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Captain Coles back in Hurricanes No 2 shirt

New Zealand hooker Dane Coles. Photo / Getty Images

Hurricanes captain Dane Coles will return to the starting XV for the first time since 2017 when the squad travel south to meet the Crusaders in Saturday night’s Investec Super Rugby match.

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Coles impressed off the bench in last week’s 20-19 win over the Waratahs and was keen to be involved from the start in Christchurch.

“To be honest it felt really good to be back playing for this side again and I just want to rip into it,” he said.

Coles’ inclusion is one of four changes to the side which ran on at Brookvale Oval with Du’Plessis Kirifi set to start for the first time after he also impressed on debut against the Waratahs.

In the backs, Finlay Christie replaces last week’s captain TJ Perenara who has been included in the reserves.

Centre Matt Proctor has recovered from a virus that kept him out of the Waratahs match. His return sees Vince Aso move in a spot to second five-eighth with Ngani Laumape moving into the reserves.

There is plenty of experience on that bench with Perenara and Laumape joined by Ricky Riccitelli while flanker Sam Henwood and playmaker Jackson Garden-Bachop have also joined the match day 23.

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Hurricanes head coach John Plumtree felt there was genuine excitement among the group of players who had been given their first opportunity to start in 2019.

“We trust the guys we have in the squad to do a job for us and I know how much they will be looking forward to the challenge of playing the Crusaders on their home ground,” he said.

“Given the nature of the draw and the depth we have in our squad, guys are going to be given the opportunity to impress and this is certainly one of those occasions.”

HURRICANES

15. Jordie Barrett, 14. Wes Goosen, 13. Matt Proctor, 12. Vince Aso, 11. Ben Lam, 10. Fletcher Smith, 9. Finlay Christie, 8. Gareth Evans, 7. Du’Plessis Kirifi, 6. Reed Prinsep, 5. Liam Mitchell, 4. James Blackwell, 3. Jeff To’omaga-Allen, 2. Dane Coles, 1. Chris Eves.
Reserves:
16. Ricky Riccitelli, 17. Xavier Numia, 18. Ben May, 19. Isaia Walker-Leawere, 20. Sam Henwood, 21. TJ Perenara, 22. Jackson Garden-Bachop, 23. Ngani Laumape

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J
JW 23 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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