Canes have to front up

No disrespect to the Sharks, but today is all about the Hurricanes.

That’s not to say the Sharks can’t win this Super Rugby quarterfinal at Westpac Stadium. Far from it, in fact. It’s just that a Sharks victory will be the result of a Hurricanes loss.

The Hurricanes can be their own worst enemy, as they were the last time these teams met. Their preparation was poor, attitude inadequate and they lost 32-15.

Everyone accepts – and that would surely include the Sharks – that, at their best, the Hurricanes are the better of these two teams. But no-one can be certain if we’ll see the Hurricanes side that beat the Waratahs and Crusaders in their last two outings, or the one that got done in Durban in May.

Just like they were last year, the Hurricanes have emerged as top qualifiers for the Super Rugby playoffs. But don’t look to that campaign for clues about which Hurricanes side might turn up this week.

‘‘We had a pretty good roundrobin, had a lot of confidence and just didn’t get it right in the final, so the road for this team is quite different,’’ Hurricanes head coach Chris Boyd said.

Last year’s format saw the Hurricanes and Waratahs, as the top two qualifiers, given a bye at this point of the season. The Hurricanes then came back and beat the Brumbies 29-9 in the semifinals, before the Highlanders won the final 21-14.

‘‘The last time we lost [this season] was the Sharks in Durban, so we’ve had a reasonable run since then and we’re in a different state than we were last time,’’ said Boyd.

The Sharks are an intriguing opponent.

As they showed back in round 11, they have a knack for knocking over the Hurricanes, a knack that began when Canes assistant coach John Plumtree was in charge, with Boyd as his deputy.

Having had a lengthy playing career for them too, Plumtree is steeped in Sharks rugby.

There’s no mystery about what the Sharks will serve up today. It’s just a question of how the Hurricanes respond to it.