Winners and losers: Super Rugby week 15

Chiefs lock Brodie Retallick. Photosport

The best and worst from the weekend's action.

FORWARD OF THE WEEK

Brodie Retallick (Chiefs)
The All Blacks lock was immense for the Chiefs in their victory over the Waratahs, scoring a try and bringing a hard physical edge that was the difference between his side and the opposition. He and Sam Whitelock are set for a mighty confrontation next week should the latter be fit.

COACH KILLER
Bulls
The men from Pretoria should have sewn up the Brumbies at Loftus Versfeld after visiting hooker Folau Fainga'a was sent off in the second half for a ridiculous (low impact) headbutt which was borne of frustration at being penalised. Instead, they bottled it and the Brumbies deservedly won.

BACK OF THE WEEK
Richie Mo'unga (Crusaders)
On his 24th birthday, Mo'unga outshone opposite Beauden Barrett with a calm and mature display in very difficult conditions in Christchurch. It was his kicking game which set him apart from Barrett, the All Blacks first-five. In the wet, Mo'unga kicked more, further and more accurately than his rival.

UPS

Kurtley Beale/Israel Folau combination
Beale and Folau combined brilliantly in the Waratahs defeat in Hamilton. Such an understanding between a second-five and fullback is unusual and potentially threatening and the Wallabies will want to mine it for all it's worth this year.

Liam Squire
The big Highlanders loose forward is back, finally, and marked his return from a broken thumb when coming off the bench to run over the top of a hapless Reds replacement to score an important try in Brisbane.

DOWN

Hurricanes
Either the Hurricanes brains trust got their tactics badly wrong in Christchurch, or the players didn't follow the plan. Either way, they tried to run too often when they should have kicked the slippery ball away and looked decidedly average at times against an undermanned Crusaders.

Stormers
Wow—did the Stormers blow their match against the Lions or what? Up 17-7, they lost wing Raymond Rhule to a red card for connecting with an elbow to the face of an opponent, and had two other players sinbinned, meaning they played 50 minutes of the match with 14 men. They lost 23-26.

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