It was semifinal time in the Super 15. 1 played 4 and 2 played 3 - Reds played Blues and the Stormers played the Crusaders. Both matches produced clear winners.

Hats off, especially, to the Crusaders. They beat the Sharks in a play-off in New Zealand and then trekked across to Cape Town and beat the Stormers at Newlands. Then they turned round for Brisbane and a Final against the Reds. You would not bet against them!

Results, semifinals

Reds vs Blues, 30-13
Crusaders vs Stormers, 29-10

Sanctions

Nobody was yellow-carded, red-carded or cited and suspended.

Possession

(i) Reds vs Blues

Penalties conceded: 21

Reds: 11
Blues: 10

Reasons for the penalties:

Reds:
Tackle: 8 (Sumo & Robinson, Simmons, Wallace-Harrison* 2, Holmes, Gill 2, Ioane)
Offside: 1 Cooper
Scrum: 1 (Daley)
Discipline: 1 (Simmons - air tackle)

Blues:
Tackle: 7 (Stanley, Munro, Lowrey 2, Payne*, Luke Braid, Kaino)
Offside: 1 (Lowrey)
Scrum: 1 (Faumuina)
Discipline: 1 (Mealamu - obstruction)

The Reds side missed two penalty kicks at goal.

Free kicks conceded

Reds: 0
Blues: 1 (line-out)

Line-outs

Reds: 12 (4 lost, 1 skew, 1 free kick)
Blues: 11 (1 lost, 1 skew)

Scrums

Reds: 4 (2 collapses, 1 penalty)
Blues: 9 (1 collapse, 1 penalty)

There were no resets.

Drop-outs

Reds: 0
Blues: 1 (line-out)

Stoppages: 60

(ii) Stormers vs Crusaders

Penalties conceded: 26

Stormers: 11
Crusaders: 15

This is a high number of penalties. The number of penalties at the tackle (see below) is also inordinately high.

Reasons for the penalties:

Stormers:
Tackle: 11 (Marshall* 3, McCaw, Carter, Owen Franks 2, Crockett 3, Read)
Offside: 2 (Read 2)
Discipline: 2 (Todd - obstruction; Fotuali'i - high tackle)

Crusaders:
Tackle: 7 (Grant, De Villiers*, Burger, Liebenberg, Louw, Köster*, Habana)
Scrum: 2 (Blaauw*, Harris)
Discipline: 2 (Bekker* - +10; Schreuder* - high tackle)

The Crusaders missed two penalty kicks at goal.

Free kicks conceded

Stormers: 1 (scrum)
Crusaders: 0

Line-outs

Stormers: 12 (2 lost)
Crusaders: 12 (1 lost)

Scrums

Stormers: 6 (1 reset, 4 collapses, 1 lost, 1 free kick, 1 penalty)
Crusaders: 6 (2 collapses, 1 penalty)

The Crusaders demolished the Stormers' scrum.

Drop-outs

Stormers: 2
Crusaders: 1

Stoppages: 67

Some Match Totals

Tries scored per match

Reds vs Blues, 4 + 1 = 5
Stormers vs Crusaders, 1 + 2 = 3

Penalties scored per match

Reds vs Blues, 1 + 2 = 3
Stormers vs Crusaders, 1 + 5 = 6

Ball in Play Time

Jan Taljaard has again provided these meticulous statistics.

The average playing time for such matches is just over 33 minutes.

Reds vs Blues (Kaplan):
17 minutes 43 seconds + 17 minutes 58 seconds = 35 minutes 41 seconds

Stormers vs Crusaders (Joubert):
14 minutes 56 seconds + 17 minutes 58 seconds = 32 minutes 54 seconds