KEY POINTS:
Waikato Stadium won't be a place for the faint-hearted tonight.
It's getting to the business end of the Super 14 and these are the big occasions players relish. It should be a cracking contest. There is plenty riding on it for the Chiefs and the Sharks.
Take the
Sharks. They are third on the table - one place and seven points above the Chiefs - and a win will do two things: move them closer to sealing a semifinal spot and enable them to complete a New Zealand grand slam, having already beaten the Highlanders, Crusaders and Hurricanes in Durban and the Blues at North Harbour last weekend.
That's one of those fancy statistics that are largely irrelevant except in the sense that it's gone a long way to getting the Sharks where they are tonight.
They're a strong unit, skilled backs and uncompromising, rugged forwards loaded with experience.
Chiefs coach Ian Foster has an interesting take on the Sharks. There is a tendency to use an opponent's most recent match as having the most relevance. But Foster preferred to study a wider frame of work, pointing to the previous game, a 59-16 belting of the Reds, as showing a different side to the South African outfit.
On that night - and okay, the Reds were as resilient as jelly in the second half - the Sharks turned on the backline pizzazz with the likes of JP Pietersen, the Super 14 top tryscorer with eight, Waylon Murray and Brad Barritt having a ball. That demonstrated there is more to the Sharks than a mean-minded pack.
The Chiefs have spent their campaign climbing a ladder, the top of which at times seemed beyond their reach. But they always fancied themselves and now, having been at the window looking in, are inside the top four and aiming to stay there.
In a season in which the Chiefs have had their share of clutch games, this shapes as the biggest; then again, the same might be said when they head to Christchurch to face the defending champions, the Crusaders, in the final round in a fortnight.
"We targeted the last two weeks and this week as being a key part of our campaign," Foster said. "If we really wanted to have a crack, we needed to be doing the business. We've got two out of two and this is a huge game."
In the past two games, the Chiefs have got away with some dodgy defence. But it had been pretty secure before then and is not a hard fix, as second five-eighths Tasesa Lavea, one of the tackling culprits last week, admitted.
"I've got to put my hand up for missing a couple of one-on-ones. But everyone knows we like to rush, or blitz, and it's just getting our communication better and making the tackles," he said.
The Sharks have retained the same backline from the win over the Blues and the only pack change won't weaken them; experienced bruiser AJ Venter is back at flanker.
Expect the Sharks to kick for position and work their set pieces, look to intimidate up front - and the Chiefs aren't short of hard men themselves - and watch for the hefty boot of first five-eighths Francois Steyn, he of the mighty dropped goal against the Blues.
The Chiefs will want to utilise their pacy back three and they possess the Super 14's top scorer in first five-eighths Stephen Donald.
Look for halfback Brendon Leonard to repeat his sharp running and some heavyweight collisions between Sione Lauaki and the likes of Venter and Bob Skinstad.
Hamilton, 7.35 tonight
Chiefs: Sitiveni Sivivatu, Lelia Masaga, Dwayne Sweeney, Tasesa Lavea, Roy Kinikinilau, Stephen Donald, Brendon Leonard, Sione Lauaki, Marty Holah, Liam Messam, Keith Robinson, Jono Gibbes (c), Nathan White, Tom Willis, Simms Davison
Reserves: Aled de Malmanche, Craig West, Kristian Ormsby, Steven Bates, David Bason, Tane Tu'ipulotu, Jared Payne
Sharks: P. Montgomery, Odwa Ndungane, Waylon Murray, Brad Barritt, JP Pietersen, Francois Steyn, Ruan Pienaar, Bob Skinstad, AJ Venter, Jacques Botes, Johan Ackermann, Johann Muller, BJ Botha, John Smit (c), Deon Carstens
Reserves: Bismarck du Plessis, Beast Mtawarira, Albert van den Berg, Warren Britz, Ryan Kankowski/Butch James, Rory Kockott, Adrian Jacobs
