All set for Super 14 semi-finals

May 15, 2006

SANZAR's Super 14 regular season has just concluded and the semi-finalists for the championship have been settled.

As reported a few days ago, the defending champion Canterbury Crusaders ended their season atop the table after bushwhacking the ACT Brumbies 33-3. The Crusaders will host a semi-final at Jade Stadium against the 4th-place Bulls from South Africa.

The other home semifinal goes to the Wellington Hurricanes to travelled to Sydney on Saturday and held on for dear life to pip the New South Wales Waratahs 19-14.

Those same Waratahs finished in 3rd spot and will travel to Wellington next week to try to return the favour.

And the last semifinal sport goes to the Bulls, who trashed the woeful Stormers 43-10 at Newlands on Saturday. The 33-point victorywas exactly the points margin they needed to overtake their compatriots, the Sharks, in fourth place on a tie-breaker.

Curiously, the 4th place spot resulted in a three-way tie with the Bulls, Sharks and Brumbies all level at 38 points. Alarmingly, the Brumbies do not make the playoffs despite having secured one more victory than both the Bulls and Sharks (and suffering two less defeats that the Sharks), but they suffered in the points table by not acquiring enough bonus-points.

Full fixtures, details, results and final table standings can be found at the official Super 14 website.

In short, the Bulls now head to Christchurch on Sunday, where they will meet the table-topping Crusaders in the first semi-final on Friday. The second semi-final will be on Saturday, when the Hurricanes host the Waratahs in Wellington.

Rugby Planet has their Super 14 Week Round 14 Team of the Week here.