This Week’s Biggest Matches on Rugby Pass

We preview the best matches to catch on Rugby Pass this weekend, including the Super Rugby final and the return of the Hayne Plane.

NRL: Sharks vs Raiders (Saturday August 6, 2:30pm HKT)
The Sharks’ winning streak may have been cut short by the Titans on Monday night, but they are still very much the form team of the NRL. Saturday sees them host the other form side at the moment in what should be a belter of a game under lights at Shark Park. The Raiders made the Rabbitohs look like juniors in a 54-4 drubbing last week, and have now won 8 of their last 9 games to sit 3rd on the table. With the Sharks on a short turnaround after a tough 90-minute effort on Monday night, and with the streak now off the table, you’d have to think there’s a decent chance the Raiders might steal an upset here.

Super Rugby: Hurricanes vs Lions (Saturday August 6, 3:35pm HKT)
It all comes down to this. Both teams enjoyed what turned out to be fairly comfortable wins last weekend – for the first time all season the effects of travelling halfway around the world in a week seemed to show in both the Chiefs’ (returning from Cape Town) and Highlanders’ (travelling to Johannesburg) sub-par performances. But take nothing away from the Hurricanes or Lions, the top two teams on the table at the end of the regular season and deserving 2016 Super Rugby finalists. As the playoffs have proven so far, home advantage plays a huge factor, meaning the Hurricanes will go into Saturday’s final as firm favourites. But it’s impossible to overestimate just how fired up the Lions will be – this will be a good game.

NRL: Titans vs Warriors (Sunday August 7, 12:05pm HKT)
It defies belief that the Warriors have now had three games in a row go to extra time, but at this stage nobody would be surprised if Sunday’s game in Robina made it four. The Titans had a golden point thriller of their own last week, holding the Sharks to an 18-18 draw to break their winning streak, but neither team could find the decisive point in ten minutes of frantic extra time. The Warriors had to wait until the final minute of extra time against the Panthers before a moment of Shaun Johnson magic finally saw them emerge with a vital win. Little separates the Warriors and Titans on paper, and only a point separates them on the table. One factor that could tip it in the Titans’ favour is their newly-announced signing: some joker called Jarryd Hayne.

NRL: Tigers vs Cowboys (Sunday August 7, 2:00pm HKT)
The Tigers are probably better than their 10th place on the table suggests, but it goes to show the fierce competition for that final spot in the top 8. At this stage, unless any of the top 7 teams bottle it down the home stretch, it looks like a three-way fight to the death between the Warriors, Panthers and Tigers, who all sit on 22 competition points, with the Sea Eagles lurking as a long shot. The Tigers have the worst points differential of the lot, a hangover from their six-match losing streak near the start of the season. Since then they’ve found their feet, and big wins over the Dragons and Eels in the last two weeks have kept them in the hunt. But they will need to pull something big out of the hat to make the 8 – something like beating the Cowboys this weekend.