The Hurricanes believe home field advantage is a big advantage for them as they head into tonight's Super Rugby quarter-final against the Sharks in Wellington.
Hurricanes assistant coach John Plumtree. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Hurricanes finished top of the table while the Sharks were seeded eighth.
The South African side did beat them earlier in the competition in Durban.
While confident, Hurricanes assistant coach John Plumtree, who use to coach the Sharks, remains wary.
"Having home town advantage always helps especially this time of the competition not having to travel is a massive plus for us, however we know how well we have to play as we're up against a side that pretty much beat us up last time so we're going to have to perform a lot better than we did then."
Plumtree says the loss to the Sharks in May, when several top players broke curfew and were stood down for the following match, was the catalyst for their unbeaten run to the finals.
"It's pretty clear that we didn't prepare well in Durban and that mirrored the performance, so we've learnt from that and we've got better and we think we're better than we were when we were in South Africa as a team, we're a tighter unit, we know that the players are playing for their captain."
Also tonight the Crusaders take on the Lions in Johannesburg while the Chiefs play the Stormers in Cape Town.
The Lions lost to the Crusaders earlier in the competition, while the Stormers haven't played any New Zealand teams so far this year.
