New Zealand teams mix form in Super Rugby
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The sixth round of Super Rugby provided an ideal opportunity to assess the form of the five New Zealand teams one-third of the way through the regular season.
All five were in action in matches involving opponents from the tournament's three conferences. From those games they registered three wins and two losses, one of those a loss by the Wellington-based Hurricanes to the Auckland-based Blues in the round's only New Zealand derby.
The Hamilton-based Chiefs beat the New South Wales Waratahs 51-14, the Christchurch-based Crusaders beat the Queensland Reds 24-20, the Blues beat the Hurricanes 24-15 and the Dunedin-based Highlanders lost 38-13 to the Bulls in Pretoria, South Africa.
After six rounds the Chiefs are atop the New Zealand conference, level on points with the Crusaders but with a superior points difference and with a win over the Crusaders in round two. The Blues have moved into third place with their first win over the Hurricanes in five years and their first in an away match against a New Zealand opponent since 2013.
The Hurricanes dropped to fourth place, four points behind the Blues and five behind the conference leaders after a costly display of indiscipline on Saturday saw one player red-carded and two receive yellow cards.
The Highlanders are a long way last in the New Zealand conference, eight points behind the Hurricanes and with one win from five games after their heavy loss to the previously winless Bulls.
On the overall standings after six rounds New Zealand has four teams inside the top eight and the Chiefs, Crusaders, Blues and Hurricanes all have positive win-loss records and have scored more points than they have conceded.
The evidence of the season so far is that the New Zealand teams are much less dominant than they have been in previous seasons. That may change to some degree when they are restored to full strength by the return of All Blacks players who are resting or have been used sparingly until now.
So far all of the New Zealand teams have beaten and been beaten by a team from another conference.
That equivocal form was evident in the Crusaders' narrow win over the Reds, who had a 1-4 record coming into the match. Had the Reds possessed a reliable goalkicker — they tried three who couldn't manage a successful kick at goal — they likely would have won the match and ended the Crusaders winning streak at home which now stretches to 34 games.
The Crusaders seemed to be off their game, not clicking on attack and less solid than usual in defense, leading to suggestions of complacency.
"We do give them (Australian teams) credit," Crusaders flyhalf Richie Mo'unga said. "I don't know people's perception or if the media doesn't give them the credit that's due, but we turned up tonight expecting this (tough match) and that's what we got."
The clash of the Blues and Hurricanes was highly anticipated but disappointing. After a second-minute try to Hurricanes winger Ben Lam, the match lost structure as both sides struggled at lineouts and lacked patience in attack. Even with the Hurricanes down to 12 men the Blues couldn't finish a scoring movement, falling behind before clinching the game with a penalty and a penalty try.
"Our game wasn't perfect — we missed a few lineouts and made a few errors — but we hung in there and were able to strike back late in the second half. We felt like we were getting our game going," Blues coach Leon MacDonald said.
The Chiefs trailed the Waratahs 14-13 at halftime in another imperfect performance but scored six second-half tries.
"We did give away a few soft penalties and allowed the Waratahs back into it, so we needed to keep up the same intensity and be more accurate which is what we did and I felt it was an excellent second-half performance," coach Warren Gatland said.
Little can be said for the Highlanders who lost several key players at the end of last season and are likely already out of playoffs contention.
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