“At last, a win. In a match where neither side could get well out in front until the death, the Highlanders beat the Cheetahs 31-24 in Bloemfontein [Sunday] morning,” Steve Hepburn wrote in the Otago Daily Times. It was the Dunedin-based side’s first win of this Super 14 season. In monsoon-like conditions at Brisbane on Saturday night, the Blues recovered from conceding a shock opening-minute try to beat the Reds 27-18 (Wynne Gray, The New Zealand Herald). The Hurricanes laboured to beat the Johannesburg-based Lions 33-18 and earn a bonus point at Westpac Stadium, Wellington. Planetrugby.com said the home side barely broke out of second gear. The Chiefs stopped off at Perth from South Africa and beat the Western Force 37-19. It was the first time they had completed their overseas tour with a perfect record (Evan Pegden, Waikato Times). But the John Mitchell-coached Force were going backwards, having made their worst start to a Super 14 season since the 2006 debut year, Nick Taylor wrote in The West Australian. The Crusaders finally got going after 55 minutes and beat the Natal-based Sharks 35-6 at AMI Stadium in Christchurch. “ … when the Crusaders finally cranked up the heat they were smoking”, Richard Knowler wrote in The Press.