Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Barrett's heir, Crusaders flank and Auckland finisher named in Hurricanes squad

Beauden Barrett and TJ Perenara celebrating for the Hurricanes. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

The Hurricanes have opted for continuity with the selection of the 2019 squad for the Investec Super Rugby competition.

ADVERTISEMENT

There are just six new faces in new head coach John Plumtree’s 38-man squad, with dynamic Auckland wing Salesi Rayasi, exciting Wellington midfielder Billy Proctor, former Highlanders first five-eighth Fletcher Smith, two-time Super Rugby champion Heiden Bedwell-Curtis, promising Wellington openside flanker Du’Plessis Kirifi and athletic Manawatu utility forward Liam Mitchell joining the club.

As well as the players new to the squad, former Hurricanes utility back James Marshall returns to New Zealand rugby after playing in the United Kingdom and Japan while Bay of Plenty halfback Richard Judd is named in the squad after he made his debut in 2018 when he was called in as injury cover.

There are 12 players named in the squad who were part of the All Blacks 2018 campaign while four players – Beauden Barrett, TJ Perenara, Jeff To’omaga-Allen and Dane Coles – are centurions of the Hurricanes club.

Plumtree was excited about the squad the coaching group had assembled.

“A lot of the boys have been together for a long period of time but we also have some exciting youngsters that we have brought in,” he said.

“We’ve brought some guys in for development but we’ve got others who we think are good to go.”

Hurricanes captain Dane Coles believed the squad had the depth to deal with the demands of the competition.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We want our players to have a real world class work ethic, we think that’s pretty important and I think our leadership group can really drive that. We’re really keen to welcome in some new guys and we will be looking forward to getting to know them.”

Plumtree said the season’s goal was to make the Super Rugby finals as they had done in the previous four years he had been an assistant coach.

“We know how important it is to get a home quarter-final and semi-final in terms of winning this competition but of course there is a lot of work to do before you get there. It’s a really tough competition, there is no June break this year so we are going to have to play consistently well over a longer period of time.”

“We are going to have to use the squad and make sure everyone is fresh and keen and energised for every week. Our standards are very high and our expectations internally are high too. But we want to impress our fans and we want to keep growing the history of this jersey.”

ADVERTISEMENT

The squad, minus the All Blacks and Maori All Blacks, will assemble on November 29.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BpkeXbcHWNH/?taken-by=hurricanesrugby

Note: Peter Umaga-Jensen (Wellington) is not available due to injury.

More Super Rugby Squads:

Chiefs 2019 Super Rugby squad
Crusaders 2019 Super Rugby squad
Highlanders 2019 Super Rugby squad
Blues 2019 Super Rugby squad

New Hurricanes

Salesi Rayasi
Age: 22
Province: Auckland
At 1.93m and 105kg, Rayasi is a powerful wing who made a real impact for Auckland in the 2018 Mitre 10 Cup. A former New Zealand Sevens representative, the Wellington-born player took a break from rugby for a short period as he pursued a career in basketball. However, the son of former Fiji international Filipe Rayasi, Salesi was convinced to return to the sport.

Billy Proctor
Age: 19
Province: Wellington
The younger brother of Hurricanes midfielder Matt Proctor, Billy joins the Hurricanes after some really impressive form for the Wellington Lions in the Mitre 10 that saw him become the first choice No 12 by season’s end. A product of St Patrick’s College in Wellington, Billy is a former New Zealand Secondary Schools representative and is also part of the New Zealand Under-20 squad.

Du’Plessis Kirifi
Age: 21
Province: Wellington
Another Hurricanes player to come out of New Plymouth’s Francis Douglas Memorial College, Kirifi impressed the club’s coaching staff when he was called in as injury cover in 2018 following an impressive debut season for Wellington in the Mitre 10 Cup the previous year. He continued that good form, helping the Lions to the Premiership semi-final. A former age-group representative for Taranaki and Waikato, Du’Plessis is named after former Springbok captain Morne Du’Plessis.

Liam Mitchell
Age: 23
Province: Manawatu
Another player who had time with the Hurricanes squad in 2018, Mitchell can play equally well at blindside flanker or lock. Having played a season of club rugby in Spain in 2017, Mitchell returned to New Zealand and made his debut for Manawatu. His father Alistair Mitchell also played for Manawatu.

Heiden Bedwell-Curtis
Age: 27
Bedwell-Curtis has spent the last two seasons at the defending Super Rugby champion Crusaders club. He missed the Mitre 10 Cup after taking up a short-term contract in Japan and is due back in New Zealand in January. A hard, uncompromising loose forward, Bedwell-Curtis, who was schooled at New Plymouth Boys’ High School, is a former New Zealand Under-20 and Maori All Black representative.
Fletcher Smith
Age: 23
Province: Waikato

The former Highlanders playmaker heads north as one of three five five options the Hurricanes will have in 2019. A young player who has built up a great deal of experience in recent years, Smith is a really accurate goal kicker and passer of the ball as well as being a mature playmaker. He helped Waikato gain promotion to the Mitre 10 Cup Premiership after their Championship win over Otago.

 

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

N
Nickers 35 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

41 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Rugby fugitive Rocky Elsom in hiding after fleeing Ireland Rugby fugitive Rocky Elsom in hiding after fleeing Ireland
Search