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.”
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The bio
His favourite book - 1984 by George Orwell
His favourite quote - 'If you think education is expensive, try ignorance' by Derek Bok, Former President of Harvard
Favourite place to travel to - Peloponnese, Southern Greece
Favourite movie - The Last Emperor
Favourite personality from history - Alexander the Great
Role Model - My father, Yiannis Davos
Sui Dhaaga: Made in India
Director: Sharat Katariya
Starring: Varun Dhawan, Anushka Sharma, Raghubir Yadav
3.5/5
Guns N’ Roses’s last gig before Abu Dhabi was in Hong Kong on November 21. We were there – and here’s what they played, and in what order. You were warned.
- It’s So Easy
- Mr Brownstone
- Chinese Democracy
- Welcome to the Jungle
- Double Talkin’ Jive
- Better
- Estranged
- Live and Let Die (Wings cover)
- Slither (Velvet Revolver cover)
- Rocket Queen
- You Could Be Mine
- Shadow of Your Love
- Attitude (Misfits cover)
- Civil War
- Coma
- Love Theme from The Godfather (movie cover)
- Sweet Child O’ Mine
- Wichita Lineman (Jimmy Webb cover)
- Wish You Were Here (instrumental Pink Floyd cover)
- November Rain
- Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden cover)
- Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan cover)
- Nightrain
Encore:
- Patience
- Don’t Cry
- The Seeker (The Who cover)
- Paradise City
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
The specs: 2018 Infiniti QX80
Price: base / as tested: Dh335,000
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 400hp @ 5,800rpm
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SPEC SHEET
Display: 6.8" edge quad-HD dynamic Amoled 2X, Infinity-O, 3088 x 1440, 500ppi, HDR10 , 120Hz
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Video: 8K@24fps, 4K@60fps, full-HD@60fps, HD@30fps, super slo-mo@960fps
Front camera: 40MP f/2.2
Battery: 5000mAh, fast wireless charging 2.0 Wireless PowerShare
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Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
More Iraq election coverage:
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
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Who is Tim-Berners Lee?
Sir Tim Berners-Lee was born in London in a household of mathematicians and computer scientists. Both his mother, Mary Lee, and father, Conway, were early computer scientists who worked on the Ferranti 1 - the world's first commercially-available, general purpose digital computer. Sir Tim studied Physics at the University of Oxford and held a series of roles developing code and building software before moving to Switzerland to work for Cern, the European Particle Physics laboratory. He developed the worldwide web code as a side project in 1989 as a global information-sharing system. After releasing the first web code in 1991, Cern made it open and free for all to use. Sir Tim now campaigns for initiatives to make sure the web remains open and accessible to all.
THE BIO: Mohammed Ashiq Ali
Proudest achievement: “I came to a new country and started this shop”
Favourite TV programme: the news
Favourite place in Dubai: Al Fahidi. “They started the metro in 2009 and I didn’t take it yet.”
Family: six sons in Dubai and a daughter in Faisalabad
The five pillars of Islam
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