The Wellington Hurricanes and Otago Highlanders will meet in a repeat of last year’s final in the 14th round of Super Rugby, though the real focus of this weekend’s action will be the contest for playoffs places in South Africa.
With four rounds of the regular season remaining, the Northern Bulls and Golden Lions sit atop the two African conferences, but their first placings, and the playoffs places that go with them, are under threat from the Stormers and Natal Sharks.
The Pretoria-based Bulls and Cape Town-based Stormers are tied on 32 points in the Africa 1 conference, but the Bulls are on top with a superior win-loss record. The Johannesburg-based Lions, with 37 points, lead the Durban-based Sharks by two points in the Africa 2 conference.
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The two conference leaders and the next best-placed team at the end of the regular season will advance to the eight-team playoffs, along with five teams from the New Zealand and Australian conferences.
The Bulls and Lions are set to meet tomorrow in Pretoria for a match which offers both the chance of a little breathing space over their nearest challenges. The Sharks have a bye.
The Stormers are hosting the Bloemfontein-based Central Cheetahs earlier tomorrow and need to win to keep pressure on the Bulls and to end a dangerous late-season form slump. Losses to the Bulls and New South Wales Waratahs and a draw with Japan’s Sunwolves in their last three matches have dropped the Stormers out of first place in South Africa for the first time.
Stormers assistant coach Russell Winter said the shape of the South African conferences had “changed drastically in the past two weeks.”
“It’s always been closely contested at the top there. There’s never been a big gap in the points. One week changed the whole lot for us,” he said. “But we realize that we have to go week to week and try make sure that we are in a good position come the end of the tournament.”
Springboks flanker Shalk Burger is likely to miss tomorrow’s match through injury, but flyhalf Robert du Preez, Jaco Taute, Wilco Louw and Jean Kleyn are due to return.
The critical clash between the Bulls and Lions will be in the hands of South Africa’s top referee, Craig Joubert, who will control his 100th Super Rugby match.
“I love being a part of this competition,” Joubert said. “I remember on my Super 12 debut in Sydney in 2005 — the Waratahs hosted the Chiefs and [I was] astounded at the pace of the game. South African derbies have always been special to me and I’m thrilled to run out for the 100th time in Super Rugby this weekend at Loftus.”
The Lions will be without flyhalf Elton Jantjies, who is sidelined for up to four weeks after having surgery to repair a broken finger.
The Bulls will be defending the only unbeaten home record in Super Rugby this season when they take the field at Loftus Versfeld.
“We made a decision at the beginning of the season, if we play at Loftus then we need to be up for it. There are no excuses,” coach Nollis Marais said. “We are playing possibly the best attacking side in South Africa and it is good for us to measure ourselves against them.”
The second clash of the season between the Hurricanes and Highlanders, which were separated by a single point when they met in round two, will also be influential in the New Zealand conference.
The Highlanders won the first meeting 17-16 and have recently recovered the form that carried them to their first Super Rugby title last year, beating the Chiefs and Crusaders in their last two matches.
The Chiefs lead the New Zealand conference with 42 points, a point ahead of the Crusaders and five ahead of the Highlanders who are a further point ahead of the Hurricanes. All four teams are in line for playoffs places, but today’s match and others in coming weeks between the Chiefs and Crusaders and the Highlanders and Chiefs will bear heavily on final standings.
The Hurricanes will be strengthened by the return of captain Dane Coles, lock Michael Fatialofa and five players, including All Blacks Julian Savea, Cory Jane and Victor Vito, who were recently stood down for disciplinary reasons.
Lock Tom Franklin and prop Dan Lienert-Brown return to the Highlanders lineup, bringing it close to full strength.
The Chiefs clash with the Waratahs in Sydney in a match between the respective leaders of the New Zealand and Australian conferences.
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