have to be made difficult. The rest of the backline were all solid and look to be playing with great confidence at the right end of the season.

In the forwards, Spies showed he is the best number 8 in the country by a mile. His workrate is awesome, his ability to break tackles brilliant. Stegmann was useful, the locks were good, and all the front rankers did their job. The only thing i’d maybe change is to put Wannenburg starting ahead of Potgieter, as Wannenburg has greater skill and looks to step around players more.
Now it’s down to Durban where we have to put the Sharks away and get top spot on the log. At least we will be in the position of knowing exactly what he have to do to achieve that.

Stompers (25) v Farce (24)
Once again the Stompers prove that just when you think you know what they are going to do, they do the opposite. The Farce simply looked flat and
blew a great opportunity to challenge for a play off spot. Two of the Stompers tries may have been controversial, but in the end they deserved their victory.