Waratahs Still in the Hunt After Edging out Sharks
A fortuitous try to late inclusion Peter Playford 16 minutes from fulltime earned NSW their second straight win in South Africa and lifted the Waratahs to sixth place on the ladder - just one point adrift of the top four entering next weekend's last round.
The Waratahs must now beat the lowly Lions in Johannesburg next Saturday and hope other results go their way in order to squeeze into the playoffs.
Their best chance is for the Sharks to topple the third-placed Bulls in Durban and the Blues to score a home win over the fourth-placed Crusaders in Auckland.
The Waratahs should be thankful, though, just to be still in the hunt.
Trailing 12-11 as the clock wound down at ABSA Stadium, Playford - a late replacement for the injured Rob Horne - couldn't believe his luck when Stefan Terblanche made a meal of his attempt to clean up Kurtley Beale's grubber kick into the Sharks in-goal area.
The Sharks fullback's airswing as he tried to kick the ball into touch gifted the easiest of tries to Playford - and gave the Waratahs a lead they refused to relinquish over the tense final quarter hour.
The Waratahs had held a slender 8-6 advantage at the break, courtesy of Timana Tahu's only try of the first half in the 30th minute and an early penalty goal to Daniel Halangahu.
It was a well deserved five-pointer for Tahu, who was clearly the Tahs' most dangerous attacker in the opening stanza.
The classy centre had already made two clean breaks before his shimmy and offload took the Waratahs to within a few metres of the Sharks line.
The dual international did well to then back up to collect Benn Robinson's pass and dive over in the right-hand corner.
But two penalty goals from Ruan Pienaar kept the Sharks in touch before a third four minutes after the interval nudged the home side in front 9-8.
The Waratahs seemed set to bag their second try shortly after, only for Kurtley Beale to be brought down metres before the Sharks line.
The opportunity looked lost when Phil Waugh then knocked on, but the Waratahs were granted a relieving penalty, enabling Halangahu to restore their two-point lead.
The Sharks mounted a spirited recovery, though, and only some desperate Waratahs defence kept the South Africans at bay.
In ten anxious minutes for the Tahs, Sharks prop Bismarck du Plessis knocked on over the line, Playford pulled off a trysaving tackle on wing opposite Odwa Ndungane and Springbok flyer JP Pieterson was denied a try because of a double movement.
After withstanding the onslaught, Playford's slice of luck got the Waratahs home.
Mortlock Leads Brumbies to Crucial win over Blues
CANBERRA—Stirling Mortlock has led the Brumbies to a crucial win over the Blues in Canberra, scoring a try and kicking seven points to become the all-time highest Super rugby point scorer.
The Brumbies overcame a lacklustre start to score five second-half tries and earn a bonus point, keeping their Super 14 semi-finals hopes alive with a 37-15 victory.
Both sides went into the match needing a win to have any chance of making the finals and it was the Blues who made the most of their opportunities in the first half.
The Blues took an early three point lead after No.10 Jimmy Gopperth slotted a penalty goal in the second minute before Brumbies five-eighth Matt Toomua landed a drop goal to level the scores 15 minutes later.
The Brumbies were often beaten at the breakdown and lacked any real penetration in attack, while the Blues tried to play a more expansive game and earned a 10-6 lead at the break.
However, it was a different Brumbies side in the second half with Mortlock leading the charge.
The Wallabies captain crashed over four minutes into the second half to kick-start the revival, before converting his own try and eclipsing former Crusaders five-eighth Andrew Mehrtens' Super points scoring record in the process.
The Brumbies secured a vital bonus point with another three tries in the next 15 minutes, taking them out to a 32-10 lead and putting the game out of the Blues' reach.
Mortlock finished the match with 12 points to take his all-time points scoring record to 994 - four ahead of Mehrtens - before he was taken off after a crunching tackle by Blues prop Tony Woodcock.
The Blues scored another try in the 62nd minute to get back to 32-15 but the match was all but over and the Brumbies went further ahead with a fifth try to Sitaleki Timani five minutes from fulltime.
Mortlock said the points record was pleasing for him personally, but it was the second-half team performance that was most satisfying.
"We were all aware we were a little bit off physically (in the first half), in particular at the breakdown," he said.
"The physicality the forward pack showed in the second half was outstanding."
He said he wasn't sure at the time whether the try he scored secured the points record.
"So I made sure I got the kick, it was good that it got a nice bounce off the posts.
