- Close
Deputy Editor, espn.com.au- Sam was brought up on long drives and the dusty fields of north-west New South Wales, where he developed his love of rugby from an early age. He joined ESPN after a five-year stint heading up Fox Sports Australia's digital rugby coverage.
- Close
Special to ESPN- John Goliath is a long-suffering Tottenham Hotspur fan, who likes to watch running rugby on sunny days at Newlands. He also wishes he could hit low stingers off the tee like Tiger Woods.
Super Rugby resumes after a three-week hiatus for the June Test window, the provincial competition now set for its final run to the playoffs.
Round 17 features games in six different countries with Singapore and Fiji joining Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina in providing competition venues this weekend.
Read on for some of the key storylines.
Australian Conference
Aussie derby a tale of overcoming omissions
It should be the biggest Australian derby of the season to date, yet Friday night's top-of-the-conference showdown between the Rebels and Waratahs is without some of its biggest drawcards.
Wallabies stars Will Genia and Michael Hooper are the key omissions through injury and fullback Israel Folau will join them in the stands after his appeal against a dangerous aerial contact ban was dismissed on Thursday night.
Folau was rubbed out for one-game following his yellow card in the Wallabies' series-deciding defeat by Ireland in Sydney last Saturday. After reviewing each of the Folau's kick-off challenges - one of which saw Ireland captain Peter O'Mahony taken from the ground on a stretcher - the citing commissioner handed Folau an official warning and a date with the judiciary panel.
Australia's legal team unsuccessfully argued its case on Wednesday and failed again to have the ban overturned during the appeal process on Thursday night.
The lack of support O'Mahony's lifter, CJ Stander, offered in each of the contests last week has certainly proven the biggest discussion point on social media, particularly for Australian fans, for much of the past week.
The in-form Waratahs will now be without their two most-important players. The Wallabies superstar again leads the NSW try-count while captain Hooper is the heartbeat of the 2014 champions who leads the franchise competition for breakdown turnovers.
Joining Genia on the sidelines at the Rebels is skipper Adam Coleman. The absence of the Wallabies No.9 looks as significant as that of Hooper, yet Dave Wessels' side managed three straight wins without him ahead of the June Test break. Genia's value, however, is reflected by the fact he has seven try assists this season, just one behind competition leader Damian McKenzie, despite the scrum-half playing four fewer games.
With just one point separating the two teams at the top of the Australian conference, for which the winner will earn a home quarterfinal, the AAMI Park contest is pivotal.
With games to come against the Reds and Highlanders, both away from home, a game against a Hooper and Folau-less Waratahs could be the Rebels' best chance of a victory.
The Waratahs, meanwhile, return home after Friday night's road-trip for games against the Sunwolves and Brumbies at Allianz Stadium, both of which they'll be favoured to win despite the longer-term absence of Hooper who is not due back from a hamstring injury until the playoffs.
The corresponding fixture in Sydney earlier this year saw the Waratahs run out 51-27 winners on the back of a blistering second half, but only after the Rebels had looked the far superior team for much of the first stanza.
The rematch looks set to be a far tighter contest; it's just a shame the nation's top talent isn't on show to add to the action.
Match Centre: Rebels vs. Waratahs
Match Centre: Brumbies vs. Hurricanes
Match Centre: Sunwolves vs. Bulls
New Zealand Conference
Highlanders due praise, but Fiji game could be costly
Super Rugby returns to the Pacific Islands for the third straight year, with the Highlanders hosting the Chiefs in Fiji on Saturday night.
It will be the Highlanders' first foray into the region, a special one for the franchise's Fijian-born All Blacks star Waisake Naholo at that; it is anything but new ground for the Chiefs, though, who hosted the Crusaders in Suva in both 2016 and 2017.
The two-time Super Rugby champions split those two encounters with the Crusaders at one apiece, but will better for the experience given the craziness a match in the Pacific presents. The steamy conditions are known to test the players' conditioning while a huge downpour preceding the 2016 game made ball-handling incredibly difficult.
While Naholo is sure to shift some of the local support the Highlanders' way, another Fijian Tevita Nabura will be cursing his brainfade from the Highlanders' crushing defeat by the Waratahs in Sydney last month. Nabura is now serving a six-week ban as a result of a fly-kick to the face of Waratahs winger Cameron Clark, costing him a start in Suva.
Given they were the first team to take Super Rugby to Fiji, the Chiefs will have won over plenty of local fervour as capacity crowds have taken to Suva National Stadium for their games against the Crusaders the last two years.
No matter who garners more of the support, another strong attendance will renew calls for the Pacific to be granted its own team in Super Rugby - a move that would help the region retain its top talent and strengthen Fiji, Samoa and Tonga at Test level.
With each of SANZAAR's partners reportedly reaffirming their commitment to the alliance -- including Super Rugby -- the discussion as to what kind of format the struggling competition should take continues to rage.
The governing body hasn't given up on expansion despite its disastrous move to 18 teams for the 2016 and 2107 Super Rugby seasons, while the New Zealand Government recently commissioned a feasibility study into the ability of the region to sustain a franchise. The report found any potential franchise would need significant private equity investment, but that a game could potentially be taken to the United States to help ease the financial burden.
Whether a Pacific Island team comes to fruition remains to be seen, but there is little doubt the support is there; that will again be reflected come Saturday evening in Fiji.
One question that will be answered far sooner is whether the Highlanders live to regret their generosity. Having won their last 12 games at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, giving up such strong home-ground advantage in the hotly-contested New Zealand conference is a huge gamble.
Trailing the Hurricanes by five points, the Highlanders are still capable of taking second spot in New Zealand and earning themselves a home quarterfinal.
Match Centre: Highlanders vs. Chiefs
South African Conference
The Stormers have essentially nothing more to play for when Super Rugby resumes this weekend. However, the Sharks will be hoping that their South African rivals can do them a favour on the road against the Jaguares in Argentina.
The Jaguares are six points ahead of the Sharks, and occupy the seventh position on the overall log. The Argentine side have the same number of points as the eight-placed Rebels, but have won one more game.
The ninth-placed Sharks currently find themselves outside the wild card positions and need the Stormers to find some form in Buenos Aires, while also hoping for a Waratahs win away at the Rebels.
The Sharks, though, face a tough assignment against the South African Conference leaders, the Lions, at Durban's Kings Park Stadium.
The Sharks have blown hot and cold this year, regularly going from the sublime one week to pretty average the next. However, if they want to keep their playoff hopes alive they need to come out firing at Kings Park.
The Stormers -- by some miracle -- and the Waratahs may be able to help out, but the Sharks also have to start helping themselves.