The Wellington Hurricanes will play the emotional card and invoke the memory of Jerry Collins when they face the ACT Brumbies on Saturday as the Super Rugby intensity hits “Test-match level”.
The New South Wales Waratahs and Otago Highlanders finish the semi-finals, with the Sydneysiders determined to prove that regular-season points, where they finished behind the New Zealanders, were an aberration.
The New Zealand sides go into their showdowns with the better form – the Hurricanes and Highlanders were the two best-performing sides in the regular season – while the Australia sides have the greater pedigree.
New South Wales are the defending champions, while the Brumbies, 2001 and 2004 winners, booked a place in the semis for a third consecutive year when they knocked out South Africa’s final hope, the Western Stormers, last week.
The Brumbies hope to become the first team from Australia or South Africa to win a play-off match in New Zealand, but against them is the arduous travel they have undertaken to get to Wellington’s Westpac Stadium via South Africa.
Hooker Stephen Moore saw similarities with 2013, when they went to South Africa to beat the Northern Bulls in the semis then flew to New Zealand to lose 27-22 to the Waikato Chiefs in the final.
“I guess this time around I feel like our squad is probably a little bit stronger and more experienced,” he said.
“Finals is as close as you get to Test matches and big Test matches. That kind of pressure goes up a level, the intensity goes up a level.”
The Brumbies did not play the Hurricanes in the regular season, but Moore said they have seen plenty of video evidence to know what they face.
“They’ve been the trail-blazers all year in the competition, so they’re a very dangerous side in a lot of different areas,” he said.
Wellington, who suffered a blow on Thursday with All Blacks wing Cory Jane forced out by a hamstring injury, are playing on emotion going into the match.
A giant No 6 shirt will be carried around the stadium in tribute to former Hurricanes star Collins, who was killed in a car crash in France with his partner three weeks ago.
Collins, a friend and teammate of many squad members, wore No 6 and “was a fantastic Hurricane”, club chief executive James Te Puni said. “We want to recognise Jerry and his contribution.”
The Waratahs, given a week off and a home semi against the Highlanders under a quirk of the conference system, have taken lessons from the way the Brumbies beat Otago earlier in the year by slowing down the game.
“They are a very impressive team, and they play a high-speed, high-tempo game. They have plenty of threats, and I think that (scrum-half) Aaron Smith is playing some of the best rugby of his career,” Waratahs assistant coach Daryl Gibson said.
“We need to try to put the brakes on them to try and slow them down, and try and dictate the tempo of the game that we want to play.”
Follow us on Twitter at NatSportUAE
