Aisle be back: The semi-final this weekend

Let’s dedicate this column to the memory of the Fog Final. That one the Hurricanes lost in Christchurch.

What will we label this Saturday’s showdown? I’m plugging for the Smug Semi.

I can live with that. Smug sounds a bit like smog, and acts a bit like smog.

It seeps out. Chokes everything, and makes it hard to take a clear view.

Certainly the smug has been coming out of the South for a few rounds now, and why not. The Crusaders have played a strong hand impeccably well.

Their opponents, our lot, have played a strong hand very unwell.

So there’s every reason to expect that this Saturday the Crusaders will squeeze the life out of our 2018 season, and march onto another championship.

I’m really comfortable with that world view because if there’s one thing that can undo the inevitable, it’s for the Crusaders to think that way.

I doubt they will, but the media are beating the drum. It’s an ideal for the Hurricanes – no pressure really.

As one writer put it this week, only diehard Hurricanes fans could believe otherwise.

Well, there are probably a few of those. So what’s the trick to stopping the inevitable?

It doesn’t, I think hinge on whether Beauden Barrett is on fire or not. It’s obviously, however many times the cliché is trotted out, down to whether the forward pack can match its vaunted opposition.

And whether that can be married with some implacable defence.

Say another cliché too. It’s turning the pressure on and playing smart.

None of which the Hurricanes managed on their last trip to Christchurch. But they did manage in round two, when an albeit much different Crusaders side was given a thanks for coming beating at the Cake Tin.

What will kill the Canes will be trying to play helter-skelter, blitz rugby from the get-go. They need to go toe to toe, fight for territory, and stop treating the ball with disregard.

We pretty much know what Crusaders side will turn up. So the Canes have got to know that their fate is in their own hands.

That’s not too bad a head space. Let’s go and win this.

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Up here in Vanuatu, I often have to follow the games via internet live scoring.

I always admire the poor journos who tell you how the match is unfolding. In the background they are also filtering a wave of online comments. They don’t let every one of those go through, thankfully.

But some of those that do, well, it’s a hard read. About five minutes in, or less, someone will accuse the ref of being in the pay of the opposition.

About eight minutes in, they’ll criticise player X, who having made a small mistake, will now be cast into the wilderness, as said mistake confirms they are unfit to ever play at a higher level.

But even more inevitable, at least on a Hurricanes v Another Team feed, is that someone with a moniker like “SadersForever” will say something derogatory about either or both of the teams. Neither are fit to wipe the boots of the red and blacks.

I mean, as someone pointed out last week, your team is NOT even playing in this game.

For all I know, Canes fans may troll the Crusader games.

They’d be equally tedious.

It isn’t your team, we’re not playing you. Stop being embarrassingly needy.

Go away and talk to someone who cares.

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The Hurricanes have named an unchanged starting XV to head south for Saturday's Investec Super Rugby semi-final against the Crusaders at Christchurch's AMI Stadium.

After defeating the Chiefs 32-31 in last week's quarter-final, Hurricanes head coach Chris Boyd has resisted the temptation to change a winning combination as they prepare to take on the defending champions.

The bench is also settled, although there is potential for one change with Ardie Savea bracketed with Reed Prinsep.

Savea has not played since he suffered a high ankle sprain in the All Blacks third test against France on June 23.

Boyd said Savea had worked extremely hard to return to the Hurricanes campaign and a decision on whether he would take his place in the match day squad would be made later in the week.

He was pleased with how the squad had prepared and played against the Chiefs but he recognised the challenge the Crusaders would provide the team.

Saturday's semi-final will be prop Toby Smith's 100th Super Rugby match having represented the Chiefs and the Rebels before arriving at the Hurricanes.

Kevin is a lifetime Hurricanes fan. He and his partner are on a two-year Volunteer Service Abroad posting to Vanuatu's Espiritu Santo island. He's working on a project to build a South Pacific World War 2 museum on the site of an enormous Allied base on the island. Check it out at www.southpacificwwiimuseum.com