Injuries set to test unbeaten Sharks, Brumbies in Super Rugby round 5

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - The ACT Brumbies and Durban-based Sharks will have to overcome significant injury setbacks as they defend their unbeaten starts to the Super Rugby season Saturday in the tournament's fifth round.

The Brumbies embarked for South Africa without centre Pat McCabe and flanker David Pocock who sustained a potentially season-ending knee injury in the 13th minute of their 35-6 win over the New South Wales Waratahs last weekend.

The Sharks' loose-forward stocks are also depleted after injuries to Jean Deysel and Jacques Botes, both of whom are out of action for up to four weeks. Deysel suffered an ankle injury during the Shark's 21-12 win last weekend over the Southern Kings — the second-straight Sharks match in which all points have come from penalties.

Botes has a cracked wrist but his absence and that of Deysel may be partly offset by the return of Sharks' captain Keegan Daniel who was injured pre-season and will be playing his first competition match of the year.

"It looks like Keegan will be ready for Saturday as he has trained well with us this week and has shown no ill effects from the injury," coach John Plumtree said. "It looks like he will be in the starting team and if he is he will obviously resume the captaincy."

The Brumbies are at the start of a run of four games against South African opponents — the Sharks and Stormers in South Africa, then the Bulls and Kings at home in Canberra. The team's South Africa-born coach Jake White says defence will be critical in those matches as the Brumbies attempt to extend their unbeaten start to the season and build on a record of five-straight away wins.

"We use defence to strangle teams and turn the ball over," White said. "We see defence as an opportunity to attack.

"We've got some really quick players out wide, so if we turn the ball over and send the ball out wide, there's no reason why we can't tear teams to pieces."

The Sharks, at the same time, are determined after two tryless matches to show they can break down defences and won't have to rely on goalkicking to further their unbeaten record.

After relying on penalties to beat the Stormers and Kings, the Sharks are eager to demonstrate they are capable of a more expansive game. Assistant coach Hugh Reece-Edwards was aware that the Sharks were being perceived as one dimensional.

"The word 'conservative' has also been used, that we're not on top of our game; there are a few things that are being suggested and bandied about," Reece-Edwards said. "We're not really doing what we can do, what we have been able to do in the past.

"When we played our pre-season warm-up games, we let the ball really move around a bit. It's not that we can't play, we certainly can. We have plenty of x-factor in this team and a great mix of junior and senior players, it's a great squad.

"We're in for a massive match this weekend and so are they," he explains.

In other fifth round matches, seven-time champions the Crusaders will attempt to break their winless start to the season when they face the Pretoria-based Bulls at Christchurch. The Crusaders are 0-2 after losses to the Blues and Hurricanes and face a formidable test against the Bulls who beat the Blues last weekend.

The Crusaders' poor start to the season has been hard to explain. They remain star-studded, even in the absence of regular captain Richie McCaw and coach Todd Blackadder won't let McCaw's absence stand as an excuse for their failures.

"We have no excuses there because we have got plenty of experienced people in the forwards and 'DC' (Dan Carter) is a very experienced leader of the backline. And look at the likes of (openside flanker) Matt Todd who is having a blinder of a season and has probably been our best player in the last two weeks."

The Bulls were impressive in ending the Blues' winning start to the season last weekend and are on target to extend the Crusaders' losing run.

The Dunedin-based Highlanders will also try to stop a two-match losing start to the season when they take on the Wellington-based Hurricanes Friday in the first match of the round. The Hurricanes broke their own two-match losing streak last weekend when they beat the Crusaders 29-28, with an intercept try seven minutes from fulltime.

Coach Mark Hammett has named rookie James Marshall at fullback in place of Andre Taylor and has been forced to delay the selection of his hooker for the match because of injuries to All Black Dane Coles and his likely replacement Motu Matu'u. Ash Dixon will start at hooker if Matu'u is ruled unfit.

Highlanders hooker Andrew Hore said his team had to retain faith in their gameplan in Friday's match.

"It would be easy to hide in these situations but we have to stay tight, look at what we have been doing, and realize we weren't that far away," Hore said. "We have to back ourselves and that's where the coaches and myself as a leader have to step up and say 'we are on the right track'. Get that win, and we'll be away."

New South Wales Waratahs coach Michael Cheika has dropped Wallabies winger Drew Mitchell for Friday's match against the Bloemfontein-based Cheetahs.

Cheika responded to last weekend's heavy loss to the Brumbies by making six personnel and two positional changes to his lineup for the match. Wallabies utility Berrick Barnes will make his first appearance for the season, returning from injury at inside centre.

Captain Liam Messam will play his 100th Super Rugby game when the defending champion Chiefs take on the Southern Kings at Port Elizabeth. The Hamilton-based Chiefs are coming off a loss to the Stormers, their first defeat of the season, but remain at the head of the New Zealand conference.

The Queensland Reds will play the Western Force in an all-Australian match on Saturday.