Cape Town beckons for chastened Hurricanes

The integrity of Super Rugby could be in for a bit of a hit.

Not that it hasn’t already taken a few since the conference system came in and the big announcement about a cull of teams came to nought, for the time being at least.

Now we face the prospect of, what the Americans call, ‘‘tanking’’ as teams look to juggle the demands of international rugby with their own playoff ambitions. Players can only do so much for so long and that could be borne out in some of the teams named for the final round of the Super season.

Let’s deal specifically with the Chiefs’ home game against the Brumbies on July 15 and the Hurricanes’ clash with the Crusaders straight after it.

The Crusaders have won the New Zealand conference. The Hurricanes are second, a point ahead of the third-placed Chiefs with both - seemingly - destined for away quarterfinals against the Stormers and Brumbies, respectively.

‘‘The Brumbies will send a weakened side to Hamilton, I’m sure, because they’ll have a game the following week at home,’’ Hurricanes head coach Chris Boyd said.

‘‘So I would assume the Chiefs are going to get five points so, for us to go to the Brumbies, we’ll need five points [from the Crusaders], otherwise we’ll go to Africa.’’

It’s worth bringing up the British and Irish Lions’ tour. The Chiefs have six players in the All Blacks and seven in the New Zealand Maori team. The Hurricanes ratio is seven and eight, plus Vaea Fifita as an eighth stand-by player with the All Blacks.

New Zealand Maori play the Lions on June 17, before the Chiefs meet them on June 20. The Hurricanes get their crack at the Lions between the first and second tests of that series, meaning both Super sides are going field weakened teams against the tourists.

Boyd’s sure the Brumbies will send a second-string side to Hamilton, but what about him? What’s his incentive to play his frontline All Blacks against the Crusaders on July 15?

Better to give them a week’s rest and try and have them ready to play in Cape Town. It might not do much for the sanctity of Super Rugby, but it’s probably the Hurricanes’ best chance of keeping their title defence alive.

Since Boyd and his coaching team started at the Hurricanes in 2015, they’ve played five times in South Africa, winning four of those. The only loss was to the Sharks in Durban last year.

Their most recent clash with the Stormers was in Wellington last month, when they ran out 41-22 winners.

A third-placed finish for the Stormers would meant a date with the team that finished sixth which, without a bonus-point win over the Crusaders, looks like it will be the Hurricanes.