SYDNEY, March 12 (Reuters) - The Canterbury Crusaders host the Otago Highlanders in Christchurch on Saturday desperately needing a win to kickstart their Super Rugby Pacific title defence after a stuttering start to their campaign.
Notoriously slow starters, the Crusaders lost to the Highlanders in round one of the competition and have since suffered further defeats to the ACT Brumbies and Auckland Blues, balanced only by a single victory at the Waikato Chiefs.
A lengthy injury list has not helped and there were some heated moments with punches thrown in training this week ahead of the second south island derby of the season.
Coach Rob Penney, who oversaw a 4-10 record in his first season in charge before guiding the Crusaders to a 13th Super Rugby title last season, brushed off the incident.
"It was a really lovely sight to see, actually. It is a reflection of how much it means," he told Radio New Zealand.
"The boys aren't happy with the performances and the outcomes. But it's not a thing that is going to affect us negatively. We are all over it, the boys are fine."
Penney will welcome back All Blacks centre Braydon Ennor to his midfield and test hooker George Bell to the pack against a Highlanders team fresh off a hard fought win over Western Force.
"We've got a great group, very capable of turning it around quickly, and I've got no doubt they will do," Penney said after naming his team.
Standings leaders the ACT Brumbies will be looking to get back to winning ways after losing their perfect record to a late try from Queensland Reds flyhalf Carter Gordon in Canberra last weekend.
They face a tough trip to the sweltering heat of Fiji to face the ninth-placed Fijian Drua on Saturday in Ba, the first time the town has hosted Super Rugby.
The second-placed Chiefs have a bye in round five but the Wellington Hurricanes, who are third, could end up top of the standings if the Brumbies slip up and they manage a bonus-point win over the Force in Napier on Friday.
The Hurricanes hit top gear last weekend with a bruising 59-19 win over the NSW Waratahs in Sydney, bringing to an end the other unbeaten record in the competition.
The Waratahs feature in Saturday's other derby when they take on the Reds at Brisbane's Lang Park in a fixture which dates back to 1882.
The Reds went down 36-12 in the first match between the teams this season in Sydney but have won both of their matches since former Wallaby Gordon returned at flyhalf.
The last match of the round on Sunday is an Auckland derby with the fourth-placed Blues taking on bottom team Moana Pasifika at Eden Park.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, Editing by Michael Perry)
