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Sharks notch up sixth straight S14 win

South Africa's Sharks posted their sixth straight win in rugby's Super 14 on Saturday, maintaining the only unbeaten record and usurping the Auckland Blues as the championship leaders.

The Sharks' 27-14, five-try win over the Wellington Hurricanes lifted them two points clear of the Blues at the top of the table and acted as a potent antidote to the mixed form of the other South African sides.

While the Cheetahs beat the ACT Brumbies 38-20 at Bloemfontein and the Stormers upset the New South Wales Waratahs 16-10 in Sydney, the previously high-flying Bulls and Lions were both heavily dumped by New Zealand opponents.

The Lions were beaten 34-7 by the previously winless Waikato Chiefs and the Bulls were thumped 32-10 by the defending champion Canterbury Crusaders, who leaped into a threatening fifth place on the table a week before the return of their All Blacks stars.

The Sharks continued to take advantage of an extraordinary draw which has awarded them six games at home, only one away and a bye in the first eight weeks of the competition.

They face the Brumbies in Durban in round eight before a four-match road trip and a return for home-and-away games against the Lions and Stormers.

"We have now won six in a row, but it's only a start," Sharks captain A.J. Venter said. "When you are on top of the log, like the Blues, everyone wants to take you down. We are happy to be there, but it's a long way to the end of the competition."

The Cheetahs also made use of home advantage, winning for the first time since Feb. 17 to move to sixth place on a crowded table. Only six points separate the fourth-place Bulls from the 12th-place Chiefs.

The losses suffered by the Bulls and Lions -- both outscored five tries to one -- refocused attention on the weaknesses that have held back South African teams since Super rugby began.

In a developing trend in this season's competition, the only Australian team to win in round seven was the Force, which won at the expense of an Australian rival. Their 38-3 win over the Reds and subsequent losses by the Waratahs and Brumbies saw three Australian teams on the bottom six rungs of the championship ladder.

Australian sides have won only nine games in the Super 14's first seven rounds.
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