Savea served his 'punishment'
The All Black wing has been struggling with form this season and, according to Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd, was 'rested' to give other players – Jason Woodward and Matt Proctor – a chance.
Boyd, on Monday, confirmed that Savea was back in contention for selection – after completing the "work" he had been assigned while his teammates faced the Southern Kings in late March and during the subsequent bye last week.
"We gave other people opportunities to play last time and he had a set of work to do over the last 10 days and I think by and large he's done really well in that space and he's looking good," Boyd told reporters.
"He's done everything we've asked of him.
"When you give other people the opportunity to play, unless they have an absolute scorcher, we tend to go back to the incumbent guy to give him another crack, so I think there's a reasonably strong chance that Julian will play in the weekend."
The Hurricanes lost their first two games of the season, but have won their last three – scoring more than 40 points against the Kings and the Western Force the week before the bye.
Boyd added that Savea's fellow New Zealand international winger Cory Jane would be given the chance to reach a personal milestone in Saturday's home encounter.
"It's Cory Jane's 100th game so I'll give you the tip, Cory will play this weekend," Boyd said.
The Jaguares are the latest team about to be confronted by the might of Julian Savea.
Others likely to come back into the starting XV include loose forwards Victor Vito and Brad Shields, who are over niggles. Prop Reggie Goodes has also recovered from his head knock and is ready to play.
Lock Mark Abbott has been ever-present so far this season but has taken a knock to the leg and was moving gingerly on Monday. But with Vito back, Blade Thomson could easily go from No. 8 back to lock if it's decided that Abbott needs a match off.
