Barrett to lead 'Canes against Aussie Conference leaders
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Beauden Barrett will captain the Hurricanes for a second time this season against the Rebels at Westpac Stadium on Saturday.
With Dane Coles unavailable and TJ Perenara on the second of his All Black rest weeks, Barrett will lead the side in the Round 12 Investec Super Rugby match.
Hurricanes head coach John Plumtree has made three changes to the starting XV from last week’s impressive 47-19 win over the Chiefs.
With Perenara out, Richard Judd makes his second start of the season while Jeff To’omaga-Allen comes in at tighthead prop after Ben May has been ruled out with a minor injury.
There is a first start for lock Isaia Walker-Leawere in what will be his 10th appearance for the Hurricanes since he made his debut against the Brumbies last season.
Plumtree has also made several changes to the bench after opting to go with a six-two forward-backs split.
The experienced Toby Smith returns after several weeks out with a high ankle sprain while Alex Fidow comes into the matchday squad.
Young flank Du’Plessis Kirifi also returns along with scrumhalf Finlay Christie.
Plumtree stressed the importance of the match against the Australian conference leaders.
“We have really targeted the five matches between our two byes which we believe will be vital to where we finish the regular season on the table,” he said.
“We obviously started the block of games well against the Chiefs and we really want to carry on with the momentum we got from that against a Rebels side we expect to really challenge us.”
. @DoveMenCare Team Naming | Family Day Lineup 👨👩👧👦 pic.twitter.com/YmumEyI5Su
— Hurricanes Rugby (@Hurricanesrugby) May 2, 2019
Hurricanes: 15 Jordie Barrett, 14 Wes Goosen, 13 Matt Proctor, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Chase Tiatia, 10 Beauden Barrett (captain), 9 Richard Judd, 8 Reed Prinsep, 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Vaea Fifita, 5 Isaia Walker-Leawere, 4 James Blackwell, 3 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 2 Asafo Aumua, 1 Fraser Armstrong.
Replacements: 16 Ricky Riccitelli, 17 Toby Smith, 18 Alex Fidow, 19 Kane Le’aupepe, 20 Liam Mitchell, 21 Du’Plessis Kirifi, 22 Finlay Christie, 23 James Marshall.
Date: Saturday, May 4
Venue: Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Kick-off: 17.15 (15.15 Melbourne time; 05.15 GMT)
Referee: Nicholas Berry (Australia)
Assistant referees: Paul Williams (New Zealand), Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
TMO: Aaron Paterson (New Zealand)
