The Australian Conference could be in for a shakeup this weekend with all five sides in action, starting with the Reds hosting the Sunwolves on Friday night.
That will lead into a busy Saturday with the other three teams all facing huge tests of their credentials, perhaps none moreso than the Rebels who are trying to shake off a bad run of form.
Check out our previews and tips for every game this weekend.
After coming out of their bye with a convincing win over the Lions, the Crusaders are all set to go swimming with some Sharks in Christchurch. My first instinct was to just say (like I do most weeks), back the Crusaders to cover the line but, in all honesty the Sharks win over the Waratahs in Sydney does give me a little pause before thinking that’s an automatic play, after all 22.5 is a lot of points to be giving. But after some careful consideration, it’s still the Crusaders and the Sharks are still horrendously inconsistent.
Thanks to a bye last week, the Reds have had two weeks to hear just how impressive their win over the Sharks was. That won’t mean too much if they can’t get by the Sunwolves at Suncorp this Friday night. You have to think the Reds will get the job done this time around and they have played a lot better since they picked up their first win of the season over the Sunwolves back in March. 10 points is a decent margin but I’ve got faith in the Brad Thorn project.
Before this season, it would have been hard to set a line that would have been a deterrent from taking the Hurricanes. Even though the Rebels have been pretty average in the last two weeks losing to the Stormers and Waratahs they can still turn it on with the likes of Cooper and Genia. I’ll back the in form Hurricanes to get the job done and win by 13+ here though, in large part because of how well they played against the Chiefs.
The good news for the Highlanders: they won their last game 52-0. The bad news: The Chiefs are could be a much tougher test, although they were just blown off the park by the Hurricanes. Injuries just seem like they’ve caught up with the Chiefs and if the Highlanders continue to build on their form from the last two weeks, this could get very ugly.
Back from South Africa, the Brumbies and Blues can’t afford to drop this game so it could be a true desperation derby. It may seem simplistic but you have to like the home side here since the Blues can’t win on the road apparently. Head to head you could feel comfortable taking the Brumbies in an upset but for a bit of added value, take the HT/FT double which looks to be a good value play.
An atrocious second half cost the Waratahs at home last week and now they have to travel to South Africa to take on the Bulls. While the Bulls are like every South African team this season and capable of looking unstoppable or unable to get out of their own way, you have to expect them to not make as many mistakes as the Waratahs. With another distraction for the side going on in Sydney over the weekend, take the Bulls to run away with it late.
My confidence in either team finding a way to run away with this game is about as close to zero as possible. Most of the recent games for both teams have finished with a single digit margin and the under is also probably on the table in this game as well. The Jaguares have won their last three and should find a way to extend it to four with a tight win.