Summary Andries Strauss opted to kick for goal rather than push for a fourth try.
WELLINGTON (AP) - The ACT Brumbies pushed their claim to a third Super Rugby title and answered accusations of negative play by scoring six tries en route to a 41-7 win over the Western Force on Saturday, topping the tournament standings after 11 rounds.
The Hamilton-based Chiefs and Pretoria-based Bulls also posted high-scoring 11th-round wins to reclaim or cement their places atop the New Zealand and South African conferences.
The Chiefs beat the Durban-based Sharks 37-9 in a rematch of last year s finalists and the Bulls beat the New South Wales Waratahs 30-19 to stay a point clear in the South Africa standings.
The Bloemfontein-based Cheetahs beat the Southern Kings 26-12, but with only three tries, to remain a point behind the Bulls.
The Stormers opened a four-match tour to Australia and New Zealand with an 18-16 win over the Wellington-based Hurricanes, balancing their record this season at four wins and four losses while holding on to ninth place in the overall standings.
The Queensland Reds needed a late Quade Cooper penalty to edge the Auckland-based Blues 12-11, becoming the first Australian team to complete a clean sweep of New Zealand sides in a single season.
On Sunday, fullback Tom Taylor scored 20 points from a conversion and six penalties to lift the Christchurch-based Crusaders to a 30-26 win over the Melbourne Rebels. The win lifted the Crusaders into third place in the New Zealand conference, five points behind the Chiefs, and seventh place overall.
The Christchurch-based Crusaders were due to play the Melbourne Rebels on Sunday and could rise from their current 10th place as high as sixth if they were to win with a four-try bonus point.
The Reds win on Friday had briefly elevated them to the top of the championships table but the Brumbies soon reclaimed that position. Only a week after Queensland coach Ewen McKenzie described the Brumbies as boring and condemned their defensive style, ACT unleashed an attacking game which brought them a four-try bonus point before halftime.
Brumbies backs coach Stephen Larkham had said before the match that his players were on the brink of producing their best attacking rugby and he was borne out by his team s fluent six-try performance. The win lifted the Brumbies three points clear of the Reds in Australia and on overall standings.
"We knew the challenge this week was whether we could finish things off," coach Jake White said. "The pleasing thing is that when the opportunities presented themselves, we took them.
"There s a bit of confidence now, we ve spoken about teams that want to win this comp have to start getting their performances right as we get to the end of the season and (that win) will bode well going forward."
The Brumbies led by 29 points at halftime as winger Henry Speight scored two tries and Jesse Mogg and Tevita Kuridrani added others. They made their lead unassailable with tries in the second half to Joseph Tomane and Siliva Silva, posting more than 40 points in a match for the first time since 2010.
The Chiefs scored three tries and dashed to a 24-0 lead after only 15 minutes against the Sharks. But the Durban team rallied strongly and scored three tries to go to halftime only 24-19 behind.
Flanker Derrick Minnie scored a double for the Sharks, either side of a try by backrower Lubabalo Mtembu, who made an impressive debut.
Chiefs center Tim Nanai-Williams completed his double with a try in the 46th minute which broke the Sharks momentum and re-established control.
Fullback Gareth Anscombe kicked four conversions and two penalties from six attempts to further separate the teams.
The Chiefs win lifted them within five points of the Brumbies while the Sharks were left in seventh place overall and third in South Africa.
"Maybe a couple of weeks ago we would have lost that game," Chiefs co-captain Liam Messam said. "But to show we d learnt our lessons and to display character, there s a lot to come out of it."
Coach Dave Rennie made nine changes to the team that lost a week earlier to the Waratahs and was happy to see his team break its losing streak.
"It was probably a bit ugly," he said. "But winning ugly feels a bit better than losing ugly last week."
Stormers winger Bryan Habana capped a week in which he returned from a knee injury and was denied a Springboks contract by charging down a conversion and helping to clinch the 18-16 win over the Hurricanes. Habana sprinted from the goalline to bat down Beauden Barrett s conversion attempt in the last minute of the first half, trimming the Hurricanes lead to 11-7 at halftime.
Two penalties to Joe Pietersen and a try to winger Gio Aplon helped the Stormers make a winning start to their Australian and New Zealand tour.
"Bryan s chargedown was a big moment," Stormers coach Allister Coetzee said. "I haven t seen that done in rugby in a long time ... but that shows you the class of Bryan - he s always keeping his head in the game."
The Hurricanes now head to South Africa for matches against the Bulls and Cheetahs without hooker Motu Matu u who suffered a broken arm and will be sidelined for at least six weeks.
Queensland s Quade Cooper kicked four penalties, including the match-winner five minutes from fulltime, to lift the tryless Reds over over the Blues.
"Quade s goalkicking has gone up a cog this year to around 80 per cent," coach Ewen McKenzie said. "You need a good one on nights like this," McKenzie said.
Cheetahs captain Andries Strauss opted to kick for goal rather than push for a fourth try and a bonus point against the Kings, missing a chance to challenge the Bulls lead in the South African conference.
"It was a very tough game, it was very physical," Strauss said. "We backed ourselves to score a fourth try in the final 13 minutes and we almost did."
