While the Blues sunk to their fifth loss at Eden Park this season, the other three New Zealand Conference teams in action recorded strong wins to keep their Super Rugby Final’s Series hopes well and truly alive.

The results means that four kiwi franchises move into the top nine and remain in contention for the knockout stage of the tournament, while elsewhere in the competition the Sharks and Reds continued their upward curve to keep pressure on the top sides in their respective conferences.

sanzarrugby.com

Indeed, victory for the defending champions in Australia’s capital, just their second in 11 attempts, means they now sit just five competition points behind the Conference leading Brumbies – who must now negotiate a tricky away match in Melbourne while Queensland sits out Week Fifteen with a bye.

It was the Reds third straight win, the second time they have achieved this in 2012, after they won their first three fixtures.

The Sharks were also able to down a Conference leader, grinding down the Stormers with a score line that perhaps flattered the visitors to Mr Price King’s Park.

Led by an all-powerful back row, who were always going to have an advantage with four frontline loose forwards ruled out for the Stormers, the Sharks were again impressive up front, while they became the first team this season to run in three tries against Super Rugby’s best defence.

The round began with the Chiefs resuming action, against a Bulls team that once again implemented that ‘you know what’s coming’ strangulation game, and for long periods of the contest it looked as if the visitors were going to make it back-to-back losses for the New Zealand Conference leaders – who were looking at atoning for their reverse against the Reds a fortnight ago.

But like the Highlanders a week before, the Chiefs never strayed from their attempt to run the big Bulls pack of it’s feet, and some flashes of brilliance from Sonny Bill Williams and Aaron Cruden scythed open the men from Pretoria’s defence, who themselves were unable to spark an attacking game that has them second ranked in terms of tries scored.

The Bulls now head home with a 1-3 losing ledger against kiwi sides this season, a welcome turnaround after the three-time champions have had the wood on New Zealand opposition in recent years.

The following evening the classical Hurricanes catch phrase “expect the unexpected” was appropriate, as there were perhaps some nerves as a confident Rebels arrived in town looking for their first win in New Zealand and a historic three straight wins.

Any fears of a repeat of the Rebels boilover from 2011 were dramatically put to bed as the Hurricanes posted the highest score in their history, breaking the 1997 mark set when they defeated Northern Transvaal 64-32, while Beauden Barrett hit 158 points for the season, breaking another 1997 record that was set by Jon Preston.

Moments later the Highlanders looked to back up their win against the Bulls at home in week thirteen looking for just their second win at Eden Park, and despite arguably the best closing quarter by the Blues all season, the visitors from the South were able to depart with five competition points.

Two tries from Hosea Gear were clearly noted by the All Blacks selectors, who ushered the powerful wing into the World Champions training squad the following afternoon.

The Reds notched their eighth win of the season, but the biggest sigh of relief would have come from Perth, where the Force were able to break what was their second longest losing drought since their competition introduction in 2006.

The Lions may have sunk to another despairing loss, but they would have been proud how they defended…like Lions…against a Force team that had a stunning dominance statistically of the match.

In South Africa the Waratahs sunk to their third one-point defeat of the season, despite registering a four-try bonus point in the first half.

NSW have now been unable to win in the Republic since 2009, and have now sunk to five straight losses, something that hasn’t occurred since 2007.

The two positives was that the Waratahs looked more positive with ball in hand, shelving their much maligned kicking game and scoring their first four-try bonus point since week five, while Wallabies wing Drew Mitchell made it a triumphant comeback from injury.

 

We also take a quick look at the results, standings, what-ifs, leading points and try scorers after the fourteenth week of competition in 2012 Super Rugby.

The Chiefs went top of the table with an entertaining victory over the Bulls at home, with the Stormers loss to local rivals the Sharks ensuring they ceded their position at the summit.

The Hurricanes then broke all kinds of records with a massive win against the Rebels, while the Highlanders made sure there are still four New Zealand Conference franchises in the hunt with a win over the Blues.

The Reds downed the Brumbies in a dour derby, while the Force got back on the board at the expense of the Lions.

Later that evening in South Africa the Waratahs were pipped in the second half by the Cheetahs, while the Sharks kept building into their season with a win over the Stormers.

 

Week 14:

25 May 2012
Chiefs 28 – 22 Bulls @ Waikato Stadium, Hamilton

26 May 2012
Hurricanes 66-24 Rebels @ Westpac Stadium, Wellington

Blues 20 – 27 Highlanders @ Eden Park, Auckland

Brumbies 12 – 13 Reds @ Canberra Stadium, Canberra

Force 17 – 11 Lions @ nib Stadium, Perth

Cheetahs 35 – 34 Waratahs @ Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein

Sharks 25 – 20 Stormers @ Mr Price Kings Park, Durban

Bye: Crusaders

 

2012 Super Rugby Overall Standings

Overall table
(Overall position, Conference, team, Super Rugby Final’s Series standings)

1 New Zealand Chiefs NZC Leader 53
2 South Africa Stormers SAC Leader 50
3 Australia Brumbies AC Leader 45
4 South Africa Bulls Wildcard 48
5 New Zealand Crusaders Wildcard 46
6 South Africa Sharks Wildcard 45

SAC, NZC, AC denote Conference winner
Wildcard denotes next best placed team irrespective of Conference

7 New Zealand Highlanders 44
8 Australia Reds 40
9 New Zealand Hurricanes 40
10 South Africa Cheetahs 32
11 Australia Waratahs 30
12 Australia Rebels 29
13 Australia Force 23
14 New Zealand Blues 17
15 South Africa Lions 15

 

Super Rugby Final’s Series ‘what if the regular season ended now?’

