Preview: S14, Round Two, Part One

Round Two of the 2008 Super 14 offers a rematch of last year's semi-final with the visiting Crusaders aiming to set the record straight against the defending champion Bulls.

Round Two of the 2008 Super 14 offers a rematch of last year's semi-final with the visiting Crusaders aiming to set the record straight against the defending champion Bulls.

But it's the dusty Hurricanes who will be hoping to wave the New Zealand flag early on when they kick off proceedings against a pumped up Reds unit in Wellington.

The wounded Cheetahs then host a deflated Force outfit missing one key player to injury and the other to a banning from Rugby Western Australia (RugbyWA).

With the new Experimental Law Variations (ELVs) grabbing mixed reviews from last weekend's matches, one can only hope things will start looking up from here on in as well.

Hurricanes v Reds
Westpac Stadium, Wellington, 19.35 (06.35 GMT)

The Hurricanes will want to put a whirlwind of errors behind them and try settle the score with a confident Reds outfit still brimming from a first round win.

An error-riddled Hurricanes team crashed 3-20 to the Waratahs, while the Highlanders were unlucky to bow 16-22 to the Reds.

The Reds now make the journey across the Tasman fully aware of the storm awaiting them in New Zealand's windy capital city of Wellington.

Last year's opening 25-16 defeat to the Brisbane-based side will be fresh in the Hurricanes' surviving players' minds. Clinton Schifcofske – who will line up for the Reds again on Friday – contributed seventeen points towards the famous win in 2007.

Needless to say, the Reds went on to lose all but one game afterwards, but still hold the upper hand over their New Zealand rivals going into this match.

The Reds, bottom of the pile on the 2007 standings, showed us last week that under their new coach, Phil Mooney, they will be more than a handful this time round. Friday's clash will be the perfect opportunity for the Reds to prove that week's win was no fluke.

Although two very dubious TMO calls helped the Reds to a victory, they showed a greater urgency to play with the ball in hand and gone was last year's drab, forward-orientated approach.

This will no doubt be countered with an improved (one hopes!) performance from the Hurricanes who fumbled their way through 80 minutes in Sydney. The Hurricanes had coughed the ball up over 20 times as passes went astray, to a Waratahs player or were dropped.

The line-out functioned well, though the scrum was shunted at times, and when they did hold on to the ball the Hurricanes looked promising.

But nothing will hide how shoddy things really were. The Hurricanes had their chance to win and dropped it, literally.

The Hurricanes now have to show up and prove to their loyal fans that they are quite capable of a win – make that a convincing win. Especially with the likes of ten All Blacks in their line-up.

There will always be “must win” games as the tournament progresses, Unfortunatelly for the Hurricanes, that time is now.

Super head-to-head: A mouth-watering clash of the skippers awaits Westpac Stadium. The Reds' inspirational leader John Roe will look to add to his two tries scored last week, but knows it will take a big effort against opposite number Rodney So'oialo. If you're a big fan of desserts, the battle between the two number eights will no doubt be the icing served up on the Cake Tin pitch.

Prediction: They don't call Wellington the Windy City for nothing. If full-back Cory Jane can avoid charging down kicks with his nose, expect the Hurricanes to make up for last weekend's mess and blow the Reds back to Queensland. Hurricanes to win by ten points.

Hurricanes: 15 Cory Jane, 14 Hosea Gear, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Tane Tu'ipulotu, 11 Ma'a Nonu, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Chris Masoe, 6 Jerry Collins, 5 Jason Eaton, 4 Craig Clarke, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 John Schwalger.
Replacements: 16 Hikawera Elliot, 17 Tim Fairbrother, 18 Jeremy Thrush, 19 Thomas Waldrom, 20 Alby Mathewson, 21 Willie Ripia, 22 Shannon Paku.

Reds: 15 Chris Latham, 14 Digby Loane, 13 Morgan Turinui, 12 Chris Siale, 11 Clinton Schifcofske, 10 Berrick Barnes, 9 Sam Cordingley, 8 John Roe (c), 7 David Croft, 6 Hugh McMeniman, 5 James Horwill, 4 Van Humphries, 3 Rodney Blake, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Greg Holmes.
Replacements: 16 Sean Hardman, 17 Dayna Edwards, 18 Ed O'Donoghue, 19 Leroy Houston, 20 Will Genia, 21 Andrew Walker, 22 Peter Hynes.

Referee: Mark Lawrence (South Africa)
Touch judges: Joey Salmans (South Africa), Brent Murray (New Zealand)
Television match official: Chris Rooney (New Zealand)
Assessor: Stuart Beissel (New Zealand)

Cheetahs v Force
Vodacom Park, Bloemfontein, 18:00 (16:00 GMT)

Two relatively new teams in the tournament and both equally determined to make amends from close defeats in the opening Super 14 weekend.

The Cheetahs quite literally came within a whisker of winning against the Lions. With the lead changing hands for a fifth and final time, Lions replacement Earl Rose slotted two late shots at goal to win the match 23-22.

The Force also only had themselves to blame for letting the Sharks off a very big hook. In a game that was dominated by the boot, the visitors were in with a shout had it not been for a monster François Steyn penalty kick from inside his own half.

Bloemfontein's guests will have to be wary of similar kicks from the hungry Cheetahs on the highveld, where the ball travels much longer distances in flight.

Kicking aside, the ELV's could also play into the hands of the Cheetahs who, like their name suggests, will be full of running in a bid to tire down their opponents in a match to be played at altitude.

Playing rugby in South Africa is one thing but playing rugby on the highveld at altitude level as a tourist is a very different scenario.

The Force would have benefited from a win at sea level at Absa Stadium to take with them to Vodacom Park. If they looked down-and-out in the Durban humidity last weekend, heaven help the Force in the Free State heat.

With temperatures expected to reach 33°C, coach John Mitchell will need his troops' immune systems in top shape and will no doubt be putting a ban on all pizza deliveries before the game. Captain Nathan Sharpe has paved the way, losing eight kilograms in less than a week from gulping down a dodgy pizza the day before his team's departure to South Africa.

But with Sharpe's return, the Force at least have some leadership back in the squad which seemed to be missing when the going got tough against the Sharks.

The Force backline was average against the Sharks. And with Cameron Shepherd ruled out with injury, Matt Giteau and company will need to step up and prevent the ball from moving out wide to the Cheetahs' pacy wings in the form of Eddie Fredericks and Gavin Passens.

Super head-to-head: With Force bad boy Matt Henjak recently given his marching orders by