Brumbies braced for battle in the House of Pain

DUNEDIN’S House of Pain awaits to derail the ACT Brumbies’ push for a semi-finals’ berth in this week’s Super 12 rugby feature match.

Otago’s forbidding fortress has proved an impenetrable obstacle for most visiting teams, but the 2001 champions cannot afford to go away from Friday’s Anzac Day collision empty-handed.

The fourth-placed Brumbies are three points ahead of the Highlanders with three matches left, but defeat at Dunedin’s Carisbrook ground will leave them with the task of having to beat second-placed Wellington Hurricanes away and third-placed Canterbury Crusaders at home to reach the finals.

The Brumbies have lost on their last two visits to Dunedin, both grim forward-dominated affairs, 9-8 in 1999 and 16-9 in 2001, the year they went on to win the southern hemisphere provincial tournament.

The Auckland Blues can move away from the inactive Hurricanes with victory over South Africa’s Coastal Sharks at home on Friday.

The Blues are home from South Africa where they pummelled the Northern Bulls and Western Stormers, but the torrid season is starting to catch up with them.

Daniel Braid, one of the team’s in-form loose forwards, has been given a rest to recover from his South African battering, while Steve Devine, Keven Mealamu and Tony Woodcock have been benched.

Try-scoring winger Rupeni Caucaunibuca is unfit, unable to run freely for several weeks.

“We need to fluff up, we are on our home track and we will be excited by this opportunity,” Blues’ coach Peter Sloane said on Thursday.

“We have to deal with a Sharks side which will be very physical, abrasive and well-balanced. They have a high skill level and a lot to offer.”

Sloane acknowledged some of his young forwards were having to tough out the final stages of the seriesCanterbury coach Robbie Deans is remaining coy, but All Blacks fly-half Andrew Mehrtens is expected to make his return for the Crusaders against the Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday.

Mehrtens has not played since March 1 after suffering a partial tear to the posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

He passed a test in Christchurch last Friday and travelled with the Crusaders to South Africa.

The defending champions can clinch a finals’ spot with victory this weekend.

After yet another heavy loss last weekend the Stormers are without two key players ahead of Saturday’s match against the Waikato Chiefs in Cape Town.

Full-back Werner Greeff has a right medial ankle ligament sprain, while lock Quinton Davids has a lower back lumbar injury.

Both teams are out of finals’ calculations as are the Queensland Reds and South Africa’s Golden Cats who play in Brisbane on Saturday.