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SUPER14: Past and present champs to lock horns in Pretoria

The Canterbury Crusaders and the Northern Bulls -- Super 14 champions past and present -- meet in an early benchmark match today in the second round of the three-nation rugby tournament.

The Bulls became the first South African team to win the championship when they edged compatriots the Sharks in last year's final after beating the defending champions, New Zealand's Crusaders, 27-12 in the semi-finals.

Those matches form part of a seven-match winning streak for the Bulls, who have now beaten the Crusaders in three of their last four meetings at Pretoria's Loftus Versfeld Stadium.

The Bulls have one of the best home records in the Super 14, a fact acknowledged by the Crusaders' All Black flyhalf, Daniel Carter.

"I definitely notice a difference playing the Bulls when they are at home as opposed to playing them away," Carter said. "They do really lift a notch playing in front of their crowd at Loftus. They score a try, they get a roll on and it really lifts them. That's what makes it tough playing them there."

A crowd of more than 50,000 is expected at today's match, which has been billed as potentially the best, and most important, in this season's preliminary rounds.

The Crusaders crushed the ACT Brumbies 34-3 in their opening match last week and are expected to be out for revenge after last year's semi-final loss.

"They have been the top team in Super rugby for a while now and they have spoken a lot about this game. We know that this could be a grudge match," Bulls captain Fourie du Preez said.

The Bulls have made only one, forced change from the team which beat the Stormers in their first-round match, replacing Springbok winger Bryan Habana who is out of action for up to six weeks with a shoulder injury.

Last year's beaten finalists, the Sharks, opened their campaign with a 17-10 win over the Western Force but face another testing match on Sunday against the Stormers.

French World Cup flyhalf Frederic Michalak is expected to make his Super 14 debut for the Sharks.

"A great team guy, a big name who has come out here with a humble attitude and a great work ethic," Sharks coach Dick Muir said of Michalak. "We're not looking for anything typically South African from him."

"He is different and we've always said he has got something special. So we are confident that he will be pretty successful and up there with some of the best signings we've had," Muir said.

The Auckland Blues, who lost to the Sharks in last year's semi-finals, return to South Africa after opening their campaign with a convincing home win over the Waikato Chiefs. They travel to Johannesburg to meet the Lions, who were narrow first-round winners over the Cheetahs.

"There's a lot of pressure off the guys after the first game and, in a way, winning in Bloemfontein is big," Lions captain Ernst Joubert said. "It was a bonus away win and the guys are very confident about what lies ahead."

"The Blues are a good side, but they only got into the country early this week and they have to face us at Ellis Park. We badly want to win our first home game and ensure we keep up the momentum," he said.

In other matches, the Wellington Hurricanes play the Queensland Reds, the Chiefs play the New South Wales Waratahs and the Brumbies take on the Otago Highlanders.

Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie is in hospital today after having a kidney stone removed, but was expected to join his team in Hamilton, New Zealand, before tomorrow's match.
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