All three South African sides remaining in the competition will be in action on Saturday, with the only qualifying match for the Finals Series not involving a South African team, that between the Brumbies and Highlanders in Canberra, the only match scheduled for Friday.
The DHL Stormers will host the late game on Saturday, with the Chiefs being the first New Zealand team that they will play this year.
The Stormers qualified for the playoffs as third seeds, while the Chiefs dropped from first to sixth after being outplayed by the Highlanders in Dunedin at the weekend.
The last time the Stormers played the Chiefs was at Newlands last March. The Kiwi side won 28-19 on that occasion, but the final scoreline flattered the Stormers.
Although the Stormers won comfortably against the Southern Kings in their final match of the league phase on Saturday, they will need to lift their game quite a few notches to be hopeful of advancing to the semifinals.
Thanks to the Emirates Lions losing without a bonus point to the Jaguares in their final league match (34-22), the Lions finish the round robin phase in second position on the overall log.
That means that instead of hosting the Cell C Sharks in their first playoff game, they will now play the Crusaders. The last time the Crusaders visited Johannesburg they won fairly comfortably.
Should the Lions and the Stormers win next Saturday, there is the appetising prospect of an all-South African semifinal in Johannesburg.
But if the Hurricanes, who finished top of the combined log, make the deciding game next month, they will host the final and the Lions (or Stormers) will have to travel if they get that far.
The Hurricanes host the Sharks in the earlier playoff game this coming Saturday.
Like the Emirates Airlines Park game, there will be a revenge aspect to the Wellington clash as the Sharks did unexpectedly outplay the Hurricanes – their best performance of the season – in Durban in early May.
On the evidence of the form they displayed in beating the Crusaders in one of two deciding Kiwi conference games this past weekend, however, the Hurricanes will take some beating.
They appear to be picking up momentum at just the right time, and the Lions won’t relish the prospect of playing them in New Zealand as the Hurricanes put 50 points past them in Johannesburg two and a half months ago.
