Order appears to have been restored in the New Zealand conference with the Chiefs returning to winning ways, outnumbering the Lions in Hamilton, and returning to their rightful place on top of the conference.
The Crusaders and Blues all beat the Brumbies and Reds respectively to stay within touch of the Chiefs and the playoffs, while the Hurricanes couldn't quite make it a clean sweep to the Kiwis against the Australian sides as they let the Waratahs come back from 24-7 down to lose 39-30.
The Highlanders also lost to the Stormers 28-26 but earned two bonus points for scoring 4 tries and losing within 7. Coming way from South Africa with 7 points - 5 of those against the table-topping Sharks - is not a bad return at all for a Kiwi side (only the Crusaders had a better record in the Republic this season and they did play 2 of the worst teams in the conference) and Jamie Joseph will be fairly satisfied with what the Highlanders have achieved - those points were deserved with their play in general being quite impressive and only a brain explosion by Brayden Mitchell cost them another 3 points.
The Aussie sides did suffer a bit this weekend at the hand of the Kiwi sides and after all the positive vibes from the start of the season of having such a competitive conference, this weekend was definitely a reality check for them - they still don't really have the knack of winning on this side of the Tasman.
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