On the heels of two tryless games and some woeful refereeing, the Super 14 is rapidly becoming the Average 14. After showing some signs of once again being the world’s premier club competition in Week 2, Week 3 saw a return to poor handling, clueless attack and awful decision making. The only improvement for most teams came from their defence, with far fewer tackles missed.

Hurricanes vs Brumbies
Going against the current trend of playing badly, the Hurricanes are one of the form teams so far. With good wins over the Chiefs and Blues in the last two weeks, they are brimming with confidence. The Brumbies, by contrast, bungled their way to an ugly win against the Reds and have yet to turn in a convincing win. Neither team has really put their opposition away this season with the Hurricanes’ largest winning margin seven points and the Brumbies’ six - both against the Chiefs.

The only signifigant injury for either team is to Brumbies’ centre Stirling Mortlock, who was almost decapitated by a shocking tackle by the Reds’ Lloyd Johansen and misses this game with a head injury.
While both teams have records of two wins and one loss, the Hurricanes are in better form and should carve up the Brumbies.

Highlanders vs Stormers
After three away games, the Highlanders are finally at home for the first time. Their tour of Australia and South Africa can hardly be considered a successful one, their only win coming against the Force back in Week 1. The Stormers have also only registered one win this season - against the Chiefs in Cape Town last week. Only one man in the Highlanders squad is capable of turning around their season: Nick Evans, and he is yet to play a single game. But even without Evans, the Highlanders should be more than a match for the Stormers, who traditionally do not play well away from home.

Blues vs Reds
Although the Blues lost their undefeated record last weekend, they are still clearly one of the best teams in the tournament. With former All Black Ben Atinga returning to the line-up, their already-powerful back line got even better. The Reds, however, are a team in trouble. After a good first-round win, they have lost their last two outings, including the lowest scoring game in Super Rugby history last weekend. Added to the lack of form is the loss of two key players, prop Greg Holmes to injury and Lloyd Johansen to suspension. Last weekend saw the Reds on the wrong end of some poor refereeing, and coach Eddie Jones was fined A$10,000 for pointing this out. However, even without help from the referee, the Blues have too much firepower for the Reds.

Force vs Lions
At the beginning of the season, these two teams were tipped to be fighting it out for last place. But both  have two wins and one loss records and have beaten some tough opposition. Last weekend, saw the Lions grind out a win over defending champions Crusaders, while the Force continued their winning ways against a good Bulls team.