Scales tipped Crusaders' way

When the bookies sit down today to frame the market for the Crusaders' home semifinal against the Hurricanes, they will find little to make them change their odds from last Friday.

The Crusaders were overwhelming favourites to outgun their rivals in the final round of the Super 12 and they completed that prediction with a 40-20 victory.

Both sides will embrace senior players who were rested from that game but even there the Crusaders look to have an advantage.

Starts for Richie McCaw, Daniel Carter and probably Casey Laulala, Mose Tuiali'i and Dave Hewett appear to give the Crusaders more impact than the return of Tana Umaga, Shannon Paku, Jerry Collins and Andrew Hore for the Hurricanes.

The Crusaders carry all the experience - four titles and two runners-up results in the decade of Super 12 - while the Hurricanes qualified in 1997.

The Waratahs and Bulls, who play in Sydney on Saturday, each make the playoffs for the second time.

But it will be all New Zealand eyes on Christchurch on Friday as the nation's best two sides go to it.

The consequences of that draw mean the All Black selectors will have more players to draw on for the national trial in Napier on June 3.

They decreed any players in the Super 12 final would be available for the NZ Maori side but excused national trial duty.

That Maori side will also have precedence ahead of All Black selection for their June 10 test against Fiji.

If the Crusaders reach the Super 12 final, some of their Maori eligible players like Leon MacDonald, Rico Gear, Caleb Ralph, Norm Maxwell, Greg Feek and Corey Flynn would not be available to the All Black squad until a short camp starting in Auckland on June 15.

The playoffs are pivotal times for the All Black panel to deliberate on some fringe test candidates or those in direct competition for places like centres Laulala and Conrad Smith, if he recovers from concussion.

Other duels with international implications will be Ma'a Nonu facing Gear on the wing, Umaga squaring off against Aaron Mauger in midfield, while the blindside flanker battle between Jerry Collins and Reuben Thorne should be equally absorbing.

Then there will be the rivalry between hookers Flynn and Andrew Hore, a contest which may be upgraded in importance because of the injury absence of premier choice Anton Oliver.

For All Black aspirants in the other three New Zealand sides, the Chiefs, Highlanders and Blues, there will be anxious waits knowing there is nothing more they can do about their chances.

Instead they have to wait until next Monday when the trial sides and NZ Maori squads are named.

The semifinals

Crusaders v Hurricanes
Christchurch, Friday 7.35pm

Waratahs v Bulls
Sydney, Saturday 9.30pm