Northern Edition

Select Edition

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

Hurricanes name high-powered bench in team to play the Crusaders

Du’Plessis Kirifi and Xavier Numia of the Hurricanes pose after the round three Super Rugby Pacific match between Hurricanes and Blues at Sky Stadium, on March 09, 2024, in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

The Hurricanes have named a strong side as they look to continue their undefeated start to the season and back-to-back wins over the Crusaders for the first time since 2018.

ADVERTISEMENT

The two teams are at complete opposite ends of the table but winning in Christchurch against the Crusaders is a rarity for the Hurricanes, their last one being in 2020 during Super Rugby Aotearoa.

The Crusaders will have to shut down the the best attack in the competition with the Hurricanes averaging 37 points a game and 5.3 tries, powered by an in-form fullback Ruben Love who logged three try assists last week.

Video Spacer

Video Spacer

The Hurricanes backline is unchanged after their impressive showing against the Blues, Love again will start at fullback with Kini Naholo and Josh Moorby on each wing.

Riley Higgins will start again at No 12 in Jordie Barrett’s absence alongside Billy Proctor. On the bench Peter Umaga-Jensen and Salesi Rayasi have been named as outside back cover.

Former Crusader Brett Cameron returns to play his old club in the No 10 jersey next to halves partner Cam Roigard.

The forwards have been boosted by Devan Flanders and Du’Plessis Kirifi’s returns from injury, with Flanders starting at blindside while Kirifi will be used from the bench. The impressive TK Howden drops out of the gameday squad due to a foot injury.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related

Xavier Numia also returns to the starting side forming one of the best front rows in the competition alongside Xavier Numia and Tyrel Lomax.

“We’re obviously delighted with the start we’ve made. If you had asked us four weeks ago that we would have three wins in a row we would have taken it. But we’re also being realistic that there’s a long way to go and we have to keep improving as the competition goes on because other teams will,” head coach Clark Laidlaw said.

“We felt we handled the Blues physicality really well and created pressure through our kicking game. Also, our scrum was going good for most part of the game so that allowed us to attack well and keep the Blues at arm’s length, so we’re very happy with where we’re at.

“We’re under no illusions what the Crusaders can do. We know what’s coming and how tough it’s going to be. They’re full of good players and coaches and we know how excited they will be to get their season back on track. We are well aware of what we’re walking into.”

Hurricanes team to play the Crusaders

1. Xavier Numia
2. Asafo Aumua (cc)
3. Tyrel Lomax
4. James Tucker
5. Isaia Walker-Leawere
6. Devan Flanders
7. Peter Lakai
8. Brayden Iose
9. Cam Roigard
10. Brett Cameron
11. Kini Naholo
12. Riley Higgins
13. Billy Proctor
14. Josh Moorby
15. Ruben Love

Replacements

16. James O’Reilly
17. Pouri Rakete-Stones
18. Pasilio Tosi
19. Justin Sangster
20. Du’Plessis Kirifi
21. TJ Perenara
22. Peter Umaga-Jensen
23. Salesi Rayasi

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

F
Flankly 56 minutes 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?

4 Go to comments
N
Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
N
Nickers 1 hour 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.

43 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Mick Cleary: 'Borthwick needs to have faith in Marcus Smith' Mick Cleary: 'Borthwick needs to have faith in Marcus Smith'
Search