Six-time champion Canterbury Crusaders will get no favors from the Central Cheetahs as they try to raise their lowly Super 14 standing in Bloemfontein tomorrow.
Long the benchmark team of the southern hemisphere provincial series, the New Zealanders lie eighth after three rounds and failed to score a try for the first time in six years in a 9-3 loss to the Golden Lions last weekend.
The Cheetahs will go top of the table ahead of the inactive Natal Sharks if they inflict a third defeat in four matches on the Crusaders, who are playing without their All Black stars resting for the World Cup.
Coach Robbie Deans is looking for more composure from his Crusaders against the Cheetahs, who employ a more expansive game than most other South African sides that traditionally use forwards-dominated strategies.
"Rassie Erasmus, their coach, is a creative thinker," Deans said yesterday. "It has already been apparent after just three games that his side plays with a lot more width than do most of the other South African teams.
"They are also prepared to launch from anywhere on the field, backing their ability to play an expansive game," Deans added.
The New South Wales Waratahs, who also have this weekend off, experienced the wilder side of Cheetahs hospitality last weekend when parachutists landed in their pre-match warm-up zone, the mascot thumped their physiotherapist and the mercury soared.
The Waratahs crashed to a 30-26 loss in Kimberley.
Wellington Hurricanes can challenge for top of the series if they can get over the ACT Brumbies in Wellington today.
The Hurricanes ended Auckland Blues' winning start to the season with a 23-22 win at home last weekend, while the Brumbies scraped home 6-3 over the Queensland Reds in the lowest-scoring Super match ever.
The Brumbies, who will again be without battered Wallaby center Stirling Mortlock, have three wins from five previous meetings with the Hurricanes.
"We have always found the Brumbies to be difficult -- we played them pre-season and found them very tough then," Hurricanes coach Colin Cooper said yesterday.
"They have so many stars in their team and they are a team that can move the ball very wide and throw a lot of surprises at you, so we have to be working very hard," Cooper said.
Surprise Australian team Western Force will be looking to back up their two wins in South Africa with victory over the Golden Lions in Perth tomorrow.
Coach John Mitchell said he was happy with the way his backs were starting to gel, adding they would be tested against the Lions' center pairing of Jaco Pretorius and Jaque Fourie.
Over the next four weekends on their Australasian tour, the Lions will face the Force, Queensland Reds, Blues and Waikato Chiefs before coming home to host the Hurricanes on March 24.
Queensland will again put their wretched playing record in New Zealand to the test when they visit Auckland to play the Blues tomorrow.
The Reds, under former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones, have won once in New Zealand in the last seven seasons.
In this weekend's other games, Otago Highlanders are at home to South Africa's Western Stormers in Dunedin tomorrow, and the Northern Bulls host the Chiefs in Pretoria on the same day.
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