The Super 12 semifinals tightrope

When you're in control of your own destiny...

The Waratahs and Crusaders will have home semifinals no matter what happens in this weekend's final round robin matches and the Hurricanes are sure of a semifinal place. If the fourth-placed Bulls beat the Stormers in Pretoria on Sunday they seal the vacant slot.

and when you're not ...

* If the Crusaders tonk the Hurricanes tonight, then the Bulls belt the Stormers, the Bulls could sneak into third. The Hurricanes have a points differential of plus 55, the Bulls plus 11.

* If the fifth-placed Highlanders beat the Chiefs in Hamilton, with or without a bonus point, they will make the semifinals provided the Bulls lose to the Stormers.

* If the Bulls draw with a bonus point it would open the door to the Highlanders - provided they had got maximum points off the Chiefs a few hours earlier.

* If the Blues get maximum points tonight, they will make the semifinals only if both the Highlanders and the Bulls lose.

* The Brumbies could sneak into the playoffs from seventh if they beat the Reds by a mile tomorrow and then the Bulls, Highlanders and Blues all lose by large margins.

The Super 12 rules for differentiating when teams finish level on points:

1: Superior points differential.

2: The result of the game when those teams met in the round robin.

3: The number of tries each team has scored in the round robin.