The Wellington Hurricanes are to play the emotional card and invoke the memory of Jerry Collins when they play the ACT Brumbies this weekend as the Super XV intensity hits “Test-match level.”
The New South Wales Waratahs and Otago Highlanders round off the semi-finals, with the Sydneysiders determined to prove that regular-season points, where they finished behind the New Zealanders, were an aberration.
The New Zealand sides go into the trans-Tasman showdowns with the better form — the Hurricanes and Highlanders were the two best-performing sides in the regular season — while the Australia sides have the greater pedigree.
The Waratahs are the defending champions, while the Brumbies, 2001 and 2004 winners, booked a place in the semi-finals for a third consecutive year when they knocked out South Africa’s final hope, the Western Stormers, last week.
The Brumbies are bidding to become the first team from either Australia or South Africa to win a playoff match in New Zealand, but against them is the arduous travel they have undertaken to get to Wellington’s Westpac Stadium via South Africa.
Hooker Stephen Moore saw similarities with 2013, when they went to South Africa to beat the Northern Bulls in the semi-finals then flew to New Zealand to be beaten 27-22 by the Waikato Chiefs in the final.
“I guess this time round I feel like our squad is probably a little bit stronger and more experienced,” he said.
“Finals is as close as you get to Test matches and big Test matches. That kind of pressure goes up a level, the intensity goes up a level,” he added.
The Brumbies did not play the Hurricanes in the regular season, but Moore said they have seen plenty of video evidence to know what they are up against.
“They’ve been the trailblazers all year in the competition, so they’re a very dangerous side in a lot of different areas,” he said.
The Hurricanes, who suffered a blow on Thursday with All Blacks wing Cory Jane forced out by a hamstring injury, are playing the emotional card going into the match.
A giant No. 6 jersey is to be carried around the stadium in tribute to former Hurricanes star Collins, who was killed in a car crash in France with his partner three weeks ago.
Collins, a close friend and teammate of many present Hurricanes, wore the No. 6 jersey, and “was a fantastic Hurricane,” club chief executive James Te Puni said.
“We want to recognize Jerry and his contribution,” he added, saying the Brumbies clash was arguably the biggest game in the Hurricanes’ history.
The Waratahs, given a week off and a home semi-final match against the Highlanders under a quirk of the conference system, have taken lessons from the way the Brumbies beat the Otago franchise earlier in the year by slowing the game down.
“They are a very impressive team, they play a high-speed, high-tempo game. They have plenty of threats, and I think [scrumhalf] Aaron Smith is playing some of the best rugby of his career,” Waratahs assistant coach Daryl Gibson said.
“We need to try and put the brakes on them to try and slow them down, and try and dictate the tempo of the game that we want to play,” he said.
Although Kurtley Beale and Rob Horne have been in a race during the week to overcome injuries, Gibson said his other stars were coming into form, particularly Israel Folau, who is “looking particularly dangerous.”
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