Can Canes fill midfield gap?
The two players have both moved to French clubs – Nonu to Toulon and Smith to Pau – leaving Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd without any experienced centres in his squad.
The five midfielders at his disposal – Pita Ahki, Matt Proctor, Ngani Laumape, Willis Halaholo and Vince Aso – have less than 40 Super Rugby caps between them and Boyd told stuff.co.nz that it will be interesting to see which players come through to fill the void left by the experienced All Black duo.
"I'm really positive around that group and I'm not sure who will end up being the starting two but I'm confident that someone will put their hand up," Boyd said.
Halaholo, Proctor and Aso were all members of the Hurricanes squad that secured a home final in Wellington this year, while Akhi has arrived from the Blues and former schoolboy star Laumape has converted from rugby league.
"He's [Laumape] come back and is a great athlete and historically a very good rugby player, so his transition back from league to rugby will be interesting to watch," Boyd said.
The Hurricanes coach pointed out that while their may not be much experience to call on in midfield, whoever plays will have seasoned players on their inside and outside in a star-studded backline.
"They'll have TJ [Perenara] and Beauden [Barrett] inside them, Cory Jane, Julian [Savea], Nehe [Milner-Skudder], James Marshall and Jason Woodward around them, we've got some experienced contenders for the back three, so they'll have some solid players around them," he pointed out.
Boyd added that he expects the team from Argentina to pose a significant threat given the amount of Pumas players at their disposal.
"Argentina I think are going to be a really interesting package, my understanding is that there is 21 or 22 players out of their World Cup squad signed up to play for them, so they're going to be tough, it's our second game in Wellington the week after Easter," he said.
