Is this what Grootblousmile meant? Well this story wont go away. And heaven forbid us the Bulls lose this semi-final. Then we will hear it another 10 years or longer.

A Waratahs supporter contacted me last week claiming that the following message was on the NSWRU’s website: ”After 14 gruelling rounds in the toughest provincial rugby competition in the world the HSBC Waratahs have finished second, earning them the right to host the semi-finals and it’s time to show you are proud to be Tah’d with tickets to this blockbuster event.”

In the event, the marketing people jumped the gun a bit. The Stormers defeated the Bulls 38-10, which gave them a semi-final at Cape Town against the Waratahs. The other semi-final will be played at Orlando Stadium in Soweto between the Bulls (presumably at full strength) and the Crusaders, who were too strong and smart for the ACT Brumbies at fortress Christchurch, 40-22.

The Stormers’ victory was helped by the Bulls playing a second XV to rest the big boys for their semi-final. The chief executive of the NSWRU, Jim L’Estrange, complained bitterly about this. But there was an element in his complaint of the note on the parson’s sermon: ”Argument weak here, yell out the words!” It was the Waratahs, after all, who tanked their match against the Crusaders in 2002 and were defeated 96-19, a hiding that destroyed their season.

And this sort of unintended consequence is at least a remote possibility for the Bulls. Yes, they have given their frontline players a week off. They will be rested coming into the semi-final against the Crusaders, who will be making their second trip to South Africa in two weeks. But the Bulls have lost momentum going into the finals. That momentum, which is the engine that drives successful finals sides, lies with the Stormers, the Waratahs and the Crusaders.

The other loss for the Bulls involves the fact that they will not play out the semi-final at Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld Stadium. That stadium comes into play with football’s World Cup schedule. The Crusaders ran the Bulls to a close and controversial loss, 40-35, at Loftus Versfeld, so there is the possibility that the Bulls machine might not be as intimidating and as efficient away from their home ground. The referee for the match, too, is Australian Stuart Dickinson.

The Waratahs, on the other hand, will have to adjust to the South African referee, Mark Lawrence. This business of what the New Zealand newspapers are calling ”home-town” referees is a difficult area. In my opinion, there have been too many dodgy decisions under this system, which was brought in last year to justify SANZAR’s confidence in its fairness. It is difficult to discuss these decisions because of their implications as to the integrity of the referees, even when the issue is interpretations of the laws, not really integrity. In the Bulls-Crusaders match, for instance, the South African referee penalised the Crusaders’ scrum. But last weekend, in the Crusaders-Brumbies match, the New Zealand referee criticised the Brumbies’ scrum.

The Stormers beat the Waratahs 27-6 in round two. The Stormers were establishing themselves as a dominant side in the tournament. They have the best points differential, 194, of the finalists (Bulls 91, Waratahs 97, Crusaders 93). But the Waratahs, in their past two matches of the round robin, have lifted their game to impressive levels. This is the time for the true believers to start believing that this is the year.

This brings us back to the call to Waratahs supporters to buy tickets for a home semi-final. There is a way that this can almost come true. If the Crusaders defeat the Bulls and if the Waratahs beat the Stormers, the Super 14 final will be played in Sydney. We can all dream, can’t we?