Injuries impact Super Rugby; Reds ride a wave of form

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - The Super Rugby season is only five rounds old. Yet, with less than a third of the regular season over injuries are already becoming a major factor.

Prior to the weekend's fifth round, 67 players across the 11 teams were unavailable because of injuries.

The injury toll is particularly high among the five New Zealand teams which had 40 players out of action.

The Blues, who lost 32-31 to the Chiefs on Saturday after missing a late conversion, are particularly hard-hit with 11 players on the injured list. That includes All Blacks Beauden Barrett, Hoskins Sotutu and Sam Darry.

The Chiefs had eight players out of action this round, including All Blacks Wallace Sititi and Josh Lord but were fortunate to have flyhalf Damien McKenzie back from injury. His performance was influential.

The Queensland Reds had eight players out while Hurricanes, Waratahs and Western Force were without seven players. The Fijian Drua are the only team that reported no injuries before the round.

Fans' occasional bafflement at the implementation of rules around head contact was evident in two incidents in Friday's match between the Highlanders and Hurricanes.

In the first, Hurricanes midfielder Ngatungane Punivai was knocked unconscious attempting to tackle Highlanders winger Timoci Tavatavanawai. As Punivai was led dazed from the field he was also surprised to learn he had been yellow-carded.

The referee was apologetic and technically correct. Punivai hadn't altered his body position sufficiently in the tackle to mitigate the possibility of head contact.

While Tavatavanawai had also driven his shoulder into Punivai's face the responsibility to avoid head contact lies with the tackler.

In the second, Hurricanes midfielder Peter Umaga-Jensen made a high tackle on Highlanders wing Caleb Tangitau in the last moments of the game as the Highlanders tried to turn around a 20-18 deficit. A penalty might have changed the outcome.

But the referee didn't see it and the TMO was unable to bring it to his attention because, he deemed, it didn't reach the yellow card threshold.

Winger Macca Springer produced the outstanding individual performance of the fifth round when he scored five tries in the Crusaders' 55-33 win over the Western Force.

The 21-year old equaled Super Rugby's single-match try-scoring record set in 2021 by the late Chiefs winger Sean Wainui.

Springer hasn't been a regular starter for the Crusaders but was given his chance on the left wing Saturday by head coach Rob Penney who said he had been energetic in training.

His fourth try came when he kicked ahead, recovered his own kick and eluded a defender to score. The fifth saw him trapped in a tight pocket near the left touchline. He managed to step infield and drive through tackles to score.

"The last one, I had to have a little bit of a laugh at myself," Springer said. "I looked at (fellow winger Sevu Reece) and he was laughing at me. It was more a surreal laugh. It wasn't a laughing matter but I just couldn't believe it myself."

The Queensland Reds became the top Australian team when they moved into third place with a 35-15 win over traditional rivals the New South Wales Waratahs.

The Waratahs had been confident ahead of the match after winning home games against the Highlanders, the Fijian Drua and the Force. They also started well against the Reds, scoring the first try of the match through winger Triston Reilly.

The match turned when Waratahs fullback Andrew Kellaway received a yellow card for a dangerous tackle on Harry Wilson. Reds fullback Heremaia Murray took advantage of Kellaway's absence to score a chip-and-chase try.

The derby match was typically physical and the Reds gradually gained the edge with tries to Wilson, then Richie Asiata who scored from a rolling maul. Fraser McReight dummied Kellaway to score early in the second half and lock Angus Blyth scored to put the game beyond doubt.

"I thought it was a cracker of a match," Reds head coach Les Kiss said. "They came at us early, scored early and we had to hold the fort.

"We weren't very tidy early, they were on top of us but we kept hanging in there. I thought it was a cracker."