Australian teams face daunting New Zealand challenge in Super finals series & More News Here

MELBOURNE, June 2 (Reuters) – Super Rugby’s credibility as a contest shall be below the microscope this weekend as fading hopes of an Australian revival meet the chilly actuality of New Zealand dominance in a much-criticised playoffs format.

In a 12-team competitors, three Australian sides have certified for the beneficiant eight-team finals series however collectively face an enormous activity to keep away from a New Zealand whitewash in the opening quarter-finals.

The Queensland Reds must defy a 23-year shedding streak in Christchurch on Friday to show the tables on the Canterbury Crusaders, every week after falling 28-15 to the highly effective South Islanders.

The rebuilding New South Wales Waratahs have by no means received a closing away from house and are lengthy odds to finish that drought in Hamilton on Saturday towards a Waikato Chiefs aspect which have received six of their final seven video games towards Australian opponents.

The ACT Brumbies, the highest Australian aspect with a fourth-placed end on the finish of the common season, could also be greatest positioned to outlive the weekend once they tackle the Wellington Hurricanes at house on Saturday.

But they enter the conflict on a shedding streak since struggling a 37-26 actuality examine by the Crusaders at Canberra Stadium.

Defeat would spell the top of an period for a Brumbies aspect who’ve set the benchmark in Australia for a lot of the previous decade whereas failing to ship a title.

Coach Dan McKellar and a string of Wallabies, together with entrance row forwards Scott Sio and Folau Faingaa, and fullback Tom Banks, are shifting on on the finish of the season and Saturday will probably be their closing recreation in Canberra.

“If you go out there just thinking that emotion is going to win you the game, then you’ll leave disappointed,” McKellar informed his gamers this week.

“We’ve got to make sure that tactically and physically, we turn up in the right headspace and also execute well.”

The different quarter-final is an all-New Zealand affair, with the table-topping Auckland Blues dealing with the eighth-ranked Otago Highlanders, a repeat of final yr’s decider in the one-off Super Rugby Trans-Tasman competitors.

By any measure, Tony Brown’s Highlanders have had a forgettable season, compiling a 4-10 shedding file.

They misplaced their final two video games however nonetheless managed to sneak into the playoffs, a lot to the disdain of some followers, and earned an opportunity to knock out the Blues at Eden Park on Saturday.

“Some people may not think we deserve to be in the playoff,” Highlanders and All Blacks scrumhalf Aaron Smith tweeted.

“We don’t make the rules. But will give the Blues everything we got.”

That will not be sufficient towards the rampaging Blues, who’re driving a 13-game profitable streak since a one-point loss to the Hurricanes in spherical one.

Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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