After 14 years, the Melbourne Rebels face a final reckoning in the Super Rugby Pacific playoffs

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - The three Australian teams that have reached the last eight in Super Rugby Pacific all have challenging matches in the first round of the playoffs.

The Queensland Reds will play the Hamilton-based Chiefs on Friday while the Melbourne Rebels will play the top-ranked Hurricanes and the ACT Brumbies take on the Dunedin-based Highlanders on Saturday. Only the Brumbies will start as favorites on the basis of seedings at the end of the regular season.

The fourth quarterfinal sees the Auckland-based Blues host the Fijian Drua, also on Saturday.

But no team in the last eight faces a more significant match than the Rebels - every match could be their last in their team history. The Rebels' license to play in Super Rugby will not be extended beyond this season due to financial difficulties and when the Rebels lose in the playoffs - or win the title - the club will be dissolved.

The players will be dispersed: some will be picked up by other Australian teams, others may have to continue their professional careers overseas. After 14 years in Super Rugby, it will be a hard break-up when the moment comes.

But the Rebels are resolved to do everything in their power to delay the fateful hour. A loss to the Drua last weekend meant they finished the regular season in eighth place and have to play the top seeds, the Hurricanes in the quarterfinals.

They also have to do the job at the Hurricanes' home ground in Wellington where the Hurricanes are unbeaten this season. The Hurricanes beat the Rebels 54-28 in the fifth round of the regular season at their alternative home ground in Palmerston North. And the Hurricanes come into Friday's match with a 12-2 record while the Rebels are 5-9.

Still, the Rebels are determined to stare down adversity.

"We want to obviously keep our heads high and come out swinging in the quarterfinals to make all our fans and supporters proud," Rebels head coach Kevin Foote said. “Of course, (the club's closure) does add a bit of feeling. We're a very motivated group even before we had this news, a very connected group that care a lot.

"There's a lot of emotion in the group to begin with . . . but the leaders are doing a really good job of keeping that intact at the moment."

The Reds will head to Hamilton for the first match of the quarterfinals with reasonably well-founded confidence. Queensland also faced the Chiefs in last year's quarterfinal and fully stretched the home team before losing 29-10. This year, they beat the Chiefs 25-19 in Brisbane in round three.

The Reds ended their regular season with a 27-26 win over perennial rivals the New South Wales Waratahs, building a lead in the first half, then holding on in the second. Queensland head coach Les Kiss said the match was an ideal preparation for the playoffs and for a match against the Chiefs.

"We've had one or two games, particularly against the Blues and Hurricanes, that were tight and we didn't quite get the money, so it was nice to get this one (against the Waratahs)," Kiss said.

"There's some really important aspects of doing those things in a game that come back to pay at some stage so we've been through those experiences and a couple of times we haven't got it. But we're starting to understand what it does take to do that, and we proved that tonight."

The Brumbies (12-2) are strongly favored to beat the Highlanders (6-8). But the Highlanders have found some form in the later stages of the season with wins over the Drua, Moana Pasifika and the defending champion Crusaders.

"We're happy with where we are at the moment," Highlanders head coach Clarke Dermody said. "We got some things right against the Hurricanes last week and we still had enough edge out of that game to push us into this week."

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