Midfield masters bring up half-ton
Two milestones will be celebrated when the Hurricanes take on the Chiefs in a Super Rugby crunch match in Wellington on Saturday.
Reserve prop Jeffery Toomaga-Allen will run on for his 50th Hurricanes match, should he take the field.
Toomaga-Allen made his debut for the Hurricanes against the Stormers in Cape Town in 2012, and has played in eight of the team's matches so far this season – after returning from a knee injury suffered in 2014.
However, an even bigger celebration will be when Conrad Smith and Ma'a Nonu run out for their 50th match as a midfield pair.
Nonu and Smith first combined against the Force in New Plymouth on February 18, 2006.
They were the 22nd midfield combination to take the field for the Hurricanes, and there have been a further 21 different combinations since.
The next highest pairing for the Hurricanes was Alama Ieremia and Jason O'Halloran, who had 28 starts together.
Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd is sticking with a similar line-up to face the Chiefs this weekend.
However, Julian Savea and TJ Perenara return to the team, with Dane Coles coming back onto the bench.
Hurricanes: 15 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 James Marshall, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Brad Shields, 5 James Broadhurst, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Ben Franks, 2 Motu Matu'u, 1 Reggie Goodes.
Replacements: 16. Dane Coles, 17 Chris Eves, 18 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 19 Mark Abbott/Callum Gibbins, 20 Blade Thomson, 21 Chris Smylie, 22 Otere Black, 23 Rey Lee-Lo.
Date: Saturday, May 16
Venue: Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Kick-off: 19.35 (07.35 GMT)
Referee: Glen Jackson
Assistant referees: Ben O'Keeffe, Aki Aso
TMO: Vinny Munro
