Crusaders go to the top as Bulls see red in Queensland

The seven-time champion  Crusaders moved to the top of the Super 14 rugby standings after the weekend's 10th round as former leaders the Bulls had their second loss of the season.
The defending champion Bulls finished a four-match road trip with a 19-12 loss to the  Reds in Brisbane on Saturday night, conceding the No1 spot on points differential.
Earlier on Saturday, Crusaders beat South Africa's Cheetahs 45-6 by seven tries to nil to place themselves atop the competition with four regular-season rounds remaining. The Bulls, 2-2 on the road trip, and Crusaders are booked to meet in Pretoria in the 13th round.
Queensland's win moved it inside the top four for the first time this season, elevating last season's cellar-dwellers to firm semifinal contenders.
The Cape Town-based Stormers, the form team of the tournament, also remained in contention for first place when they beat last year's finalists the Waikato Chiefs 49-15 in Hamilton. The Chiefs have faded from playoff contention after failing to win any of their four home matches in Hamilton this season.
The Stormers' mix of powerful but mobile forwards, efficient backs and sound goalkicking has helped them compile a 7-2 record which leaves them in third place, but only a point behind the Crusaders and Bulls.
Lock Andries Bekker, with commanding lineout skills and the pace of a sprinter, and hooker Tiaan Liebenberg were prominent in the Stormers' win.  Each scored a try and both featured repeatedly in some of the sprawling attacking movements which led to the Stormers' six tries.
The Stormers leave New Zealand with consecutive wins over the Auckland Blues and Chiefs but face a difficult stop in Brisbane against the resurgent Reds before returning to South Africa.
"It's tough to go back-to-back in this competition but we managed to do it, so it's been a pretty awesome week," Stormers captain Schalk Burger said. "The big thing is we've concentrated on accuracy and our structure ... and shown we can score some points."
The Reds showed strength and smarts to beat the Bulls in front of almost 27,000 fans, denying the defending champions the chance to impose their game plan.
 Reds coach Ewen McKenzie said: "It's hard to play 80 minutes and not actually give them the ball, but that was our intention. We did pretty well."
Bulls coach Frans Ludeke said the Reds were playoff contenders.
"The way they are playing at the moment, you must definitely count them in," he said.
 The Blues and  the Hurricanes kept alive slim playoff hopes with wins while the Chiefs dropped away from semifinal contention.
The Auckland-based Blues beat the Perth-based Western Force 38-17, helped by three tries from winger Joe Rokocoko who has begun to recapture his best form after losing his All Blacks jersey.
"Joe's really enjoying it," coach Pat Lam said. 
The Wellington-based Hurricanes overcame a heavy penalty count to beat the ACT's Brumbies 23-13 in a scrappy match at Canberra and retain faint playoff hopes from their current eighth place in the standings.
The Brumbies, in sixth, are four points outside the top four but face difficult derby matches in the next two weeks against the New South Wales Waratahs and the Reds.
The Sharks held on in a bruising South African derby  to edge the Lions 32-28, leaving the Johannesburg-based club winless and at the bottom of the table. New South Wales had a bye weekend and consequently dropped a point outside the top four.  Otago also had a bye.AP