Miracles required

By 9pm on Friday we'll know if the Sharks have managed a minor miracle in scraping into the Super 14 semifinals or whether they will have to accept the reality of a season of missed opportunity. They have played well but have to rue the chances lost.

Chances for the Sharks to rue should they not perform a miracle this weekend in order of event.
1. Losing to the Cheetahs 27-26 at home, after leading 20-10.
2. Losing 35-30 to the Brumbies away.
3. Losing 23-17 to the Hurricanes away.
4. An horrendous first half resulting in them losing 34-27 to the Bulls.
5. Not getting a bonus point against the Stormers last weekend. Perhaps the TMO is to blame for some of this as Warren Britz had clearly scored a try that should have been awarded.*

Here is how the miracle must be performed. At 9am Friday the Crusaders must set out and beat the Brumbies by X number of points. X must be greater than 7 points and the Brumbies may not score more than 3 tries. At 7pm the Sharks must set out and beat the Western Force by Y number of points and must score at least 4 tries. The sum of X and Y must exceed 39.

The Crusaders ought to beat the Brumbies, especially without George Gregan, suspended for a spear tackle last week.(How he only received a one week ban I do not know - Aussie league players have been banned for 14 weeks for similar tackles).

The Force, after a rough start have drawn 2 of their last 3 games and lost last week by only 2 points to the Cheetahs. They received a few largish scores against them at the start of the season and lost 39-8 to the Blues in Auckland but are no pushover.

There is also an even more bizarre permutation that would allow the Bulls to secure the 4th semifinal spot. I am more likely to win the lotto than that permutation. That said I'm also more likely to win the lotto than the Sharks are likely to come through in the above permutation.

* I have commented before on the gagging of players & administrators, surrounding comments on the referees in many AngloSaxon sports. I am heartened that Sharks coach Dick Muir is not one to toe this line too well and generally says enough to get his point across without getting too personal.