The Canterbury Crusaders endured an anxious mid-race pitstop in rugby union's Super 14 on the weekend, sitting idle as New South Wales and Wellington passed them and the ACT Brumbies closed in on them from behind.
The Brumbies' thrilling 28-26 win over the Waikato Chiefs yesterday, inspired by a man-of-the-match performance from captain Stirling Mortlock, helped them consolidate fourth place and move within four points of the Crusaders in a breakaway top four.
The Highlanders beat the Cats 16-14 yesterday to move to sixth and the Western Force hosted South Africa's Bulls in the final match of the weekend later yesterday.
PHOTO: AP
The Waratahs' 43-9 win over the Auckland Blues carried them to the top of the championship table and the Hurricanes' 23-17 win over the Sharks on Friday moved them to second place as the Crusaders, early season pacesetters, sat out the round with a bye.
Canterbury had ended round six at the top of the table but saw their narrow lead picked off successively on Friday by the Hurricanes, then the Waratahs. They return to action next week in a match against the Hurricanes which shapes as crucial to the final outcome of the championship.
Home-ground advantage played a vital role in round-seven matches. The Hurricanes, Waratahs and South Africa's Cheetahs, who beat the Queensland Reds 10-6, won home matches Friday and the Brumbies and Highlanders kept up the trend yesterday.
Mortlock scored a try, set up two others and kicked 13 points, including a critical sideline conversion to lift his team to a two-point win over the Chiefs who were one of three teams to take a losing bonus point from seventh-round games.
He scored their first try and had provided all their points as they established a 13-9 halftime lead while his tackling in midfield and creativity on attack helped the Brumbies weather a strong Chiefs resurgence. Tries by prop Simms Davison, from a goal-line maul, and to All Blacks winger Sitiveni Sivivatu helped the Chiefs to a second-half advantage but the Brumbies hit back with tries to Clyde Rathbone and Mark Gerrard.
Mortlock had a hand in both, creating space for Rathbone who ran off a final pass from George Smith and bursting the defense before sending a basketball pass to Gerrard who scored near the corner flag. His sideline conversion of Gerrard's 71st-minute try was the difference between the teams.
Meanwhile, the Highlanders proved defense wins matches when they held South Africa's Cats scoreless for 78 minutes at Invercargill, New Zealand.
Otago led 16-0 at halftime and by the same margin two minutes from the end of normal time, having fought off wave after wave of Cats attacks to ensure their fourth win from seven starts.
The South Africans finally broke through the Highlanders' layered defense in the 78th minute for a try by flanker Gerhard Vosloo then, inspired by the moment, scored again through flyhalf Earl Rose who kicked two conversions to give his team a bonus point.
"I think if they were any better, if they had held onto the ball a couple of times, we could have been in strife," said Highlanders captain Anton Oliver. "Our defense was brilliant."
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