South African teams Coastal Sharks and Western Stormers get their chance to close the gap on inactive Super 12 rugby front-runners ACT Brumbies in this weekend’s ninth round of matches.
The resurgent Sharks are in the middle of a six-game run at home through to the end of the season and are looking strong contenders to host a semi-final next month.
They entertain New Zealand’s fifth-placed Waikato Chiefs in Durban on Friday, while the Stormers look to follow up their narrow win over the Queensland Reds last weekend with a tougher assignment against improving champions Auckland Blues in Auckland on Friday.
The Brumbies, who have a bye, lead the competition by six points, but may have that slashed to one this weekend if the Sharks claim maximum points against the Chiefs.
”The Sharks are more structured and very disciplined this year,” said Chiefs coach Ian Foster.
”They hunt down kicks and fight the breakdown well, forcing teams to make mistakes. They have a couple of broken play runners who return kicks well and that’s their game and they’re very efficient at it.”
The Sharks are looking to capitalise on their successful road trip to New Zealand last month when they claimed wins over Otago Highlanders and Wellington Hurricanes.
The third-placed Stormers have a big game against the eighth-placed Blues and their Springbok fullback Werner Greeff has been declared fit for the Eden Park showdown.
Greeff has replaced Gaffie du Toit, who has moved to fly-half in place of Chris Rossouw.
Experienced winger Pieter Rossouw is expected to arrive in Auckland less than 20 hours before the match after he flew home to be with his wife, who gave birth to the couple’s second child this week.
Auckland won just one of their opening four games, but with the return of playmaker Carlos Spencer they have looked more structured and have climbed the table on the back of home wins over the NSW Waratahs and Northern Bulls in the last fortnight.
South Africa’s Golden Cats are looking to follow up their breakthrough win over the Chiefs last weekend with victory against the fourth-placed Canterbury Crusaders, who went down by four points to the Sharks in Durban last Saturday.
Cats captain Wikus van Heerden rates Crusader rivals Richie McCaw and Reuben Thorne as the two best flankers in world rugby and will get a guide as to where he stands in the pecking order of southern hemisphere loose forwards when he comes up against them on Saturday in Johannesburg.
”The guys were very, very happy to get a win over the Chiefs, but it’s just a pity it didn’t come earlier in the season for us,” van Heerden said this week.
”We know we will have to pick it up a lot against the Crusaders because they have so many All Blacks in the line-up.
”I’m looking forward to coming up against Reuben Thorne and Richie McCaw. You couldn’t ask for anybody better in the game and I rate them as the two best flankers in the world.”
Seasoned Scottish international Gregor Townsend believes the Crusaders would do well in any rugby competition in the world, including the European Heineken Cup.
”We have seen teams making a lot of mistakes, but for me the Crusaders and the Brumbies would do well in any tournament in the world,” Townsend said.
The Waratahs, one-time leaders but on the end of a four-match losing streak, look to put the brakes on their freefall against the Wellington Hurricanes in what should be a free-flowing game in Sydney on Saturday.
Ma’a Nonu has been switched to the wing with Hurricanes coach Colin Cooper opting for the Tana Umaga-Tane Tuipulotu midfield combination.
Defeat for either team will likely spell the end of their season.
The sixth-placed Northern Bulls must break through for their first win in Australia against the injury-hit Queensland Reds in Brisbane on Friday if they are to keep in the running for the finals. – Sapa-AFP