Derbies between the ACT Brumbies and NSW Waratahs are often emotional affairs but Saturday’s Super 12 all-Aussie showdown has taken on extra niggle with verbal sparring this week.
The Brumbies, born out of cast-offs from a once-strong New South Wales, take special delight in putting one over big brother and their clash at the Sydney Football Stadium has all the signs of a sparky encounter.
The Waratahs’ outspoken Wallaby lock Justin Harrison has spoken of the needle he expects when he plays against the franchise he left acrimoniously in the off-season.
Harrison’s beef was with Brumbies coach David Nucifora, who has subsequently been told he’s not wanted next season, and the Australia lock has been taking swipes at the front-running Brumbies this week.
With the Waratahs’ Super 12 finals hopes on the line and the battle on for Wallaby places, Harrison says emotions will run high and there will be some ”boilover points”.
Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has added extra spice to the grudge match by stating it would be a major guide for Test selection.
The Waratahs played some of their best rugby in weeks in tossing the Wellington Hurricanes last weekend, but are walking the tightrope — three points out of the top four with three games left and no room for failure.
The Brumbies lead South Africa’s Western Stormers by two points and are looking to take maximum points but they have yet to win in Sydney in four attempts.
Captain Stirling Mortlock said it would be up to the Brumbies’ senior players to ensure the team’s younger players did not get carried away with the emotion of the occasion.
”There’s a fair role for a majority of the senior players who’ve been in this situation before to show a bit of leadership and make sure that the team is solely focused on performing and not getting caught up too much in the one-on-one battles and the hype that does surround interstate games,” Mortlock said.
”As a team we’ll address the lip or anything that goes out there on the field to try to keep it to the minimum.”
The Stormers are buoyant after their stunning 51-23 defeat of champions Blues in Auckland last weekend and they have targeted Friday’s game against the fifth-placed Waikato Chiefs in Hamilton as a must-win in their quest for a home semi-final in Cape Town.
They have six wins from eight games and say they need two more victories to be sure in a compressed race for next month’s playoffs.
Coach Gert Smal rates the Chiefs highly: ”I think they are quite different to the Blues — a well-balanced team with a good pack of forwards, good backs. We’ll have to be at our best as they play well together as a team.
”They are hell of a physical side and I think they took the Sharks out quite nicely in that respect. We’ll have to match them in that area if we are to beat them.”
Four-time winners Canterbury Crusaders are back from South Africa and face another team from the republic in the seventh-placed Northern Bulls in Christchurch on Saturday.
The Crusaders are third but are running into form and will be expecting a strong challenge from the Bulls, who broke through for their first-ever win in Australia last week downing the Queensland Reds in Brisbane.
The Sharks lost unexpected ground last week in a 27-34 home defeat to the Chiefs, but are strongly fancied to see off the struggling Queensland Reds in Durban on Saturday.
The Sharks are fourth, just two points ahead of the Chiefs, and cannot afford not to come away without maximum points with Wallaby inside-back Elton Flatley back for the Reds after missing the last four matches with concussion and a ruptured thumb tendon.
The Auckland Blues’ diabolical season took another downturn with their All Black fly-half schemer Carlos Spencer having neurological tests after sustaining a number of heavy hits this year.
Former junior star Luke McAlister will make his Super 12 debut for the Blues against the Golden Cats in Johannesburg on Saturday, with Spencer remaining in Auckland where his partner is due to give birth to their first child.
The Blues are all but mathematically out of the running for the finals and a defeat this weekend will extinguish their remaining hopes.
In the remaining game, Otago Highlanders take on the Hurricanes in Dunedin on Saturday. – Sapa-AFP