There are now just three unbeaten teams in Super Rugby Pacific, with the Crusaders, Brumbies and Reds sitting in first, second and third respectively after three rounds of the tournament.
Elsewhere in Round 3, there was an historic first win for Fijian Drua, while the Blues and Hurricanes also picked up victories.
Read on as we look at some of the Super – and Not So Super – plays, performances and moments from Round 3.
THE SUPER
Awesome O’Connor fires Reds to victory
James O’Connor will likely be doing everything he can to stay out of the path of coach Brad Thorn this week. While Thorn should be in an excellent mood and only full of praise for the fly-half, O’Connor will surely be hoping to avoid the dreaded captaincy “curse” that continues to sideline skippers.
First it was Liam Wright against the Rebels, then Tate McDermott was cut down against the Waratahs, before on the weekend Lukhan Salakaia-Loto left the field at HBF Stadium after just five minutes.
O’Connor, who served as captain last year, stepped into the role dutifully to not only lead the team with class and experience, but at the same time also turn in his finest performance of the year to date.
The Wallabies veteran directed his side around the park perfectly, and then provided the two big plays for the second-half five pointers that snuffed out the Force’s stubborn, if flat, resistance.
O’Connor’s grubber kick for Josh Flook’s try was a thing of beauty. Needing to curve the ball between defenders and then across to Flook, O’Connor kicked the ball on an angle so that it would naturally shape towards Flook. The outside centre then did superbly to pluck the ball out of the air and touch it down centimetres from the in-goal touchline.
O’Connor rounded out the Reds’ bonus-point triumph with a sublime pass that put a charging Fraser McReight over for the Queenslanders’ fourth try.
While the likes of Reesjan Pasitoa and Ben Donaldson are being talked up as 10s of the future, it is O’Connor and Quade Cooper who are destined to fight it out for the No. 10 jersey against England come July.
More performances like the one in Perth, particularly against the Kiwi franchises later in the season, will have O’Connor with his nose in front.
Perofeta double-play sees Blues home [just]
Things haven’t always gone Stephen Perofeta’s way in Auckland. From injuries to selection battles, the talented playmaker has had limited opportunities to demonstrate the full breadth of his talents.
But he finally looks to have found a home at fullback, and on the weekend provided the clutch play that would get the Blues over the line, save for the best efforts of teammate Tom Robinson, who will find himself on the unfortunate side of this column further down.
With the Blues hard on the attack, but still trailing inside the final 10 minutes at Eden Park, Perofeta exploded onto the outside of Chiefs flyer Etene Nanai-Seturo before drawing Josh Ioane with the pass to Mark Telea, who then scored in the corner.
Perofeta’s work wasn’t done there, however, as he calmly stepped up for his first conversion attempt of the afternoon and split the uprights from just inside the right touchline.
With Beauden Barrett making his return off the bench against the Chiefs, the Blues will be licking their lips at the thought of he and Perofeta combining in a backline that also features Finlay Christie, Rieko Ioane, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Caleb Clarke and the hot-stepping Telea.
Drua on the board; Moana far from disgraced
Astute rugby judges will have jumped all over the $7.50 quote on offer for the Drua with one bookmaker in the lead-up to their Round 3 match with the Rebels.
Anyone who had seen the understrength Melbourne franchise in action this year could see that was a ridiculous price in a two-horse race, and so it proved as the Drua overturned a seven-point halftime deficit to run out 31-26 winners.
The Drua were at last able to unleash some of the flare that the Waratahs and Brumbies had negated in their first two Super Rugby Pacific games, scoring tries from turnover ball and a smart quick tap that caught the Rebels napping.
Meanwhile, after two false starts, Moana Pasifika at last made their Super Rugby debut, and were largely gallant in defeat against competition heavyweights the Crusaders.
After a 61-7 hammering by the Chiefs in their only trial match, there were fears Moana could suffer some serious hidings when the competition proper began. But they showed enough against the Crusaders to suggest they will be largely competitive in most games this season.
