All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw returns to his trademark open-side flanker role on Saturday as the Canterbury Crusaders face a top-four Super 15 showdown with South Africa’s Western Stormers in Cape Town.
McCaw played at number eight last weekend against Western Force in his first game back from a bruised foot as the fourth-placed Crusaders look to leapfrog second-placed Stormers.
But the seven-time Super champions have bolstered their ranks by bringing back number eight Kieran Read, who was rested for their last two games, while Owen Franks starts at tighthead prop, replacing his injured brother Ben.
The Stormers will be without prolific goalkicker Peter Grant (knee) and Springbok winger Bryan Habana (ribs) as they look to fend off the Crusaders and consolidate their South African Conference lead ahead of next month’s playoffs.
Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder said his team would have to be disciplined against the Stormers before a capacity crowd at Newlands.
“They have a very good defence and are smart on attack too so we’ll have to be on top of our game,” Blackadder said.
“We probably won’t get as many opportunities to counter-attack as we did (in last week’s win) against the Western Force so we will have to look after possession, plus we can’t afford to give away as many penalties.”
Competition leaders Auckland Blues have been forced into a backline reshuffle for their New Zealand derby against the Hurricanes in Wellington on Friday.
Injuries to Luke McAlister and Isaia Toeava have forced coach Pat Lam to make changes with centre Jared Payne replacing Toeava at fullback while winger Rene Ranger moves into the midfield alongside Benson Stanley, who replaces McAlister at inside-centre.
Fly-half Daniel Kirkpatrick will start at number 12 as a replacement for Charlie Ngatai, who broke an ankle in the 28-26 win over the Queensland Reds last weekend, in the only change to the Hurricanes’ starting 15.
The match will be the second time the Hurricanes have met the Blues this year.
The Blues won the first encounter 41-17 in mid-March and while buoyed by last week’s win against the Reds, Wellington coach Mark Hammett is expecting a different challenge on Friday.
“There’s a focus around the Blues being a physical team and we need to match that physicality and maintain our ball so we can play our game. A lot of that is around attitude as well,” he said.
Wallabies prop Ben Daley, who signed a new two-year deal with the Queensland and Australian Rugby Unions this week, returns to the Queensland Reds for their Australian derby with the Rebels in Melbourne on Friday.
Queensland will have a double front-row boost with Test tight-head James Slipper overcoming a collarbone injury to confront the Rebels’ veteran All Black scrummager Greg Somerville.
Wallabies winger Digby Ioane, who was fined $21Â 60 for a tweet criticising referee Keith Brown, returns to the Reds after recovering from a hairline facial fracture.
England international fly-half Danny Cipriani has been suspended by the Rebels after ignoring a team directive by having a night on the town in Sydney last weekend, his second off-field incident this year.
The Reds are 12-point leaders of the Australian Conference over the NSW Waratahs, while the first-season Rebels are last in the conference.
In the weekend’s other games, the Waratahs host the Force in Sydney, the Golden Lions take on the Central Cheetahs in Johannesburg, the Waikato Chiefs face the Otago Highlanders in Hamilton and the Coastal Sharks have home advantage against the ACT Brumbies in Durban.
Defending champions Northern Bulls have a bye this weekend. — AFP