What a weekend of surprises! Well, some surprises at least. The Brumbies (18) went down by a point (Doh! I tipped the wrong way) to the Highlanders (19) in Dunedin on Friday night. The Brumbies scored two tries to the Highlanders one from Webb. The cliffhanger saw the game being anybody's right up until the end when a grubber kick from Brumbies flanker George Smith went out. Excitement plus! The Brumbies now face a big climb if they want to get back into the top four on the competition ladder.

The Chiefs thumped the Sharks 40-5 on a very wet NZ paddock. The Chiefs totally dominated, the Sharks never really getting into a handling error filled game. Good for the Chiefs, very disappointing effort from the Sharks.

The Blues eventually got up over the Cats 23-6 in the third game of Round 7. The first half was a very tight tussle, neither team able to break through the defence to score a try. The Blues lifted in the second half to take the game convincingly in the end.

The Stormers vs Reds game was surprisingly good in quality :) The Reds went down by two points 15-13, but they were a vastly improved side on the field. Despite scoring one try less than their opponents the Reds really looked like they could win this game - right up until the full time hooter. Dammit!! Still, their performance was encouraging, and there are a lot of positives for them to take away from the match.

If you didn't catch the Bulls vs Crusaders game - make sure you can the replay. I had anticipated that this would be a Canterbury walkover, I was very wrong, but the match was certainly very good to watch with the Bulls totally dominating the Crusaders to win 30-20. The script went wrong for the Crusaders with just two and a half minutes on the clock when Richie McCaw went in to tackle prop Richard Bands. The two clashed heads and McCaw was out for the count before he'd hit the ground. McCaw was stretchered off several minutes later - here's hoping the brilliant flanker has not been seriously injured.

And from there, well the Bulls just battered and bashed the Crusaders taking the game right up to them and dominating play. The Crusaders never really found any rhythm in the game against the Bulls Express train. Daniel Carter went well with the boot kicking 5 penalty goals, but it was just not enough against the determined Bulls. What a formidable team the Bulls would be if they played like that more often!

Just one more Super 12 game this weekend - should be a good one! Hurricanes vs Waratahs - 12.30pm today on Foxsports. My tipping has been up the creek again this week, oh well.