Highlanders and Brumbies march on to Super Rugby semis

The Super Rugby playoffs began on Saturday, with the two qualifier matches to determine who will take on the Hurricanes and Waratahs in next Saturday’s semi-finals.

Highlanders win battle of Kiwi giants

In the opening qualifier the Highlanders beat their New Zealand rivals, the Chiefs, 24-14, to set up an away semi-final next Saturday against the Waratahs in Sydney.

The match at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin was in the balance throughout, with the sides evenly-matched across the park before a late Lima Sopoaga penalty gave the home side an unassailable 10-point lead that confirmed the victory.

The final penalty gave Sopoaga a match haul of 14 points, with the fly-half playing a pivotal role in his sides victory, orchestrating the side perfectly around the park.

His half-back partner Aaron Smith stole the show though, with a performance that will almost certainly nail down his place as the All Blacks starting scrum-half for the upcoming Rugby Championship.

Smith assisted both of the Highlanders tries, which were each finished off by Waisake Naholo, who moved to 11 tries on the season, now topping the overall Super Rugby charts.

Naholo’s first try was the pick of his brace, with the winger linking up well with Smith off the back of a solid Highlanders scrum, before exchanging passes with the number nine down the right-hand side to send him over in the corner.

Brodie Retallick scored a try for the Chiefs on the hour mark which moved them within a score of their opponents, before they became ill-disciplined, allowing Sopoaga to punish them from the tee and confirm a semi-final spot to the joy of the sell-out Dunedin crowd at ‘The Zoo’.

Tomane treble stuns Stormers

A hat-trick within 25 minutes of the opening kickoff from Joe Tomane, was the catalyst for the Brumbies 39-19 victory away at the Stormers.

The South African conference champion Stormers were without back-row stalwarts Duane Vermeulen and Schalk Burger, and it showed as the Brumbies put in a clinical performance to set up a semi-final against the Hurricanes.

Tomane scorched in for three early tries down the left-hand wing to give the Australian side a 17-3 lead early on as a shell-shocked Newlands' crowd watched on in disbelief.

Dimitri Catrakilis kept the scoreboard ticking for the hosts, but it was the Brumbies who were next over the try-line with prop Scott Sio barging over to give his side a 24-6 half-time lead.

The Stormers came out strong after the break, with Cheslin Kolbe scoring their first try to reduce the arrears, yet they never really got in touch with the Brumbies, despite Catrakilis continuing to nail his kicks at goal.

Ita Vaea added the Brumbies 5th try with 20 minutes left on the clock to edge the score out to 34-19, with Jesse Mogg going over for a sixth in the final moments whilst the Brumbies were down to 13 men following a yellow card to Scott Fardy and a red to Henry Speight for a dangerous lift on Juan De Jongh.

The stadium was starting to empty as the full-time whislte was blown, with the Brumbies coming out on top 39-19, ending the Stormers season is sorry fashion.