Hurricanes top kiwi conference and our hearts

 Yeah I think you have them about right just not sure Crusaders-Hurricanes or Hurricanes-Crusaders, I might put the Highlanders ahead of the Chiefs some of their injured players are out for some time and may return to late. And Highlanders are showing some real courage if they stay injury free they will do some real damage to the top of the table as they already have. But Agree with everything else. 

 3ku1, the concerning thing for the Sharks is that we have our next 4 games on the road. We play the Rebels, who on their night in Melbourne can beat anyone, the Brumbies whom I have all but pencilled in a loss for the Sharks, the Crusaders whom the Sharks I am not sure have ever beaten in ChCh and the Blues whom are unbeaten at home.
I will never back against the Sharks but I think we have too many key players out injured now. Brumbies will be the most fired up of the year to face the Sharks as its personal. Jake White cheated" on them with the Sharks and they will want to prove a point. Having said that though, it will be the same for the Sharks. We will need our best players on the field for sure and play out of our skins in Canberra! Potentially, we could end up with 4 losses here and the Bulls have returned back to SA. They were doing enough to win overseas but letting themselves down. Back home, they will find winning much easier so they could be climbing the points ladder briskly whilst the Sharks scrap for bonus points for close losses. Sharks are 11 points clear of them though with a game in hand so we will have to see!
I am just not inspired by the Sharks performances of the past 2 weeks. We need Reinach back and Swiel can not play 10! Lambie is gone so at the very least, Zeilinga needs to return!
Sharks need to target Rebels and Blues and throw everything at those games! If we can win those 2, any points from the other 2 are just a bonus. 9 or 10 points from the next 4 weeks will be like heaven ;-)
Hurricanes to win NZL conference and possibly the tournament. Far too many good players not to be up there and now, the scary thing for the rest of the teams, they have learned to grind out wins on the back of defence. Hurricanes of old might have succumbed to the pressure of the Reds last night when scores were close but they soaked it up and did what they had to and broke the Reds down! They are playing like a championship team and not just the excitement machine they used to be that couldnt handle pressure!

I also liked the way the highlanders played in their last game. They were balanced & also have great strike power. The fact that they have been crap for the last couple of seasons was not a good indicator of the teams potential. Looks like it is coming right now. We will see how far they go. Like all teams , injuries can derail them.

best comment from the commentator, hammet announces hes leaving at the end of the year, and the hurricanes find themselves on top of the conference, lolz,

what counts against the hurricanes is they play in the hardest conference in the spXV, i mean were over halfway through the competition and theres 5 NZ teams in the top 9 spots, o_O

i always thought that the cheifs and crusaders would make the finals (especially the crusaders whose typical poor start was llooking bad), and i still think those two teams will make the finals, but theres a chance now that NZ might have three teams in the top 6 come the end of rnd 19.

if the highlanders beat the stormers this weekend, a task which should be a million times easier then the durban tadpoles they murdered on the weekend, then they are right in the mix.

i would be surprised if the canes top the conference, i mean they still have to play the
waratahs (A)
rebels (A)
highlanders (H)
chiefs (H)
blues (A)
chiefs (A)
crusaders (H)

teams from SA and OZ would call the hurricanes remaining fixtures a nightmare draw, but the kiwis call it life in thE NZ conference.
how fortunate the saffa and aussie teams only have to play 4 matches against NZ clubs, while every NZ team has 8.

i guess thats just another reason why no one can match it with the NZ rugby empire, no matter how hard they try.