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Fight on for S14 semi berths

Wellington - The second-place Stormers host the third-place Crusaders in Cape Town on Friday in a match that will help determine which team makes the Super 14 semi-finals - and where.

In another key match, with three rounds to play, the fourth-placed Reds visit the Brumbies on Saturday.

The Pretoria-based Bulls lead the competition, with 39 points and hold a five-point lead over the Stormers, Crusaders and Reds. The Bulls host the Durban-based Sharks on Saturday.

None of the top four teams is yet guaranteed a playoff place as the next five teams on the table - the Waratahs,  Brumbies, Hurricanes, Sharks and Blues - retain some semi-final hopes.

The Blues are ninth, nine points outside the top four and 14 points off the lead, but there are still 15 championship points available.

The Waratahs travel to play the Highlanders in Invercargill, the Hurricanes hosts the Chiefs in Wellington and the Blues visit Bloemfontein to meet the Cheetahs. The Johannesburg-based Lions, still looking for their first win of the season, host the Force.

The Bulls will be boosted for the game against the Sharks by the return from injury of lock Bakkies Botha, who has been sidelined since South Africa's Test win over Italy in November last year.

Botha has been named in the starting line-up for the first time this season, displacing Danie Rossouw.

"It's nice to have 'Ou Grote' (the big one) back next to me," Bulls lock and captain Victor Matfield said. "But we are very privileged to have locks of the quality of Danie and Flip (van der Merwe).

"If you look at how well Danie played last weekend against the Lions, it must have been a difficult decision."

Bulls coach Frans Ludeke has also named centre Jacques-Louis Potgieter to start for the first time this season after nine appearances off the bench. Francois Hougaard will start on the wing in place of John Mametsa, Fourie du Preez at scrumhalf and Deon Stegmann at flank ahead of Derick Kuun.

The Stormers have made one change to their starting line-up for their match against Crusaders, naming JD Moller at loosehead prop ahead of JC Kritzinger who has a calf injury.

Stormers forwards coach Matt Proudfoot said his team would face a tough scrummaging test against Crusaders.

"Scrumming-wise, this is definitely going to be the biggest test for our pack," Proudfoot said.

"They have a lot of All Blacks in their pack and that is the type of opposition you want to measure yourself against."

Richie McCaw will make his 100th Super Rugby appearance for the Crusaders, nine years after his debut. He is the 11th New Zealander to reach the mark.

Crusaders assistant coach Daryl Gibson said the Crusaders are prepared to "win ugly" if necessary.

"It may not be hugely entertaining at times but certainly we know the predicament we are in and if we win by a point we will take that every time," Gibson said.

The Reds and Brumbies have both suffered injury setbacks ahead of their important clash in Canberra. The Reds are likely to be without prop Laurie Weeks while the Brumbies may lose fullback Julian Huxley to a hamstring strain and captain Stirling Mortlock is not certain to return from injury.

"We're in that desperate stage at the moment where we have two broken legs and a shoulder reconstruction to outside backs and two other backs in knee braces," Brumbies coach Andy Friend said.

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