Sports FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 2014 Brumbies, Chiefs face Anzac Day showdown

SYDNEY: Defending champions Waikato “You can never relax.” tional Benji Marshall may have been ing Australasian tour with a win over the Chiefs and Australia’s ACT Brumbies meet The Chiefs have only won twice in ten released after failing to hold down a regu- Western Force in Perth on Saturday. in this weekend’s rematch of last year’s trips to Canberra and the Brumbies lead lar place at the Blues, but coach John Van der Merwe was on Wednesday sus- Super Rugby final, with the winner keeping 11-7 overall in their meetings. “It is special Kirwan has recalled World Cup All Blacks pended for three games on a striking series leaders the Coastal Sharks in their to be playing a match against an Australian Piri Weepu and Ma’a Nonu for what is tra- charge in last week’s 19-12 loss to the sights. team on Anzac Day. It is a hugely impor- ditionally a fierce trans-Tasman contest. Waratahs in Sydney. The Brumbies and Chiefs trail the tant day for our two countries,” Chiefs Weepu has been cleared to return via The Pretoria-based Bulls have lost their Sharks by six points after eight rounds of coach Dave Rennie said. the bench after the scrum-half suffered a last six away games but have won two of the southern hemisphere provincial cham- The Chiefs have made six changes to stroke last month and underwent minor their three games in Perth. Bulls coach pionship and both need a win on Friday’s the starting line-up with Mahonri heart surgery. “To have Weepu back will Frans Ludeke has made five changes with Anzac Day to avoid falling further behind Schwalger at hooker and Ross Filipo get- probably spark some emotion and when suspension, rotation and injury forcing his the South African pacesetters. ting his first start for the year. he comes on late in the game, he’ll be try- hand. “We have to get back to winning The Sharks face the Otago Highlanders The Sharks can put themselves into an ing his best to have an impact and change ways and this is a final opportunity to turn on Friday in Durban, where they haven’t even stronger position with a victory over the result,” Waratahs fly-half Bernard Foley our tour into a positive,” Ludeke said. “If we lost to the New Zealanders for nine years. the eighth-placed Highlanders. “The chal- said. “You can’t take any player lightly. can bag a win here and add the losing Back-to-back champions Waikato have lenge for us is to focus on getting a result Even recent form goes out the window bonus points we collected earlier on tour, battled through this season with a heavy against the Highlanders,” Sharks coach when you play guys like that because they the reward would justify the hard work we injury toll and will have 11 players unavail- Jake White said. “We go away the next day- can come on and ignite something or do have put in.” able for the Anzac Day crunch game in it’s our last home game for a long while the things that only the world-class players In this weekend’s remaining games, the Canberra. Brumbies coach Stephen and we have to keep the momentum do.” The Waratahs have only won once in Hurricanes host the Queensland Reds in Larkham is aware of the danger of playing going.” The fourth-placed NSW Waratahs nine visits to Eden Park but this year the Wellington and the Central Cheetahs have with complacency against the Chiefs. have been boosted by Wallaby Kurtley Blues are struggling in 11th spot. South home advantage over the Western “There were periods in that (2013 final) Beale’s speedy recovery from an ankle Africa’s Northern Bulls will be without their Stormers in Bloemfontein. The Canterbury where I thought, ‘we’ve got this won’, and injury for Friday’s showdown with the skipper Flip van der Merwe through sus- Crusaders, Golden Lions and Rebels have a that’s the wrong attitude,” Larkham said. Blues in Auckland. Rugby League interna- pension as they attempt to finish their los- bye. — AFP

Andy Schleck seeking Super Rugby, a competition of slim pre-Tour results boost margins — Smith

