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Blues extend Super 14 lead

The Auckland Blues extended their lead in the Super 14 rugby competition at the weekend as South Africa's leading lights, the Coastal Sharks, stumbled for the second week in a row.

It was the Western Force who engineered the revamp at the top of the table as their win against the Sharks allowed the Canterbury Crusaders to leap into second place.

But the Crusaders were lucky to escape with a 34-33 win over the lowly New South Wales Waratahs when the usually reliable Peter Hewat missed a late conversion attempt that would have seen the Australian side home.

The Crusaders at least knew the way to the try-line, scoring six tries in a high-scoring match which produced 10 touchdowns in total, while the remaining five games could only muster 11 between them, including three to the Blues.

For the Blues, the highlight of their 18-11 win over neighbors the Waikato Chiefs was the try by Doug Howlett midway through the second half which made him, on 58, the most prolific try-scorer in the history of Super rugby.

The true hero for the Blues though was hooker Keven Mealamu.

He came off the bench in the second spell to immediately score himself and then set up Howlett for his historic try as the Blues moved from 8-11 down to 18-11 up in the space of four minutes.

The win put the Blues on 32 points from eight games, five points ahead of the Crusaders on 27, followed by the Force and Sharks on 25.

The Force, in only their second season of Super rugby, have become Australia's main hope and on Friday notched a gritty 22-12 win over the often undisciplined Sharks at Subiaco Oval.

Matt Giteau set up the game's only try by Cameron Shepherd and also contributed 17 points from five penalties and a conversion.

Although the Force have fashioned an impressive five wins from eight games, coach John Mitchell feels they are still not getting the recognition due to them.

"Not too many people respect us in this competition, and I think there were a few doubts this week with some people ignoring our ability," he said.

The late-charging Brumbies moved into fifth place as they backed up beating the Sharks last week by downing the Lions 14-9 this weekend after being locked 6-6 at halftime.

The Wellington Hurricanes remained on the edge of play-offs contention in 10th place when they snapped a four-match losing streak to beat the Northern Bulls 17-9.

The experiment of shifting Piri Weepu to flyhalf payed dividends as the All Blacks halfback injected attacking flair into the backline.

He complemented his performance with four penalties and set up the game's only try which Hosea Gear scored late in the match.

The Otago Highlanders also kept their semi-final hopes alive by beating Central Cheetahs 21-17 and moving up from 10th to eighth on the table.
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