"It's pleasing, but I was asked about it earlier in the week and I said that I'd take the win first and foremost and it was excellent that we grabbed the bonus point and got a good win."
Super 14 Results and Standings-Round 13
CRUSADERS 32 (Tim Bateman, Owen Franks, Jason Macdonald, Sean Maitland, Thomas Waldrom tries Leon MacDonald 2 cons pen) bt QUEENSLAND REDS 12 (Greg Holmes, Ben Tapuai tries Quade Cooper con) at AMI Stadium. Referee: Chris Pollock (NZL).
LIONS 27 (Willem Alberts, Michael Killian, Earl Rose, Jano Vermaak tries Andre Pretorius 2 cons drop goal) bt HIGHLANDERS 22 (Jimmy Cowan, Ben Smith, Alando Soakai tries Israel Dagg 2 cons pen) at Ellis Park. Referee: Jaco Peyper (RSA).
CHIEFS 16 (Stephen Donald try con 3 pens) bt HURRICANES 8 (David Smith try William Ripia pen) at Waikato Stadium. Referee: Bryce Lawrence (NZL).
BRUMBIES 37 (Huia Edmonds, Francis Fainifo, Stirling Mortlock, Patrick Phibbs, Sitaleki Timani tries Mortlock 2, Matt Toomua cons Mortlock pen Toomua drop goal) bt BLUES 15 (Jimmy Gopperth, Joe Rokocoko tries Gopperth con pen) at Canberra Stadium. Referee: Matt Goddard (AUS).
NSW WARATAHS 16 (Peter Playford, Timana Tahu tries Daniel Halangahu 2 pens) bt SHARKS 12 (Ruan Pienaar 4 pens) at ABSA Stadium. Referee: Mark Lawrence (RSA).
BULLS 29 (Akona Ndungane 2, Bryan Habana, Chilliboy Ralepelle tries Morne Steyn 3 cons pen) bt CHEETAHS 20 (Tewis de Bruyn, Jongi Nokwe, Hendro Scholtz tries Naas Olivier con pen) at Loftus Versfeld. Referee: Stuart Dickinson (AUS).
STORMERS 25 (Joe Pietersen 2, Willem de Waal tries de Waal, Peter Grant cons de Waal 2 pens) bt WESTERN FORCE 24 (Matt Giteau 2, James O'Connor tries Giteau 3 cons pen) at Newlands Rugby Stadium. Referee: Marius Jonker (RSA).
Super 14 Ladder P W D L PF PA PD BP Pts
Bulls 12 9 0 3 311 245 66 6 42
Chiefs 12 8 0 4 328 229 99 9 41
Hurricanes 12 8 0 4 343 251 92 7 39
Crusaders 12 7 1 4 216 185 31 7 37
Brumbies 12 8 0 4 304 295 9 5 37
Sharks 12 8 0 4 256 212 44 4 36
NSW Waratahs 12 8 0 4 203 179 24 4 36
Western Force 12 5 1 6 295 247 48 9 31
Blues 12 5 0 7 326 354 -28 11 31
Highlanders 12 4 0 8 226 236 -10 8 24
Lions 12 4 0 8 261 381 -120 8 24
Stormers 12 4 0 8 207 227 -20 7 23
Queensland Reds 12 3 0 9 230 343 -113 6 18
Cheetahs 12 2 0 10 191 313 -122 3 11
Top point scorers (tries, conversions, field goals, penalty goals, points):
Morne Steyn (Bulls) 1 22 4 26 139
Stephen Donald (Chiefs) 2 31 - 16 120
Matt Giteau (Force) 3 26 1 15 115
Rory Kockott (Sharks) 2 23 1 17 110
Jimmy Gopperth (Blues) 4 23 - 10 96
Stirling Mortlock (Brumbies) 4 20 - 7 81
Andre Pretorius (Lions) - 19 4 9 77
Mark Gerrard (Brumbies) 3 6 1 14 72
William Ripia (Hurricanes) 1 18 - 9 68
Peter Grant (Stormers) 2 12 - 9 61
LEADING TRYSCORERS
7: Cameron Shepherd (Force), Joe Rokocoko (Blues)
6: Sitiveni Sivivatu (Chiefs), Tamati Ellison (Hurricanes), Jongi Nokwe (Cheetahs), JP Pietersen (Sharks), Henno Mentz (Lions), Isaia Toeava (Blues), Anthony Tuitavake (Blues), Ma'a Nonu (Hurricanes)
