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Dane Coles returns as Hurricanes rest some stars for dead rubber match with the Blues

(Photo by Getty Images)

Club captain Dane Coles will return to the starting XV for the first time since round five of the Super Rugby competition when the Hurricanes host the Blues at Westpac Stadium on Saturday night.

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Coles, who has made 107 appearances for the Hurricanes, impressed off the bench during the side’s successful two-match tour of South Africa.

That included playing the second half against the Lions when he scored two tries as the Hurricanes ran out 37-17 winners, a result which guaranteed them a home quarter-final with a round to play.

With fourth place on the overall table secured, Hurricanes head coach John Plumtree has made a number of changes to the run-on side to face the Blues as he looks to manage the workloads of a number of players who have played a lot of minutes in recent weeks.

That includes the front row where props Toby Smith and Jeff Toomaga-Allen have been replaced by Fraser Armstrong and Ross Geldenhuys while lock James Blackwell, who has started every match, has been given an opportunity to freshen up.

The halves combination is also new with first five-eighth Jackson Garden-Bachop starting outside halfback Richard Judd, while there is also a new look midfield pairing with Danny Toala and Peter Umaga-Jensen combining.

Plumtree will have plenty of strike power on the bench with Ardie Savea, TJ Perenara and Asafo Aumua set to be introduced at some stage.

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Plumtree said he had considerable faith in the entire squad to maintain the form they have reached in recent weeks.

“We have a lot of guys who have worked really hard to be given an opportunity and we expect them to take their chances,” he said.

“The squad has been looking forward to getting back home and playing in front of our fans against a Blues side who will want to end their season on a high note.”

Hurricanes: James Marshall, Ben Lam, Peter Umaga-Jensen, Danny Toala, Salesi Rayasi, Jackson Garden-Bachop, Richard Judd, Gareth Evans, Du’Plessis Kirifi, Reed Prinsep, Isaia Walker-Leawere, Kane Le’aupepe, Ross Geldenhuys, Dane Coles (c), Fraser Armstrong. Reserves: Asafo Aumua, Chris Eves, Alex Fidow, Liam Mitchell, Ardie Savea, TJ Perenara, Fletcher Smith, Jonah Lowe.

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– Hurricanes Rugby

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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