If there is one strength to the Lions' game, it's their rolling maul. Last week they scored two tries against the Chiefs via mauls launched from attacking lineouts.
Handling errors continue to dog the Blues, with another 11 knock-ons last week keeping their average of turnovers from handling errors at just over 12 per game. The Lions were even worse last week, with 15 handling errors.
Lions' captain Joshua Strauss leads his side by example, and so far this season has made 80 runs with the ball and broken 20 tackles.
Gareth Anscombe starts at first-five this week and has scored 82 points so far this season, which is almost 40 percent of the Blues' total points to date.
HIGHLANDERS v HURRICANES (Glen Jackson)
The Highlanders pipped the Hurricanes 19-17 when the two sides met in Wellington in Round 4, but overall the Hurricanes still lead the head-to-head having won 10 of the 18 games between the two.
The Highlanders haven't done well after travelling back from South Africa in the last couple of years, losing their first game back in both 2011 and 2010.
The Hurricanes are the top try-scoring team in the competition with a total of 34, and boast the top try scorer in Andre Taylor who has eight. They have scored a four-try bonus point in five games now, while the Highlanders have managed to do so just once this season.
Jeremy Thrush has been impressive for the Hurricanes having won 23 lineouts, made 105 tackles and scored one try. Adam Thomson remains king of the lineout in New Zealand terms though, having won 45.
Beauden Barrett is currently the fourth highest points scorer in the competition on 121 points, which includes two tries. However, he has missed 30 tackles so far this season and may find himself the point of attack from the Highlanders.
Hosea Gear and Ben Smith have made 16 linebreaks between them, and the Highlanders have three players (Gear, Smith, and Tamati Ellison) in first, third and fourth place for most running metres made in the competition.
REBELS v CRUSADERS (Jaco Peyper)
This will be the first time the two sides have met in the Super competition, although they played a pre-season game in Melbourne with the Crusaders winning 19-14.
Despite his team losing last week, Kurtley Beale had field day against the Bulls making 11 runs with the ball, two linebreaks, and kicking five from five conversions.
The Crusaders are resting their top tackler Matt Todd (165) with Richie McCaw named in the starting lineup, but George Whitelock has made 115 tackles to date at blindside flanker.
The Rebels missed almost 20 percent of their tackles last week, so will need to beef up their defence against the Crusaders who will be smarting after failing to score a try in their win against the Reds last week - the first time they have failed to do so at home in 12 years.
Dan Carter has only played seven games this season but has already created four tries for his team with three individual linebreaks, two linebreak assists and one offload in the tackle.
Tom Taylor will continue with the goal kicking duties for the Crusaders, having scored 104 points with the boot so far. He is currently has an 83 percent accuracy rate with his goal kicking.
REDS v CHIEFS (Marius Jonkers)
16 games played between the two, and they have eight wins each. The points for and against are also close in this contest, with the Chiefs having scored 401 and the Reds 389.
The Reds have won the last two matches played between the two but have struggled to score tries this season having managed just 18, while the Chiefs have scored 28.
The Chiefs continue to be the most penalised team in the competition, with a total of 115 conceded. They have conceded 82 of those at the breakdown, 17 of which are against the tackled player for not releasing the ball - something they will need to be wary of with Liam Gill the competition's leading ball stealer at the breakdown with a total of nine.
Sona Taumololo has conceded the most penalties for the Chiefs with 16, followed by his fellow prop Ben Tameifuna on 14.
However, Taumololo is the leading linebreaker for the Chiefs, having made 10 so far. He is also their top try scorer with seven, although Lelia Masaga is doing his best to change that having made seven linebreaks and scored five tries.
The Chiefs' linout is running at 90 percent on their own throw, but they will need to be sharp this week with Scott Higginbotham capable of causing plenty of disruption. He has won 31 lineouts to date, just four less than Brodie Retallick.
Aaron Cruden is currently goal kicking at 88 percent, and has converted all but four of his team's tries this season.
