Blues on the edge as Super Rugby playoff race goes down to the wire
SYDNEY, May 29 (Reuters) - The most competitive Super Rugby season for many years goes down to the wire this weekend when three teams, including the defending champion Auckland Blues, battle it out for the last remaining playoff spot.
The final order of the top three in the standings will only be decided on Friday night when the table-topping Waikato Chiefs visit the Otago Highlanders and the Canterbury Crusaders and ACT Brumbies, who are second and third, clash in Canberra.
The top two are guaranteed home advantage in the first two weeks of the knockouts and table positions carry extra importance this year with the highest-ranked losers in the first playoff round going through to the semi-finals.
The Brumbies host the 12-times champion Crusaders knowing that victory would make them the first Australian team to finish in the top two since 2015 and could still secure them top spot if the Chiefs slip up against the bottom-ranked Highlanders.
"We know that if we can finish top two ... it would put you in a better position to get to the final," said Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham, who has overseen semi-final exits on the road in the last two seasons.
"The Crusaders are very dangerous with their scrum and their maul. They're kind of what you'd expect to see from teams at top of the competition, good all round."
Wallabies flyhalf Noah Lolesio returns from injury to run the Brumbies backline but crucially they will be without their totemic tighthead prop Allan Alaalatoa because of a calf injury.
The Wellington Hurricanes and Queensland Reds in fourth and fifth are already assured of post-season play, leaving Moana Pasifika and the New South Wales Waratahs vying with the Blues for the last place.
The Blues have improved since their poor start to the season but they will need to beat the Waratahs in Saturday's early game and hope the Hurricanes down Moana later in the day to sneak into the playoffs.
Moana, who are level on points with the Blues, were thrashed 85-7 by the Chiefs last week and face another in-form New Zealand team in the Hurricanes, who are unbeaten in their last five games.
Ardie Savea, the Moana skipper, and his brother Julian, who plays at inside centre, can be assured of putting in whole-hearted efforts against their former club as they look for another first in what has been the team's breakout season.
A bonus point win in Wellington will earn Moana the playoff spot because they will have more wins than the Blues, the first of the tiebreak criteria.
The Waratahs, who trail the Blues and Moana by two points, have the most daunting path to the playoffs, not least because they have won only once at Auckland's Eden Park in the 30 seasons of Super Rugby.
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