The Super 14 semi-finals come early for the NSW Waratahs when they take on the red-hot Stormers before a 50,000 sellout crowd in a make-or-break showdown in Cape Town early Sunday AEST.
While a bonus-point victory would leave second-placed NSW favoured to snare a home semi heading into next week's final round fixtures, defeat at Newlands would almost certainly send the Waratahs crashing out of the top four and in danger of missing the playoffs altogether.
NSW coach Ewen McKenzie today said rugby-mad South Africans had created enormous hype around the high-stakes encounter.
"There's been a big build-up over here. Every day it's dominating the newspapers - the back page of every paper is covering it and they're talking quarterfinal-type status," McKenzie said.
"There's a fair bit lying on it in terms of what happens after."
Stormers captain and World Cup-winning Springboks centre Jean de Villiers has made no secret of the home team's plan to test the mettle of the Waratahs' baby backline, and in particular his 18-year-old midfield opposite Rob Horne.
McKenzie, though, insisted the Tahs were relishing the prospect of silencing the big crowd at Newlands Stadium, one of the most intimidating arenas in world rugby.
"We're not scared about the game at all," McKenzie said.
"We're looking forward to the challenge of it and we just want to play better than we did last week (in the 16-13 loss to the Bulls in Pretoria).
"We felt last week was an aberration. We think we're better than that and we just want to get on the field now and show it."
The NSW backline is the most inexperienced in the tournament.
Horne, Lachie Turner, Tom Carter and Luke Burgess all played at the senior level in the republic for the first time last week, winger Matt Carraro will make his starting debut for the Waratahs against the Stormers, while Kurtley Beale is set for just his fourth Super 14 appearance in South Africa.
In addition, rugby rookie Timana Tahu has been named on the bench for only his fourth game since his switch from rugby league.
But McKenzie said his young backs proved against the Bulls they were coping with the pressures of playing in front of often-hostile South African fans.
"I think we handled that side of it alright against the Bulls. We got out there and played straight away," he said.
"We scored the first try and should have scored the second try, so I don't think we're shy at the start of the game.
"This is slightly different. There were only 12,000 last week. This will be 50,000 this week.
"It's a bigger crowd, but we've got a few strategies to combat that.
"Someone like a Tahu has been in front of crowds like that before so I don't think he's going to be fazed by the crowd size.
"He's played in front of some parochial crowds. There won't be any issues there. We see him as a guy having experience in that environment.
"That offsets the fact that we still have a couple of younger guys there.
"But Matt Carraro, we feel, is an experienced player.
"And the beauty of the Burgess's and the Carraros and even the Tommy Carters is that they're young in terms of Super 14 experience but they're actually experienced players. They've been around a while.
"Those guys in amongst the Beales, Turners and Hornes gives us a good blend."
The fourth-placed Stormers are shooting for their sixth consecutive win but, like the Waratahs, they too could tumble out of the four with a loss on Sunday.
