A racial slur controversy involving Justin Harrison and the sidelining of star back Mat Rogers have put the front-running NSW Waratahs under pressure this weekend after their winning start to rugby's Super 12.
The Waratahs have maximum points after their opening three games but a combination of travelling, injuries and the furore over Harrison's admission to racially vilifying black Cats winger Chumani Booi in last weekend's match will fully test the Sydney franchise's resolve.
Ironically it's another South African team that gets a chance to put the skids under the Waratahs with the Western Stormers, led by hit-man center De Wet Barry, desperate to break through tomorrow after losing to the ACT Brumbies last week.
Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie attempted before the Harrison headlines to put his team's great start into perspective when he insisted: "We've got miles to go. All I see is mountains ahead of us ... We're just grovelling along at the foot of them."
Harrison yesterday voluntarily stood down from the team and while the Cats' insistence that another Waratah, Nathan Grey, was also involved in making unsavory comments, McKenzie's "mountains" analogy could take on Everest proportions.
The Stormers missed a wonderful opportunity to beat the Super 12 champions in Canberra, but they have won two of their last three matches in Sydney and have the personnel to take advantage of any disruptions in the Waratahs' camp.
Stormers coach Gert Smal has left out Springbok wing Breyton Paulse, replacing him with Tonderai Chavhanga. Chris Rossouw comes in at fly-half for Gaffie du Toit, who moves to fullback for injured Werner Greeff.
All Blacks skipper Tana Umaga returns to the Wellington Hurricanes' starting line-up for Saturday's home match with South Africa's Northern Bulls.
Umaga was on the bench in last week's win over the Coastal Sharks -- for the first time in 93 games for the second-placed Hurricanes -- and had an impact when he came on in the 48th minute and helped kick-start a run of 20 points.
Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer has decided to keep Bryan Habana at center, and there are reprieves for midfielder Ettienne Botha and fly-half Derick Hougaard following last week's 23-0 loss to the Otago Highlanders in Dunedin.
Matt Giteau is back for the third-placed Brumbies, but fullback Mark Gerrard has failed to recover from a hamstring strain for tomorrow's contest with the Cats in Johannesburg.
Giteau has been out for three weeks with a broken hand but slots into fly-half for Stephen Larkham, who will be out of action for up to four weeks after having a melanoma removed from the back of his leg.
The struggling Cats will be without Springbok wing Ashwin Willemse (ankle), with coach Chester Williams losing patience with his under-achieving players.
"I can't go on with a team that's only prepared to play for 20 minutes each week," he said.
"For the next eight weeks I want to use players who'll put their bodies on the line for this team," Williams said.
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