Mate I'm sure with all the noise you make you would delay half the M&A deals going on in Sydney
I'm a burden to the economy
So looking at the simple table stats, you see why the victory over the Highlanders is a good one, but perhaps not a great one:
POINTS FOR (with average):
447 Waratahs (29.8)
439 Hurricanes (27.4)
411 Crusaders (27.4)
411 Blues (27.4)
393 Highlanders (26.2)
POINTS AGAINST (avg)
269 Waratahs (17.9)
283 Shorks (18.9)
292 Stormers (19.5)
314 Crusaders (20.9)
328 Bulls (21.9)
...
Highlanders are 12th with 408 (27.2)
POINTS DIFF (avg):
178 Waratahs (+11.9)
97 Crusaders (+6.5
89 Shorks (+5.9)
65 Canes (+4.1)
27 Blues (+1.8)
...
Highlanders are 10th with -15 (-1)
And this is the most telling stat for me - the Clan have beaten some teams handily to get into 4th spot. But they're still leaking points like a mofo (worse than three of the Saffer teams). They just happen to get their bonus points right a fair bit of the time:
BONUS POINTS
10 Highlanders
9 Waratahs, Hurricanes
8 Blues, Chiefs, Reds
7 Bulls
6 Crusaders, Sharks, Cheetahs
5 Rebels
4
Brumbies, Stormers, Force
2 Lions
Tsk tsk tsk Brumbies - could have been serious contenders if you weren't Jakeballing the fuck out of things.
Similarly the Force - both they and the Ponies have more wins than the Clan and Canes, but didn't score the tries to make it count just a
little more.