The New South Wales Waratahs and the Canterbury Crusaders will settle the Super 14 rugby pecking order on Friday and nothing will be more crucial than the head-to-head battle between flankers Richie McCaw and Phil Waugh.
McCaw, the All Black captain-in-waiting, has faced a barrage of media criticism this week with allegations that he must cheat because of his freakish ability to win the ball around the fringes of the rucks and mauls, feeding the Crusaders’ appetite for scoring from turnover ball.
The match is a repeat of last year’s Super 12 final and could be a preview of the inaugural Super 14 final later this year.
Waratahs’ coach Ewan McKenzie said that if his team were to win then Waugh would have to dominate McCaw at the breakdown.
”He [Waugh] is one of the world’s best players and he’ll play a critical role,” McKenzie said.
The Waratahs, with 32 points, lead the Crusaders by one, although the unbeaten Canterbury franchise has a game in hand. The Wellington Hurricanes are third with 28 and the ACT Brumbies have 23.
The Hurricanes, who lost to the Crusaders in their last outing, have the bye this week while the Brumbies are at home to the seventh-placed Central Cheetahs.
The Waratahs and Crusaders have looked a class above the rest in the competition and the winner on Friday could almost certainly expect to be head of the pack going into the play-off rounds.
Crusaders coach Robbie Deans has kept the same line-up as that which posted their seventh straight victory of the year against the Hurricanes, and has been quick to defend McCaw, saying he plays to the edge of the law.
Australia’s champion flanker Waugh joined the row, saying McCaw ”does get away with a lot of things that other players probably wouldn’t at the tackle area”.
But Waugh and McCaw must be careful not to give away penalties as both sides have ever-reliable kickers in the Waratahs’ Peter Hewat and the Crusaders’ Daniel Carter, the only two players to top 100 points so far this season.
Where the Crusaders may have an edge in the backs is in the crucial flyhalf position where Waratahs playmaker Mat Rogers has failed to recover from a rib injury suffered against the Blues two weeks ago.
This leaves the rookie Danile Halangahu to face Carter, New Zealand’s 2005 player of the year.
In Canberra, the Brumbies need maximum points against the Cheetahs to move up level with the Hurricanes in third place. They should carry too many guns on their home ground.
As equally important as the outcome for match officials here will be stoppage time after the Cheetahs dragged out their 80-minute match against the Waratahs last week to 101 minutes.
The Chiefs feel their confidence returning after beating the Otago Highlanders last week but will be looking for further improvement against the Bulls in Hamilton on Saturday.
Against the Highlanders, the 16 points they scored did not do justice to the amount of ball they won, and their preparations have been further hampered by niggling injuries to All Blacks Mils Muliaina, Sione Lauaki, Sitiveni Sivivatu and captain Jono Gibbes.
The fifth-placed Bulls want to repeat last year’s semifinal appearance, and having lost two games at home, they desperately need to win on the road.
The Highlanders, in sixth place, have suffered a mid-season slump and need to beat the winless Western Force to get their season back on track.
Down at the tail of the table, the 10th-placed Western Stormers are in Auckland to play the unpredictable Blues, who are in 11th place, while in Johannesburg the Golden Cats are at home to the Queensland Reds in a match-up of the 13th and 12th placed teams.
The Sharks have a rest this weekend along with the Hurricanes. — Sapa-AFP