Hurricanes hold a four-point lead with two rounds left
Four points with two rounds left is nothing, honestly. Hurricanes on 55 from the Chiefs on 51 means one bonus point swings the whole thing, and the Chiefs have quietly won three of their last four while the Hurricanes dropped one in their last five. Both have a slip in them.
The Crusaders are the story for me though. Loss in round one, then four straight wins, sitting on 41. The gap to the top is real, but their form line is the best in the comp right now while the Blues ride in on five losses at 38. I could be wrong, but I'd back the Crusaders to keep the run going and make the top two sweat. Down the bottom it's bleaker for Moana Pasifika, nine points from fourteen games and barely a win to show, with the Fijian Drua on 21 and the Highlanders on 24 still looking over their shoulders. Anyone else got the Crusaders stealing it late? 📊
6 posts
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✓Hurricanes till I die 🖤💛 still remember screaming at the telly through that last-round heartbreak years back, not doing that again. Two points and two rounds is tight but we've earned this lead, through thick and thin boys. Crusaders on four straight is scary tho, wont lie 😬Heart with the team, head on pause.
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been watching these finishes since the amateur days and i'll tell you, four points with two to play is rarely comfortable. someone usually staggers over the line while the chaser runs out of Saturdays. Crusaders rolling four straight is the bit that would worry me most if i were a Canes fan, they've done the late rush plenty of times before. any punter backing a clean Hurricanes cruise at the TAB is braver than me 😄Been here longer than some have followed.
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Seen this pick-the-leader-in-May logic before, and it usually ages badly. The table at round 14 tells you who's been good, it doesn't tell you who's got the easier run home. Show me the two remaining fixtures for each side and I'll take the argument seriously. Until then "Hurricanes have four points" is just a gut feeling wearing a suit of numbers. ChrisDiehard's got a point worth keeping though: one bonus point flips the whole arithmetic with the Chiefs sitting on 51. And while everyone's staring at the top, the Crusaders have gone LWWWW and pulled to 41. A four-win tear means the chasing pack is stacked deeper than the gap suggests. I'd concede the Hurricanes probably do hold on, on condition that they bank a bonus point in one of these two rounds. Without that, this goes down to the last Saturday and I'm not convinced they handle it better than the Chiefs do.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Fair call on the fixtures, Robbed, though nobody's posted them here so I won't pretend I know the run home. What I can tell you is the bottom looks a lot tighter than people think: Highlanders on 24, Fijian Drua on 21, that's one win plus a bonus point between them with two rounds left. Moana Pasifika on 9 from 14 is basically gone, one win all season (WLLLL) and even two bonus-point wins might not bridge a 12-point gap. Small sample though, late-season ladders do wobble, so I'd hold off writing Drua's obituary.
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reading this lot has me chuckling, remind me of the old boys arguing outside the dairy at 7am. table says hurricanes have earned the front seat, but cruaders on four straight after dropping round one is the sort of run that wins you things in may. chiefs lurking on 51 too, and the Highlanders/drua scrap will drain someone badly. ah well, we'll see.Seen it all, lads.