LIEGE: Former Tour de France winner Andy Schleck is desper- WELLINGTON: This year’s Super Rugby competition is shaping ate to get a positive result at Liege-Bastogne-Liege on Sunday up to be the tightest in a decade, Wellington Hurricanes captain to boost his confidence ahead of July’s Grand Boucle. Conrad Smith said ahead of his side’s clash with the Queensland Schleck, who was awarded the 2010 Tour when Alberto Reds tomorrow. While both sides are already in a ‘must win’ situa- Contador was stripped of his victory for doping, has not had a tion halfway through the season, apart from the table-topping top 10 finish in any major race since the 2011 Tour. Sharks, who have 31 points, the standings are relatively com- There he finished second to Australian Cadel Evans but pressed. The second-placed ACT Brumbies are on 25 points, while since then, injury and other problems have seen Schleck lose the seventh-placed Hurricanes (21) are just one point behind the all semblance of the form he showed to finish in the Tour’s Canterbury Crusaders for the final spot in the top-six playoffs. top two three years running. And now he is desperate for a The 2011 champion Reds are on 16 points and one bonus- point win away from moving into contention, despite sitting a morale-boosting result before July. lowly 12th on the table. “I seem to be saying it every year,” Smith, “Of course I go in (to this year’s Tour) with high hopes,” who made his Super Rugby debut in 2004 and celebrated his Schleck told AFP. “I believe I’m on track, I do all the training I 100th appearance earlier this season, told reporters after an have to do. “Sunday (when he crashed in the Amstel Gold intense training session in a chilly Wellington yesterday. Race) I was really unlucky (but) I’m confident that after Liege “In the past, we might tell you guys that we treat all matches I’ll do (the Tour of) Romandie and then the preparation goes the same but in honesty there were a few teams where you well for the Tour. would rotate a few players,” he added of the opportunities to rest “For me, mentally, I train a lot and do a lot of hours and to players against weaker sides in previous seasons. do a result is also good for your head.” Schleck, 28, crashed “But I don’t see that being the case this year. The New Zealand hard just 80km into Sunday’s Amstel race in the Netherlands conference is tight and... the way the Aussie sides have played before pulling out around 40km later. and the form they’ve shown.” He also came down in a minor early incident at The Hurricanes lost their opening three games and local pun- Wednesday’s Fleche Wallonne in Belgium before once again dits and fans had begun to grow restless at a lack of consistency failing to finish. But he will be the Trek team’s leader this com- in their results with talk of coach Mark Hammett being moved ing Sunday for Liege-Bastogne-Liege and is hoping to prove along when his contract expired at the season’s end. he is returning to his best form. REDS THREAT However, before the Fleche race he was still bothered by the knee he injured when falling at Amstel. Schleck’s loss of The Wellington-based side, however, have won their last form, coupled with a clear dip in confidence, is one of the three games despite Hammett dropping a bombshell when he said he would not be seeking a contract renewal before they pro- most baffling recent developments in cycling. duced their best performance of the season, a 39-20 demolition He announced his potential to the world as a 21-year-old of the Auckland Blues last week. Hammett has not allowed his when he finished second in the 2007 Giro d’Italia, winning the side to rest on their laurels this week, pointing out they may have young rider’s classification, behind Italian Danilo Di Luca, who just as easily lost their last three games. “We are a team, and we later that year would fail the first of three doping tests that have said this openly, that if we drop (our performance) by five eventually resulted in a lifetime ban in 2013. percent, those scores are the other way around and we drop Schleck went on to finish 12th at the Tour de France the those last three games,” Hammett said. next year, winning the young rider’s classification to boot. “Whether we like it or not, that’s the reality of where we are as He also finished fourth in Liege-Bastogne-Liege that year Andy Schleck a team.” The Reds have lost four of their previous five games and the 2008 Beijing Olympic road race. The next year Schleck though both Hammett and Smith were refusing to read anything proved he was a potential star, coming second in the Tour de after failing a doping test-he had taken a diuretic-and eventu- into those results with three of the losses by three points. France behind Contador, winning in Liege and coming sec- ally copped a one-year ban, robbing his younger brother of an As such, Smith said they could not underestimate the quality ond in the Fleche Wallonne. important element of his morale support group. of the Wallabies-laden Reds, who will celebrate captain James The next year he landed a Tour victory, although only after Without Frank at his side, Andy spent 2013 earning under- Horwill’s 100th Super Rugby appearance tomorrow. “It’s not Contador was stripped of his success, while in 2011 Schleck whelming results-he finished 86th at Fleche Wallonne-and always reflective of where they sit (on the table). They’re a good was second again, with brother Frank third-the first time two failing to finish-such as the Amstel Gold Race-but he dis- side and pose a lot of threats,” Smith added. “They have been siblings had made the same podium at the Tour. played some measure of a return to form by finishing 20th at very competitive in their (recent) games and could have won a But that was the last time he threatened the podium in any the Tour. Now, a year on, many will be looking to Liege, a race couple. “I know what kind of hunger that creates because we probably went through it ourselves. “They’ll be up. They’ll be a major race. In 2012 a crash during the Criterium du Dauphine where Schleck has four times finished in the top six, to gauge very dangerous side and we have talked about that and that in June left him with a broken pelvis that forced him out of whether or not he is capable of recapturing his Tour-winning there is no complacency.” — Reuters the Tour. His brother Frank was suspended during that Tour form. — AFP