Road to the Super 14 play-offs

Every year around this time the “Road to the play-offs” articles start appearing, this year is no different except that there are even more roads to the play-offs this year. Jan De Koning of Rugby 365 sums it up.

[Sharksworld Note: Thank goodness Jan De Koning has done this. My brain would have exploded if I had to try and work out all the permutations. ]

Talk about a race that is wide open. The results in Round 10 mean that, mathematically, 13 of the 14 teams still have a chance of reaching the play-offs.

Now, we all know that is stretching it, but what is more interesting is how the top end of the competition in shaping up.

The top four teams have all lost three times already. It is worth noting that six times in the 13 years since inception of the professional era, the team ultimately winning the Super 12/14 had lost three of their league matches.

Another fact worth taking note of is that when the Bulls won their title in 2007, they had lost four league matches that year.

Now, back to the present.

It is going to be one hell of a run in to the play-offs, simply because so many of the big guns still have to play each other.

It all starts with the top-of-the-table Chiefs against the third-placed Bulls in Pretoria this week. And then the Chiefs also still face the fourth-placed Hurricanes a few weeks down the road.

The Sharks, currently second, have a bye this week and then have to face the Waratahs and Bulls in the coming weeks.

And so it goes on. Needless to say, a few teams are going to knock each out of the race in the last month of league action and – once again – it may go down to the wire, the last week of league action on May 15 and 16.

It may well come down to the very last league match of the season, when the Sharks host the Bulls in Durban on May 16, to sort out the final places.

So, let’s take a look at what’s in stall for each of the 14 teams!

Chiefs:
Current position: 1st
Best possible finish: 1st
Worst possible finish: 13th
Remaining matches:
April 25: v Bulls, Pretoria
May 2: Stormers, Cape Town
May 9: v Hurricanes, Hamilton
May 15: v Brumbies, Hamilton

Sharks:
Current position: 2nd
Best possible finish: 1st
Worst possible finish: 13th
Remaining matches:
April 24/25: Bye
May 2: v Highlanders, Durban
May 9: v Waratahs, Durban
May 16: v Bulls, Durban

Bulls:
Current position: 3rd
Best possible finish: 1st
Worst possible finish: 13th
Remaining matches:
April 25: v Chiefs, Pretoria
May 2: v Force, Pretoria
May 9: v Cheetahs, Pretoria
May 16: v Sharks, Durban

Hurricanes:
Current position: 4th
Best possible finish: 1st
Worst possible finish: 13th
Remaining matches:
April 25: v Brumbies, Wellington
May 1: v Blues, Wellington
May 9: v Chiefs, Hamilton
May 16: v Reds, Brisbane

Blues:
Current position: 5th
Best possible finish: 1st
Worst possible finish: 13th
Remaining matches:
April 25: v Reds, Albany
May 1: v Hurricanes, Wellington
May 9: v Brumbies, Canberra
May 16: v Crusaders, Auckland

Waratahs:
Current position: 6th
Best possible finish: 1st
Worst possible finish: 13th
Remaining matches:
April 24/25: Bye
May 1: v Cheetahs, Bloemfontein
May 9: v Sharks, Durban
May 15: v Lions, Johannesburg

Brumbies:
Current position: 7th
Best possible finish: 1st
Worst possible finish: 14th
Remaining matches:
April 25: v Hurricanes, Wellington
May 2: v Reds, Brisbane
May 9: v Blues, Canberra
May 15: v Chiefs, Hamilton

Crusaders:
Current position: 8th
Best possible finish: 1st
Worst possible finish: 14th
Remaining matches:
April 25: v Cheetahs, Bloemfontein
May 1: v Lions, Johannesburg
May 8: v Reds, Christchurch
May 16: v Blues, Auckland

Force:
Current position: 9th
Best possible finish: 1st
Worst possible finish: 14th
Remaining matches:
April 24: v Lions, Perth
May 2: v Bulls, Pretoria
May 9: v Stormers, Cape Town
May 16: v Highlanders, Perth

Highlanders:
Current position: 10th
Best possible finish: 1st
Worst possible finish: 14th
Remaining matches:
April 24: v Stormers, Dunedin
May 2: v Sharks, Durban
May 8: v Lions, Johannesburg
May 16: v Force, Perth

Lions:
Current position: 11th
Best possible finish: 1st
Worst possible finish: 14th
Remaining matches:
April 24: v Force, Perth
May 1: v Crusaders, Johannesburg
May 8: v Highlanders, Johannesburg
May 15: v Waratahs, Johannesburg

Stormers:
Current position: 12th
Best possible finish: 1st
Worst possible finish: 14th
Remaining matches:
April 24: v Highlanders, Dunedin
May 2: v Chiefs, Cape Town
May 9: v Force, Cape Town
May 16: v Cheetahs, Bloemfontein

Reds:
Current position: 13th
Best possible finish: 1st
Worst possible finish: 14th
Remaining matches:
April 25: v Blues, Albany
May 2: v Brumbies, Brisbane
May 8: v Crusaders, Christchurch
May 16: v Hurricanes, Brisbane

Cheetahs:
Current position: 14
Best possible finish: 7th
Worst possible finish: 14th
Remaining matches:
April 25: v Crusaders, Bloemfontein
May 1: v Waratahs, Bloemfontein
May 9: v Bulls, Pretoria
May 16: v Stormers, Bloemfontein