Coronavirus' impact on world sports. VIDEO / Sky Sport
Patrick McKendry runs through the best and the worst from the (final?) Super Rugby weekend.
Back of the week
Sam Nock (Blues)
Sam Nock. Photo / Photosport
The Blues have been waiting a long time for a commanding and speedy performance from a halfback – step forward Sam Nock, who delivered just that against theLions at Eden Park. Helped by an increasingly dominant pack, Nock delivered ruck ball quickly – an issue for this team over the past few seasons – and was a threat on attack too. He ran 84m with the ball and made three clean breaks. Impressive.
There may have been more deserving candidates this round but the Armchair Coach is a sucker for a comeback story and a long-range try finished by a tight forward. In Cowley-Tuioti's first start of the season due to injury he played for 80 minutes against the Lions and put himself about on defence with real brutality. His second-half try after about 1000 offloads from his teammates was a classic too.
Coach killer
Sevu Reece's yellow card
It's a genuine concern when match officials fail to empathise with players or the game and that's what happened when Brendon Pickerall sinbinned Crusaders wing Sevu Reece for an intentional knock-on against the Sunwolves in Brisbane. Reece committed the offence when wrapping his arms around an attacker and it wasn't clear he even had his eyes on the ball. "Clear and obvious" should be the standard. It wasn't here. Fortunately for the Crusaders it wasn't costly.
Blues winger Mark Telea has been a standout. Photo / Photosport
With five wins and two losses in their first seven games, the Blues are enjoying their best start to a season since 2011 – the last time they made the playoffs. Leon MacDonald's men were totally dominant against the Lions in the second half at Eden Park despite missing several key players and momentarily went to the top of the table. It's their defence as much as anything that continues to impress.
Sharks
The Sharks' match against the Stormers in Durban was one of the hardest of the round to pick given the recent form of the two sides. Fortunately for them they were the beneficiaries of an early yellow card for Stormers flanker Johan du Toit, who was sinbinned for tackling Sharks halfback Louis Schreuder in the air just 10 seconds after the first whistle. The TMO suggested a red card, referee AJ Jacobs instead issued a yellow.
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Super Rugby
Super Rugby players would have had hands on head, like Rieko Ioane, after the season was suspended. Photo / Photosport
Suspended due to the coronavirus, where the competition goes from here is anyone's guess. In a strictly sporting sense, it's bad news for every side but particularly the Blues, who seem to have found their mojo, and the Highlanders, who had their game against the Jaguares in Buenos Aires cancelled. The teams were issued with two points each. It was 12 months almost to the day since the Highlanders had their home match against the Crusaders cancelled due to the Christchurch terror atrocities.
Bulls
The men from Pretoria were up 17-nil after as many minutes against the Reds in Brisbane and then it all went wrong – they gave up 41 unanswered points as coach Brad Thorn finally got the response he was waiting for.
