Week Nine and the Blues just fell short at the Highlanders on Friday night losing a close match 30-27, the lead changed several times in this nailbiter but the home side held their nerve whilst the Blues gave up penalty chances to run it and possibly regret the decision now. Next up the Reds hosting the Stormers and it was the Stormers power into contact and belief in their systems that carried them to the top of the table and a win Reds 13-23 Stormers. Saturday came and the in-form Hurricanes must have fancied their chances against the Crusaders. However it was the visitors who controlled most of this game, going out to 7-32 at half-time and 14-42 at the final whistle. The action now moved to Australia and the Waratahs hosted the Rebels, as we all expected this was a formality as the Tahs ran out to comfortable winners 30-21. So South africa and the Shark tank hosted the Chiefs, the visitors had a small advantage as they played in South Africa last week, whilst the Sharks were on the road. The ball was greasy and this tense battle went to the wire with the Chiefs holding on to win Sharks 12-13 Chiefs. The last game of the weekend had the Bulls hosting the Brumbies and the Bulls having been held to 19-13 at the break, ran out to a lead of 33-13 and then took their foot of the gas, this could have been their undoing as the young Brumbies outfit pinched two bonus points in the last 10 minutes taking their tally to 34 points with five tries to two. Final score Bulls 36-34 Brumbies.
The results mean no change at the top of the table with the Chiefs ahead of the Stormers and the Brumbies in third thanks to those bonus points. At the bottom the Lions go above the Blues.
We called them all again this week, can we make it three in a row next week?
Results Week 9
Fri 20 Apr 19:35 08:35GMT Highlanders 30-27 Blues Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
Fri 20 Apr 19:40 10:40GMT Reds 13-23 Stormers Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Sat 21 Apr 19:35 08:35GMT Hurricanes 14-42 Crusaders Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Sat 21 Apr 19:40 10:40GMT Waratahs 30-21 Rebels Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
Sat 21 Apr 17:05 16:05GMT Sharks 12-13 Chiefs Kings Park, Durban
Sat 21 Apr 19:10 18:10GMT Bulls 36-34 Brumbies Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
BYES: Cheetahs, W Force, Lions
Week Ten Fixtures and our picks in bold as usual, three byes again this week, for the Bulls, Rebels and Sharks :
Fixtures Week 10
Fri 27 Apr 19:35 08:35GMT Blues v Reds Eden Park, Auckland
Fri 27 Apr 19:10 18:10GMT Lions v Brumbies Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg
Sat 28 Apr 19:35 08:35GMT Chiefs v Hurricanes Waikato Stadium, Hamilton (SkySports1 UK)
Sat 28 Apr 17:40 10:40GMT W Force v Stormers NIB Stadium, Perth (SkySports1 UK)
Sat 28 Apr 17:05 16:05GMT Cheetahs v Highlanders Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
Sun 29 Apr 16:10 06:10GMT Waratahs v Crusaders Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
BYES: Bulls , Rebels , Sharks
Also selected games on skysports.com/xtra