Super Rugby Qualifiers (20th-21st July)

Bulls v Crusaders at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Brumbies v Sharks at Canberra Stadium

Super Rugby Semi-Finals (27th-28th July)

Chiefs host lowest ranked qualified winners at Waikato Stadium, Hamilton
Stormers host highest ranked qualified winners at Newlands, Cape Town

Top try scorers

PLAYER TEAM TRIES
André Taylor Hurricanes 10
Bjorn Basson Bulls 8
Sona Taumalolo Chiefs 8
Lwazi Mvovo Sharks 7
TJ Perenara Hurricanes 7
Dom Shipperley Reds 6
Julian Savea Hurricanes 6
Robert Fruean Crusaders 6
Willie Le Roux Cheetahs 6
Adam Thomson Highlanders 5
Cooper Vuna Rebels 5
Gio Aplon Stormers 5
Henry Speight Brumbies 5
Lelia Masaga Chiefs 5
Adriaan Strauss Cheetahs 4
Bryan Habana Stormers 4
CJ Stander Bulls 4
Conrad Smith Hurricanes 4
Israel Dagg Crusaders 4
Joseph Tomane Brumbies 4
Keegan Daniel Sharks 4
Riaan Viljoen Sharks 4
Rob Horne Waratahs 4
Scott Higginbotham Reds 4
Tom Kingston Waratahs 4
Zac Guildford Crusaders 4
Zane Kirchner Bulls 4

Top point scorers

PLAYER TEAM T C P D PTS
Morné Steyn Bulls 1 28 38 3 184
Aaron Cruden Chiefs 2 28 33 0 165
Beauden Barrett Hurricanes 2 29 30 0 158
Johan Goosen Cheetahs 3 17 31 1 145
Patrick Lambie Sharks 1 18 29 0 128
Tom Taylor Crusaders 1 14 30 0 123
Mike Harris Reds 0 15 26 1 111
Christian Lealiifano Brumbies 0 17 25 0 109
Gareth Anscombe Blues 2 13 21 1 102
Joe Pietersen Stormers 2 6 25 0 97
Brendan McKibbin Waratahs 1 16 19 0 94
David Harvey Force 1 11 20 0 87
James O`Connor Rebels 2 6 20 0 82
Peter Grant Stormers 2 8 18 0 80
Elton Jantjies Lions 0 10 18 0 74
Chris Noakes Highlanders 2 13 11 0 69
André Taylor Hurricanes 10 1 1 0 55

5 Responses to Super Rugby: Week 14 summary

  • 1

    Anybody seen this? Can’t say that I am surprised.

    THE KEO CONNECTION

    Posted: 06 May 2012 at 7:11pm

    Highbury Safika Media (HSM) is a publishing house boasting a portfolio of over 30 magazine titles and numerous online publications. Amongst these are SA Rugby Magazine and Keo.co.za – the website of Mark Keohane and other SA Rugby writers such as Ryan Vrede and Jon Cardinelli.

    Keohane has been a public figure since his days as Springbok Communications Manager under the ill-fated reigns of both Harry Viljoen and Rudolph Streauli, until he resigned in protest over SARFU’s handling of the Geo Cronjé racism debacle involving Quinton Davids. Keohane went on to publish a book about the episode and the state of the Springboks in general, and was widely criticized by Springbok players (most notably Corné Krige) as deliberately attempting to sow division within their ranks and to undermine SA Rugby in general.

    In recent times Keohane has been busying himself in the extensive business interests of HSM, as well as media relations of other entities, such as Jake White’s Winning Ways – a business partnership which ended in a heated law suit, kept hushed away out of the public sphere. Even more recently, however, HSM -and Mark Keohane in particular – were awarded the contract to manage the media, marketing and public relations of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC). The awarding of this contract was never put up for tender, as is standard government procedure, but was rather awarded directly to HSM (although Keohane states that normal application took place, the fact remains it should have gone to tender).

    And this is where the Keo connection begins to reveal itself.

    During his time at SA Rugby, Mark Keohane worked alongside the likes of Rian Oberholzer (President of SARFU), Songezo Nayo (Managing Director), Gary Grant (Marketing Director) and the current president of SASCOC – Gideon Sam (Springbok Team Manager).

    All four names mentioned above are currently directors of sports marketing company Accelerate Sports, with Gideon Sam being appointed as Chairman. Gideon Sam also serves on the Lotto Distribution Board, but excused himself when dealing with the funding grant to SA Cycling, a grant from which Accelerate Sport received commission to the tune of R 26 million – a blatant conflict of interest.

