Highlanders tie, Hurricanes and Waratahs win

Highlanders 16
Stormers 16

The disappointment was palpable as the Highlanders trudged back to their dressing room after their draw.

Their mood was summed up by coach Greg Cooper, who wants to pursue a complaint about referee Scott Young's decision not to award Highlanders No 8 Paul Miller a try in the 30th minute.

Cooper said he wanted an independent referee to look at the decision. A try then would have given the Highlanders a first-half lead.

Miller was part of a rolling maul which ground its way towards the goal line. As it neared the line Miller broke away and crashed over the line.

Young judged a Highlander had obstructed the Stormers' defence as Miller broke, but Cooper believes the Stormers should have been penalised for pulling the maul down.

"Unfortunately it remains in the book that it wasn't a try. I'm absolutely convinced that the Stormers took the maul down," he said.

After planning to attack the South Africans out wide, the Highlanders struggled to adjust to the wet conditions and it wasn't until late in the second half before they began driving their way into the game through the forwards.

The Stormers would have been happy to pick up two competition points away from home after beating the Sharks in the opening round.

They scored two tries to one and it wasn't until midway through the second spell that the Highlanders came back with a try to stand-in captain Craig Newby.

Ben Blair improved on his goalkicking to add two penalties and a conversion to a first-half penalty to enable his team to share the match points.

The game could have gone either way in the end, although the Highlanders had an edge on the tourists from just before halftime, when they trailed 3-8.

The match was full of errors from both sides in wet conditions, although neither side blamed the conditions.

"We couldn't hold on to the ball in the first half and then the Stormers tackled well," Newby said.

Stormers captain Neil de Kock said unforced errors were caused by his players and he refused to use the weather as an excuse.

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Hurricanes 45
Cats 32

The Hurricanes look a different animal to the side which limped to 11th place last year, picking up their second win on the road against the Cats.

Their six-try performance at Ellis Park without skipper Tana Umaga lifted them to second place in the table.

The leadership of No 8 Rodney So'oialo and the surprisingly composed display of rookie first five-eighth Jimmy Gopperth were standout features, along with the general work rate of a pack which has outplayed both the Reds and Cats at the breakdown.

With six home games remaining in the competition even the most sceptical supporter of this unpredictable franchise can start contemplating the semifinals.

The 15-man rugby, and particularly counter-attacking with efficient support play, enabled the Hurricanes to overcome a scrum that struggled in the first half.

"We're very fit and that allowed us to support the ball-runners all the time," stand-in captain Rodney So'oialo said.

The Hurricanes front-rowers were penalised twice for collapsing when the Cats had the most experienced front-row in the competition - Ollie le Roux, Naka Drotske and Marius Hurter - anchoring their eight most of the first half.

But Hurricanes' hooker Andrew Hore said it didn't feel like their scrum was under too much pressure.

"You get that type of unsettled engagement in the early stages of most games butI thought we held our own despite giving away weight to the opposition," he said.

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Waratahs 36
Sharks 13

Warratahs' first five-eighth Lachlan MacKay is heading home after suffering rib cartilage damage in Saturday's victory over the Sharks in Durban.

Tim Donnelly, who filled the role early last season, is being rushed to South Africa as a replacement after recovering from shoulder surgery.

However, the Waratahs could also switch Shaun Berne from second five-eighth to first-five for next weekend's match against the Cats in Johannesburg. He displaced Donnelly in the role last season.

Wallaby winger Lote Tuqiri scored two tries in the first 14 minutes to set the Waratahs on course for a comfortable victory.

Second-half tries by fullback Mat Rogers and centre Berne gave the Waratahs a bonus point for scoring four tries as they maintained their perfect start to the season and moved to the top of the standings after two rounds.

The build-up for Tuqiri's first try was started from his own 22 by first five-eighths Mackay and Rogers before Tuqiri finished it off.

His second try was a solo effort. The Sharks lost a lineout in Waratahs' territory and the ball was moved quickly to Tuqiri, who beat his opposite number on the outside and chipped over the top of the cover before collecting to score.

Rogers failed to convert after either try and the Sharks clawed their way to a 13-10 lead with two Butch James penalties and the conversion of a dancing try by fullback Brent Russell, who jinked round Rogers from 20 metres.

But after that Waratahs scored 26 unanswered points. Rogers kicked three penalties and then scored his side's third try before Berne clinched the bonus point by touching down his own grubber kick into the in-goal area.

- AGENCIES