Perenara leads strong 'Canes team against Stormers
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: TJ Perenara and Jordie Barrett are set to start for the Hurricanes in their Super Rugby opener against the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday.
It’ll be the first time Perenara has led the Hurricanes in his new capacity as official co-captain.
The team’s other co-captain Dane Coles was not selected for the match,
The 23-man squad also boasts the experience of Ngani Laumape at inside centre and Gareth Evans in the No.8 jersey.
Fletcher Smith has earned himself a start as flyhalf with Jackson Garden-Bachop on the bench.
Several Hurricanes debutants have been named in the starting line-up, including former Blues lock, Scott Scrafton and former Highlanders prop, Tyrel Lomax.
Both have had game time in pre-season, but Scrafton says this is what they’ve been working towards.
— Hurricanes Rugby (@Hurricanesrugby) January 30, 2020
“Those last two games were good to blow the cobwebs out, but now it’s business time. We’ve learnt and we’re ready to get stuck into the season.”
Head coach, Jason Holland, says pre-season was useful.
“We worked hard through our pre-season matches at improving parts of our game and performance. Nobody shows too much in pre-season games, so we are looking forward to trying a few things.”
The Hurricanes walked away with a 34–28 win against the Stormers last season. Several players, including Ben Lam, Ricky Riccitelli, James Blackwell and Wes Goosen were in that team and have been selected this time around.
Hurricanes: 15 Jordie Barrett, 14 Wes Goosen, 13 Billy Proctor, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Ben Lam, 10 Fletcher Smith, 9 TJ Perenara (captain), 8 Gareth Evans, 7 Du’Plessis Kirifi, 6 Reed Prinsep, 5 Scott Scrafton, 4 James Blackwell, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Ricky Riccitelli, 1 Fraser Armstrong.
Replacements: 16 Asafo Auma, 17 Pouri Rakete-Stones, 18 Tevita Mafileo, 19 Vaea Fifita, 20 Devan Flanders, 21 Jamie Booth, 22 Jackson Garden-Bachop, 23 Vince Aso.
Date: Saturday, February 1
Venue: Newlands Stadium, Cape Town
Kick-off: 15.05 (13.05 GMT; 02.05 NZ time Sunday, February 2)
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa), Egon Seconds (South Africa)
TMO: Joey Klaaste-Salmans (South Africa)
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