After trailing for most of the match last night, the Chiefs finally got ahead with ten minutes left on the clock to win 24 - 22 over the Bulls. If they keep this up we could very well see the Chiefs in the play offs - good on 'em!

In Durban overnight, the Blues were also successful 37 over the Sharks 26. Yay! Who's going to be in the finals is sure getting interesting now we're at the business end.

Gotta jet - enjoy the games today!

Oh boy - I'm cutting it fine again, but here's my tips for Round 11 of Rugby Super 12 2004 - if you haven't visited this page before my only tip about my tipping is that you'd be wise to reverse my tips :)

Tonight I'm tipping the Chiefs over the Bulls in Hamilton
In the early hours of tomorrow morning (3.10am for those of us keen enough to watch) I'm tipping the Blues over the Sharks - based on the Sharks' shocking performance last week
Tomorrow I'm going for the Waratahs over the Highlanders in Sydney - the Tahs need this win!
The Crusaders over the Stormers in Christchurch tomorrow
The Brumbies over the Hurricanes in Canberra tomorrow
and last but not least the Reds vs Cats clash over in Bloemfontein - that's anyone's call... I want the Reds to win, but I've wanted them win all of their games... and they've blown the season... oh okay Reds to win!

The saddest part is that it's the second last round... bugger! Anyway, enjoy your rugby this weekend, and if you're getting out on the paddock yourself, have a win!

:)

The Stormers captain Corne Krige is out for the rest of the Super 12 comp after being found guilty of head butting in the game against the Chiefs on Friday night. Krige was given an 8 week suspension, however he will be allowed to play for the British Barbarians in three games at the end of next month. I doubt that Krige head butted intentionally....It's a tough old game!

What's the go with all this murmuring about a couple of ex-league players thinking about exiting union and heading back to league? That gets up my nose! I'm not entirely sure why it irks me like it does - I just somehow think that it would have been preferable if they'd never LEFT league in the first place... let the guys who've played and loved rugby union since they were little fellows get the representative jerseys. Good thing I suppose that my opinion counts for nothing in the scheme of things.

Cheers!

Ah the shame!! What a disastrous weekend of tips produced by yours truely.. Geez! And to think.. I started off so well :)

Saturday arvo the Crusaders got up over the Bulls 40 - 21 in Christchurch. It was a good hard game, and the Crusaders picked up a bonus point for scoring 4 tries.

And then... my tipping went downhill, waaaaaaay downhill.. damn the Highlanders! For weeks I was tipping them, and they kept on giving away every game, and then the very week that I don't they come up and have a win! ARGH! Still, it was a very nice way to send off Tony Brown before he heads to Japan for two years. It's going to be strange seeing the Highlanders trot out without him. Good game for Brown as well, kicking 2 conversions and 4 penalty goals during the match. The Highlanders winning 26-14 over the Hurricanes.

The Waratahs won over the Brumbies 38-29 in Sydney, but the scoreline doesn't indicate just how tightly fought the game was. the Brumbies ahead 29-27 looked set for a victory, but the Tah Tahs weren't quite done. Lote 'please don't go back to league' Tuqiri went over for a try which was converted, and Matt Burke kicked a penalty goal in the last second putting the New South Welshmen nine points ahead of the Brumbies. The Brumbies scored 4 tries to the Tahs 3 in the match, so the Brumbies picked up a bonus point, but failed to grab a second one because they didn't finish within 7 points of the Waratahs.

Yeah - that was 2 up and 2 down for me :/ And worse was yet to come. Over in Durban, the quality of the game between the Reds and the Sharks was on a par with my tipping ability - shocking! The Reds got up by a point 6-5 in the lowest scoring Super 12 game in the competition's history. Brendan Botha scored the only try of the match quite early on, but it wasn't converted, and the Reds won the game with two penalty kicks from Elton Flatley. Back to the drawing board for both of these teams! Bah!

The last round 10 game was between the Cats and Blues in Jo'burg. I tipped the Cats on the basis of their form in the last couple of rounds. Doh! They blew it and the Blues came up victorious 35-28, the Blues picking up a bonus point with 4 tries - two of those scored by Howlett. Still, even without Spencer playing, who'd have thought at the beginning of Super 12 that the Blues would only be winning by 7 over the Cats? The win by the Blues takes them up into 7th place on the ladder - so they're still in the hunt.

I must have put the hoodoo on my under 11s as well - they went down too on Saturday :/

I'll update the points ladder shortly.

I hope Australians and New Zealanders readers commemorated ANZAC day yesterday and are enjoying a peaceful public holiday today!

Cheers!