    Accelerate Sport, through their subsidiary Access Facilities and Leisure Management (AFLM), were also awarded the contract as operations manager of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. It is reported that this contract brings in a whopping R 600 000 a month to the coffers of Accelerate. It is the duty of AFLM to source events to be staged at the stadium to generate revenue and keep the stadium sustainable.

    And here the connection between rugby and Accelerate begins to become clear.

    The contract between AFLM and the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro states that, above the R 600 000 a month, AFLM are to be awarded performance bonuses based on the revenue they generate, providing this amount exceeds R 12,5 million a year. The structure of this bonus is as follows:

    The Operator will be paid 10% of any amount above R12.5 million but less than R15 million, and then:

    • 12.5% of any amount in excess of R15 million but less than R20 million;

    • 15% of any amount in excess of R20 million but less than R25 million; and

    • 20% of any amount in excess of R25 million.

    It is thus blatantly clear that it is in the best interests of Accelerate to find events which will draw spectators, such as concerts etc.

    But what better way to ensure constant revenue, week after week, than playing host to a top tier sports team. If only the Eastern Cape had one.

    But wait, Accelerate have strong ties to SARU, they do after all boast an ex-president in their ranks. Would it at this point seem ludicrous to suggest that Oberholzer, Sam, Grant and Nayo used their previous connections to SARU to, excuse the pun, accelerate the Kings’ inclusion in Super Rugby so as to ensure that their business interest was being looked after, leading to SARU’s shock announcement at the Heyneke Meyer press conference about the Kings’ guaranteed inclusion in Super Rugby for 2013? Surely not.

    So where does Mark Keohane fit into all this?

    Keohane has recently stepped up his anti – Lions rhetoric in his articles, and while not directly naming the Kings in his most recent one, it is clear where his views emanate from. The vested interest he has in servicing his ex-colleagues at SARU (SASCOC contracts etc.) has clearly skewed the views of an already overly opinionated man.

    But wait, there’s more.

    After the establishment of the Kings, the son of Cheeky Watson – president of the Eastern Province Rugby Union (under which the Kings operate) – Luke, was brought back from Bath to play for the Kings. In May 2011 HSM (with Mark Keohane again at the forefront) announced that it had decided to enter into the field of player management, a first for the publishing company. Furthermore it was announced that their first client would be none other than Luke Watson. Queue the Mark Keohane propaganda machine.

    The cover of the very next SA Rugby magazine was adorned by – yes, you guessed it – Luke Watson, with the rather flattering caption “Return of the King”. This was to be only the start of the Keohane marketing hype surrounding Watson and the Kings.

    At the same press conference where SARU dropped the Kings bombshell on an unsuspecting audience, Ryan Vrede, a HSM journalist, asked Heyneke Meyer if Luke Watson – a player languishing in the second tier of SA Rugby and who hasn’t been in Bok contention since mid-2008 – was a contender for the position of Springbok captain. These blatant attempts by Keohane to force the name of Luke Watson into mainstream media while he has done nothing to get it there serves to illustrate the hidden agenda and inherent corrupt nature of a man who has lived off the rise and fall of others for far too long.

    Not only has the media machine being rolling for Luke Watson, but others being managed under yet another Accelerate Sport company – In-Site Athlete Management – have been enjoying a rise in publicity in SA Rugby magazine as well. Willem Alberts received some ego stroking in May 2011, as did another In-Site managed player -Joe van Niekerk – in March 2012, with the article stating that he is playing the best rugby of his career at Toulon. Buttering him up for a big money move back to SA perhaps?

    It is clear that Keo’s connection into Accelerate stretches deep, with an “I’ll scratch your back you scratch mine” policy which benefits both sides. Gideon Sam made sure he looked after Mark with the awarding of the SASCOC account, Mark in turn ensures that the business interests of Accelerate Sport and its stakeholders remains in the mainstream media, and they all walk away happy.

    The reason why Keo has gone on a Lions bashing campaign of late should come as no surprise when taking the above into account. Mark Keohane is no longer a journalist; he hasn’t been for quite a while. He is a businessman with a platform to promote his interests and those of others close to him, a platform which he uses selflessly and without shame.

    He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He is the worm in the apple, and the rot starts with him.

  • 2

    goooooooooodmorning PEOPLE …. Pleasure
    ag ok, and a goodmorning to bulls supporters too!!! Pondering

  • 3

    hmmmm,
    ek wonner offie bulls weer in hulle binnep**s-pienk truitjies gaan speel I-see-stars
    dit behoort die motivation virrie stormers virrie week maklik te maak;
    leuse virrie week: nee fok ouens, ons kan regtag darem nie teen DIT verloor nie!!! Tounge-Out

  • 4

    1 @ Winston:
    We had a HUGE discussion about this and all the Articles that followed this, here on Rugby-Talk at the time it was published.

  • 5

    @ grootblousmile:

    Apologies, I must have missed that thread.

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