5 things to know about Super Rugby, round 11

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The 11th round of Super Rugby encompasses the ANZAC Day holiday which commemorates the contributions of Australian and New Zealand military personnel since the start of World War 1.

In keeping with that Australasian theme, the round encompasses two matches of considerable importance involving Australian and New Zealand teams: the April 25 clashes between the Blues and Waratahs in Auckland and the Brumbies and Chiefs in Canberra, which repeats last year's final.

The Brumbies are second and the Chiefs third in the championship standings and they respectively lead the Australian and New Zealand conferences. But the Chiefs are coming off a one-point loss to the Crusaders and a run of poor form and the Brumbies are restarting after a bye.

The Blues' season has reached a crisis point after recent losses to the Brumbies and Hurricanes which have left them with a 3-5 record in 11th place.

In South Africa the Sharks, who have six wins at home, host the Highlanders before hitting the road.

Five things to know about the weekend's 11th round.

WEEPU SHOWS HEART IN RETURN — Former All Blacks scrumhalf Piri Weepu will return to the Blues starting lineup for Friday's match against the Waratahs only weeks after having a minor stroke and days after surgery to repair a hole in his heart. Blues medical staff estimate Weepu had the stroke on March 1 but it was not detected until he began to slur his speech. Weepu says "I had a few tears because it's not something that you expect," but he settled down and phoned his mother, then went through the medical procedures.

"I don't know how the fitness is — we'll see when I'm running around with the boys. But I've been chipping way at it for the last two weeks and I'm feeling pretty good actually."

FOLAU FIRES AS BENJI BOWS OUT — The Blues vs. Waratahs will draw attention to the disparate outcome of two players' conversions to rugby union from rugby league. Waratahs fullback Folau, who came to Super Rugby from the NRL via Australian Rules, is the leading tryscorer in the tournament this season with nine from five games. Former New Zealand rugby league captain Benji Marshall was released from his contract with the Blues this week after failing, at 29, to adapt to rugby. Waratahs assistant coach Daryl Gibson said Marshall had a tougher assignment than Folau because he had the complex task of adjusting to the playmaking flyhalf role. "With league players, because they're clearly athletically gifted and playing a very similar game, it's probably experience that you give them training wheels and put them in the back three and let them learn the game from there," Gibson said.

SHARKS FEASTING AT HOME — The Durban-based Sharks will play their last match at home in five weeks when they host the Dunedin-based Highlanders at Kings Park on Friday. The Sharks hold a six-point lead atop the championship table ensuring that, whatever the result Friday, they will be in first place when they head to Australia and New Zealand for matches against the Rebels, Brumbies, Crusaders and Blues. The test of the Sharks' season will be whether they still hold that lead when they next play at Kings Park, against the Stormers on May 31. Coach Jake White said his team would not under-estimate the Highlanders, who finished 14th in 2013 but are currently eighth with four wins from seven games. "There is no doubt that this year they are way better than they were last year," White said. "Ben Smith and Aaron Smith are probably the two form players in New Zealand."

ANSCOMBE AGONIZES OVER CHIEFS' CHALLENGES — The defending champion Chiefs will attempt to revive their stuttering season when they meet the Brumbies in a repeat of last year's final. The Chiefs opened their season with three straight wins but their last five matches have included a loss to the Western Force, two high-scoring draws in South Africa, a narrow win over the Rebels and last weekend's 18-17 loss to the Crusaders. Flyhalf Gareth Anscombe, who missed a penalty after the fulltime siren last week, says the Chiefs have to overcome their tendency to rest on a lead. "Maybe at times we become a different team when we're behind compared to when we are ahead," Anscombe said. "We need to get back that excitement and enthusiasm when we've got the ball. We feel when we get that right we're pretty hard to stop."

A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH — The Western Force hope to make a quick return to winning form against the Bulls on Saturday after last weekend's loss to the Rebels ended their club-record five-match winning streak. Prop Kieran Longbottom says "It's nothing we can't fix in a week."

The Force will be without winger Luke Morahan, who has a hamstring strain, and scrumhalf Alby Mathewson, with an ankle injury. Bulls captain Flip van der Merwe has been banned for three weeks for striking Waratahs prop Paddy Ryan in last week's defeat.