WELLINGTON - The Wellington Hurricanes are prepared to wait as late as possible before their Super Rugby semi-final kick off against the Waikato Chiefs on Saturday for talismanic skipper Dane Coles to prove his fitness.
The Hurricanes' Dane Coles, right, Coles is struggling to overcome a severe rib injury in time to lead his side in Wellington
Coles is struggling to overcome a severe rib injury in time to lead his side in Wellington, while the Golden Lions host the travelling Otago Highlanders in the second semi in Johannesburg.
Of the final four, only the Hurricanes and Lions have never won the southern hemisphere championship and the Lions also have injury issues with calf problems putting a question mark over captain Warren Whitely.
The Chiefs, back-to-back winners in 2012 and 2013, received a boost midweek when their captain Sam Cane was cleared to play after suffering concussion in their 60-21 thrashing of the Western Stormers last week.
The Hurricanes, who lost last year's final to the Highlanders, draw inspiration from the uncompromising attitude of Coles who suffered a severe blow to the ribs in their quarter-final victory over the Coastal Sharks.
Coach Chris Boyd has bracketed Coles with Ricky Riccitelli at hooker for the Chiefs clash but said he would give his captain "every opportunity" to prove his fitness.
"Colesy is improving each day and doing everything he can to get himself fit, but at the end of the day we just won't know until a little closer to kick off," Boyd said.
Media reports in New Zealand have suggested Coles may even wear a rib protector in an attempt to front up against the Chiefs although a team official said he was unaware of this.
If Coles does take the field the Hurricanes will be fielding the same side that shut out the Sharks 41-0.
- A total game -
The Chiefs have the travel handicap to overcome as they return to New Zealand from South Africa looking to back up from their regular season victory over the Hurricanes.
They are a team that relishes razzle-dazzle rugby and would appreciate fine weather in Wellington rather than the tempestuous conditions that affected the Hurricanes last week.
The defending champion Highlanders continue their circumnavigation of the globe as they face the Lions in their Ellis Park fortress.
"Unlike the other South African teams, they play a running game of football, they can maul, they can scrum. They’ve got a total game," Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph said of the Lions.
But the Highlanders have dismissed any talk they may be travel weary, and scrum-half Aaron Smith said they proved they know how to win when they held off the ACT Brumbies in a desperate final 10 minutes of their quarter-final.
"You could see how much it meant to our boys," Smith said. "I just loved our forwards’ efforts. We’d been struggling in the scrum all night and then to really come through when it really mattered, that’s a good feeling to have."
In the Lions camp, Whiteley described his chances of playing as "touch and go", but whether he starts or not the only South African side standing is feeling confident after putting away the Canterbury Crusaders last week.
Assistant coach Swys de Bruin said his side is also a much better unit than when they were beaten by the Highlanders in New Zealand earlier in the year.
“We were not good at a few fundamentals. We did not protect our ball well, we gave away some bad turnovers, we didn’t pick our running lines well. From that point of view we’ve improved a lot,” he said.