Justin Marshall's Chalkboard: How the Hurricanes can stop Pocock

The best No 7 over the ball in world rugby is David Pocock of the Brumbies, says Justin Marshall. Photo / Getty.

The key to victory for both New Zealand teams on semifinal weekend will be the way they deal with the opposition openside flankers.

To my mind, the best No 7 over the ball in world rugby is David Pocock of the Brumbies.

A close second would be the Tahs' Michael Hooper. Don't get me wrong, neither of those two have the allround game of Richie McCaw, particularly the power running game, but in terms of getting to the breakdown and slowing or turning over opposition ball, they're exceptional.

How the Hurricanes and Highlanders deal with this constant threat will be fascinating.

For the purposes of this Chalkboard, I want to focus on the Hurricanes and Pocock.

The Wallaby has the ability to have a negative effect on the way the Canes will try to play the game. They like to play a high-tempo, quick-ball game and get the likes of Brad Shields, Blade Thompson and Ardie Savea into the outside channels. It's been a successful modus operandi for them.

If I was the Brumbies, I would be looking first and foremost to slow down the tempo as much as possible. They will want the Hurricanes to play with static ball. To do this, the key will be to stop the Hurricanes behind the advantage line and the key to that will be first-phase.

To put it very simply, most teams play a structured game for the first three, maximum four, breakdowns, then after that it is spontaneous. Everything is predicated upon those breakdowns providing front-foot ball. Obviously, front-foot ball is easiest to stop at source, which is the first breakdown.

Getting stopped behind the advantage line has twin effects:

1. The openside flanker can run a direct route to the breakdown and does not have to enter through the imaginary 'gate'.

2. The Hurricanes' cleanout men have to approach the breakdown far more laterally than they would like and it is therefore much harder to get the good body angles and forward momentum to clean Pocock and Scott Fardy, who is also very good over the ball, out of the way.

Conversely, getting over the advantage line means Pocock will have to retreat to then be able to enter through the 'gate' and the cleaners are coming at him with momentum and angles on their side. From here the advantage lies with the attacking team.

So who is the man to achieve this for the Hurricanes. Logically you'd think a powerful ball runner like Ma'a Nonu or Julian Savea hold all the aces, but the coaching team led by Chris Boyd have done something very clever. They've used Nehe Milner-Skudder in the first receiver role on first phase.

Their reasoning? With his touch background and dynamic footwork, he is incredibly difficult to stop one-on-one. He invariably beats that first man and is well beyond the advantage line before he is stopped. Sure, Savea and Nonu will get their touches, but Milner-Skudder proves there're more ways to skin a cat.

How successful he is tomorrow night will go a long way to determining whether the Canes host a Super Rugby final for the first time in their history next weekend.