Super Rugby's best and worst - round four

The winners and losers from the fourth week of Super Rugby.

Back of the week:

Rieko Ioane (Blues)

Ioane is the 18th player to score four tries in a Super Rugby match. (The last one was Ngani Laumape, who got four against the Blues in Wellington last year when Ioane found himself starting at centre). Wing Ioane's quality was plain to see against the Sunwolves and really the Blues' biggest job was working out how to get him the ball.

Forward of the week:

Codie Taylor (Crusaders)

Hooker Taylor scored two tries after joining his team's demolition of the Chiefs at halftime in his first game of the season. And the first try, following a brilliant offload by David Havili, was sensational. Dane Coles has been good for the Hurricanes but let's just say Taylor hasn't lost any pace over the past few months.

World Cup watch:

Ngani Laumape (Hurricanes)

A week after smashing the Brumbies to bits, the human cannonball did it again against the Highlanders. Laumape now has five tries in two matches. He may lack a little vision and perhaps the finer passing skills of other second-fives, but he must go to Japan for his power and strength alone.

Match reports

Barrett's 82nd minute penalty gives Hurricanes win over Highlanders

Crusaders thump woeful Chiefs

Ioane scores four tries to lead Blues over the Sunwolves

Ups

Will Jordan: He impressed with Tasman in the Mitre 10 Cup, but yet to taste Super Rugby level the question around Jordan was if he was ready for that next step. The answer to that is yes. In his second start for the season, the Crusaders fullback torched the Chiefs to run almost 100m, bagging two tries in the lopsided win. If he keeps the same level of play up, we could be looking at the next All Blacks bolter.

Bulls: It looks as though the three-time Super Rugby champions are rising to the top again. They announced their return with a dominant win over the Lions last weekend, and confirmed it with an equally impressive performance against the Sharks. The South African conference is shaping up to be the most hotly contested, and the Bulls look to be up for the challenge.

Downs

Hurricanes: To be more specific, the Hurricanes tight five. The engine room struggled to get going against the Highlanders and weren't able to lay a platform for TJ Perenara and Beauden Barrett to build the attacking game on. They were put under a lot of pressure at the set piece and crumbled under it. It wasn't as costly as it could have been for the Hurricanes, but it could be an area to address over the coming weeks.

Chiefs: It just keeps getting worse for the Waikato club. Fielding what appeared to be their strongest side of the season, the Chiefs allowed more than 50 points for the second time this year. What was worrying about their 57-28 loss at the hands of the Crusaders was the team the Crusaders had on the field. This was far from the Crusaders' strongest squad, with just four of their All Blacks in the starting side. While it showed the depth in the Crusaders' squad, it highlighted some real issues for the Chiefs.