Harris puts his name on Wallabies radar
Waratahs No. 8 Will Harris has been talked up for some time. But a series of injuries over the past two years have prevented the 21-year-old from delivering on the promise of his junior rugby.
At last the No. 8 finally appears to have his body in peak condition, a wonderful performance against the Brumbies coming off the back of two solid outings against the Drua and Reds.
Harris ran for 76 metres on nine carries, the most yards of any forward on the paddock at GIO Stadium, and showed his sharp turn of foot to explode onto the outside of Ben Donaldson and run away to score the try that gave the Waratahs an outside chance of forcing golden point extra time.
Unfortunately for the Waratahs, they couldn’t work their way downfield far enough again and were forced to settle for the losing bonus point.
But Harris’ performance won’t have been lost on Wallabies coach Dave Rennie.
The youngster still has plenty to work on in his game, and his defensive contribution will need to be improved, but he could be a smoky for the July series with England if any of Rob Valetini, Harry Wilson or Pete Samu are cut down by injury.
After going years without an old-school ball-running No. 8, the Wallabies at last have options in the key back-row position.
NOT SO SUPER
Coombes-Fabling fumbles and bumbles a certain try
It will have been a particularly brutal video review for Highlanders winger Liam Coombes-Fabling.
While the entire Highlanders squad will no doubt be served some stern words from coach Tony Brown, Coombes-Fabling is going to feel like a prized goose – or falcon as the case may be – after he blew a golden try-scoring opportunity against the Hurricanes.
With the line wide open, all Coombes-Fabling had to do was grasp a cross-kick from Marty Banks. But the rookie winger got himself too far under the kick, with the ball flying through his grasp, grazing his head and bouncing on into touch.
While the entire Highlanders squad will be a bit sheepish with their season sitting at 0-3, Coombes-Fabling will be that little bit more disappointed given his effort in Wellington. And no matter what happens from here, you get the feeling that fumble will certainly get a run on the big screen at the Highlanders’ awards night later in the year.
Paisami tackle didn’t deserve a yellow
It was one of the plays of the weekend, but one that unfortunately cost Hunter Paisami ten minutes on the sidelines during the Reds’ win over the Force in Perth.
With Manasa Mataele tearing upfield on the counter, Paisami produced a thunderous hit and tackle that had the home crowd wincing in their seats. While the play rolled on for a couple of minutes afterwards, referee Graham Cooper and his assistants eventually agreed that the tackle should be reviewed on the big screen.
And they then determined that Paisami, in lifting Mataele off the ground, had put the winger in danger and deserved to be given a yellow card.
But this was a wonderful hit from Paisami, one of the standout moments of the match, and given the speed at which Mataele was bringing the ball back, the Reds centre deserved some leniency as the Force winger came down on his shoulder and was only barely lifted through the horizontal, if at all.
While the crackdown on dangerous and foul play is admirable, and rugby is largely leaving the other contact sports in its wake when it comes to the promotion of player safety, the game cannot strip every miniscule element of risk out of the contest – otherwise we’ll have no game left at all.
And there certainly won’t be any defensive highlights, which is exactly what Paisami’s tackle was.
Robinson spared the ultimate embarrassment
While the Blues escaped with their first win of the year when Bryn Gatland pulled what would have been a match-winning penalty for the Chiefs, back-rower Tom Robinson will probably still have sought out a dark corner in the changing room.
For after the Blues capitulated inside the final four minutes against the Hurricanes last week, Robinson very nearly ensured they did it all over again as he gave away two penalties in two minutes that presented Gatland with the chance to steal it.
First Robinson was penalised for putting himself in front of the ball-carrier as the Blues were trying to kill the clock, before he then committed a lineout infringement by grabbing the arm of Pita-Gus Sowakula.
When Gatland dragged his penalty attempt wide moments later to hand the Blues a 24-22 victory, Robinson let out a huge roar of relief before quickly cursing his own mistakes.
He very nearly made himself look like the dunce of the Round 3.