Aisle be Back – Hurricanes v Reds

• By Kevin McCarthy 

Forgot to factor in the desperation last week with the Highlanders, who almost spoiled every Hurricane supporters night.

Still, could shoulda, and the Canes secured a desperately close win as you will know.

Now with two rounds left, from a competition wide view, you still want that desperation factor pressing teams to keep pushing the pedal.

Two teams – the Fijian Drua and the Highlanders – are now, sadly for them, in the dreaded Playing for Pride category. If teams are still to play them, they should be hunting a BP.

That for the Southerners means first the Crusaders and then Chiefs are going to be hunting relentlessly – they themselves being in a desperate scrap as to who of them – and the Brumbies –  seal one, two and three.

The there’s the dogfight for 4^th – where the Reds have to see off the challenge of the Hurricanes, and the fast finishing Moana Pasifika aka Ardie the Terminator.

And then actually, all those teams – except for the Reds – could if they mess up completely, drop out of the playoffs. That’s because the Blues, Force and Waratahs all can harbour at least mathematical hopes of dragging themselves onto the bottom rung of the ladder.

So that’s an ideal situation for SRP competitiveness.  Very few one-sided results in prospect, with momentum, home advantage, squad depth, and stamina now the cards that teams find themselves dealt with.

Given all that, the Hurricanes remain in must-win mode heading into tonight’s Brisbane showdown with the Reds. Despite a week in which the Hurricanes lost Riley Higgins and Brayden Iose for the season, they can still line up a decent 23.

The Reds on the other hand have at least a dozen on their injury list.

Yet they should be a tough nut to crack. The Reds after all can seal in fourth with a win tonight. And the looming Lions series means across the comp; Australian players have an added motivation.

No predictions here – other than it will be a must watch.

Elsewhere, the  must-watch will be of course the Chiefs hosting Moana Pasifika. Surely the Moana mania will hit a brick wall here? If not, which mountain should we chisel Ardie Savea’s face onto the side of?

And you know full well who the Hurricanes host in the last regular game of the season.

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Crunch time in my Super Fantasy league, at least for me.

Still trailing our mini-leagues leader by 250 points. The third placed player is another 200 behind me or so.

The leader of course has no need to play it wild in selections, whereas I’ve got to get some serious separation in selections and hope the luck falls my way.

Last week I hit the triple points burner wit Mr Savea, which worked, but I really need an act of god to close the gap.

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The Hurricanes team this week to play the Milton marauders sees Daniel Sinkinson making the starting 15 for the first time this season, and the return of Tyrel Lomax, who adds experience to the front row. Devan Flanders also returns to the bench after a long layoff, with Brayden Iose and Ngane Punivai both out with injuries picked up in the bruising encounter against the Highlanders.

1 Xavier Numia

2 Asafo Aumua (Co Captain)

3 Tyrel Lomax

4 Zach Gallagher

5 Isaia Walker-Leawere

6 Brad Shields (Co Captain)

7 Du’Plessis Kirifi (Co Captain)

8 Peter Lakai

9 Cam Roigard

10 Ruben Love

11 Fatafehi Fineanganofo

12 Peter Umaga-Jensen

13 Billy Proctor (Co Captain)

14 Daniel Sinkinson

15 Callum Harkin

Impact  

16. Raymond Tuputupu
17. Tevita Mafileo/Pouri Rakete-Stones
18. Pasilio Tosi
19. Hugo Plummer
20. Devan Flanders
21. Ereatara Enari
22. Brett Cameron
23. Bailyn Sullivan