Kiwi sides ready for tight fight to the finish

Super Rugby is about to resume after its month-long hiatus.

You’re excused if you’re blissfully unaware of this, but Super Rugby is about to resume after its absurd late-season pregnant pause.

And in case you’d forgotten, the competition is set for a grandstand finish − especially in the loaded Kiwi conference where there is a very real chance that four of the five teams could squeeze into the quarterfinals. For that to happen, a few key results are probably going to have to fall their way over the run home.

A month’s abeyance will have played all sorts of havoc with teams’ form, momentum and rhythm, not to mention the massive challenge for fans who have been asked to switch off for four weeks while the June international window played out, and now must re-engage for the run home.

It’s a horrible situation forced on Sanzaar by the ill-aligned test windows, and one which will have to change when the current international schedule comes to an end after the 2019 World Cup. It’s a non-negotiable for the southern hemisphere nations as they head to the bargaining table to discuss the global season.

For now, it is what it is. On the upside, teams have at least had a chance to get some of their walking wounded back in shape, though the likelihood that at least some of their internationals will return the worse for wear from test duty possibly counters that.

So how does the New Zealand conference shape for the threeweek run-in to the finals?

Well, it’s still anybody’s game for the top spot, and home quarterfinal, with the Chiefs and Crusaders equal top on 36 points, the Highlanders tucked in behind them on 32 and Hurricanes still in the hunt back on 28.

Making things more interesting is that the Chiefs and Crusaders open the resumption of hostilities next Friday night in Suva (it’s a home-away-from-home game for Dave Rennie’s side) which could go a long way to deciding that top spot.

But both sides have tricky finishes beyond that. The Crusaders should safely negotiate the Rebels in Christchurch in their penultimate regular season game, but finish with a visit from the Hurricanes with a strong possibility the boys from the capital could be fighting for their playoff lives.

The Chiefs, likewise, have a winnable middle game in Brisbane against the Reds but wrap things up against the Highlanders in Dunedin that could also have a fair bit riding on it.

Jamie Joseph’s Highlanders should seal a playoff spot from here if they’re good enough. They have competition lightweights the Kings in Port Elizabeth first up next weekend and even shorn all but two of their All Blacks for this one, the defending champions would be expected to grab winning points.

Then come the Jaguares in Buenos Aires (tricky but winnable), with the rest of their national contingent set to join them, and that closer back in Dunedin against the Chiefs.

Two wins from three should see them safely into the quarterfinals.

The Hurricanes have the trickiest finish, with not much room for error.

They sit on 28 points, and right now that would get them the Australasian group’s fifth and last quarterfinal spot ahead of the Waratahs (24).

But they will be doing well to preserve that advantage, with a home clash against the Blues and then visits to the Waratahs and Crusaders to finish.

That Sydney showdown shapes as a potentially decisive match-up.