America's Cup: Playoff puzzle needs answer

Team NZ beat Team France and are likely to face BAR next. Photo / Photosport

Today's Team NZ v Oracle Team USA showdown is occupying almost everyone's attention at the America's Cup challenger series in Bermuda, but another burning question remains: who will (or should) the Kiwis choose as opponents in the playoffs, starting tomorrow?

Unlike most competition formats, where the top-ranked team after the round robin automatically face the lowest-ranked side (or some variation of that formula), the America's Cup defender regatta gives the top qualifiers a choice.

Emirates Team New Zealand yesterday snared the top challenger ranking with convincing wins over Dean Barker's Softbank Team Japan and French team Groupama, but must now consider who they prefer to meet at the next stage.

"We've obviously got a big race tomorrow and our priority is to go and prepare as we would normally for that race," said Team NZ helmsman Peter Burling.

"Like any big decision that gets made in our team, we're a really tight team and everyone's got to buy into it. We'll just sit down as a group and weigh up the odds as to who we think will be the best learning opportunity for ourselves, but also give us the best chance of progressing through."

While Team NZ were underlining their superiority yesterday, Artemis Racing (Sweden) also showed they are a serious chance of advancing to the Cup match, after getting over Oracle for the second time in a week.

The Kiwis were somewhat fortunate to get past the Swedes in their first meeting on Tuesday, when they got the benefit of an umpire's blunder to sneak past on the final leg. The following day, they backed up with a more clearcut win over Artemis, although the Swedish team still showed impressive pace.

Sweden have defeated America's Cup holders USA and close allies Team Japan twice each - including once each yesterday - showing they are more than capable of toppling the best. But they have also lost to Team France, who will be eliminated from the regatta after today, and twice to Ben Ainslie Racing (GBR), who have struggled for form.

Artemis skipper Nathan Outteridge took advantage of Thursday's wind postponement and yesterday's scheduled bye to raise his team's performance to another level.

"[Yesterday] was very important for our team. It has been a pretty tough racing period so far for us and [yesterday] showed what the team is really made of," he said.

"We had two days off, and were able to make a few tweaks on the boat and made some good improvements in performance and the way the guys sailed the boat, so I was really pleased with that. It was a good boost to the team, nice to get the points and know we're moving through."

The challengers are ranked Team NZ, BAR, Sweden and Japan on the points table, but the British team's second-place ranking comes courtesy of the two bonus points they carried into the competition for winning the America's Cup World Series.

BAR were idle yesterday, while Japan lost twice, but only after skipper Dean Barker uncharacteristically lost both starts.

Perhaps a bigger call for Burling and his crew would be do you pick your toughest opponent first, before they get even better? In that case, maybe Sweden is the smarter option.

NZME America's Cup expert and former Team NZ weather guru Mark Orams warned against over-thinking that approach.

"This is one of those full-team decisions for them to make and the losers go home, so I wouldn't roll the dice on that one," he said.

Orams ranks Team NZ, Sweden, Japan and BAR in that order, regardless of their positions on the table.

"If it was me, I'd pick BAR for the playoffs. I just think, at the moment, they are struggling."

Team New Zealand will nominate their semifinal opponent during today's post-race press conference.