The competition-leading New South Wales Waratahs had a chance to rest their tired muscles on the weekend, compliments of a bye in rugby's Super 12 competition.
But their first break after eight rounds of the annual Southern Hemisphere tournament came at cost -- three New Zealand sides, Canterbury, Otago, and Auckland edged closer to the Waratahs' leading points total of 31.
The Crusaders beat South Africa's Sharks 40-36 Saturday -- including a bonus point for scoring four or more tries -- to pull to within a point of the similar 6-2 Waratahs after eight matches.
PHOTO: EPA
On Friday, the Highlanders won their sixth in a row to move into third place with 27 points following a 26-16 win over Wellington.
The Auckland Blues then jumped ahead of Wellington and into fourth place -- the last semifinal position with three rounds remaining -- on the back of a 37-24 win over South Africa's Stormers in Cape Town Saturday.
The Stormers scored three unanswered tries in the opening quarter before the Blues tightened up the game in steady rain and eventually gained enough possession to score six unanswered tries of their own.
After a sixth-minute penalty by flyhalf Gaffie du Toit, the Stormers were quickly into their stride as right wing Tonderai Chavanga, outside center Jean de Villiers and inside center De Wet Barry scored tries in quick succession.
With Du Toit nailing all the conversions, and just 20 minutes gone, it seemed the Stormers' season might have finally clicked into gear.
But Blues flyhalf Tasesa Lavea gave his teammates some hope as he finished off a raid on the right flank with a try.
Luke McAlister's conversion and a penalty gave the visitors some confidence, and center Rua Tipoki and No. 8 and captain Xavier Rush scored tries late in the first half to bring the Blues to within two points at halftime. Joe Rococoko got onto the scoresheet with a well-worked try on the left for the Blues to hit the front.
When Lavea and Rococoko each scored their second tries, the Stormers finally ran out of puff, and their own fans booed them from the field after yet another poor display.
Also Saturday, South Africa's Bulls scored two first-half tries and held on to defeat New Zealand's Waikato Chiefs 29-26 at Pretoria's Loftus Versfeld.
Leading 23-9 at halftime, the Bulls were unable to maintain their early inventiveness and the Chiefs fought back with two tries, one from Sitiveni Sivivatu and the other by Soseni Anesi.
The Bulls forwards outmuscled their opponents and set up their first try for center J.P. Nel in the fifth minute.
No. 8 Jacques Cronje scored the other try for the Bulls.
At Christchurch, Andrew Mehrtens became the leading points-scorer in Super 12 when he led the Crusaders to victory.
Mehrtens kicked three penalties and two conversions -- 13 points -- but needed only his first penalty in the fourth minute to reclaim the points-scoring record he had conceded to Wallabies and New South Wales fullback Matt Burke.
The All Blacks flyhalf entered the match with 959 points, tied with Burke, and reclaimed the record with the first of his five successful kicks at goal.
In a match of milestones, Crusaders and All Blacks halfback Justin Marshall became the third player after Wallabies halfback George Gregan and All Blacks hooker Anton Oliver to play 100 Super 12 matches.
The four-time champion Crusaders encountered more spirited opposition than had been expected from the lowly Cats, who took bonus points for their four tries and a loss by fewer than seven points.
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