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Ardie Savea, Tyrel Lomax and Jordie Barrett to miss Chiefs clash
By Finn Morton
All Blacks Ardie Savea, Tyrel Lomax and Jordie Barrett are among the big-name players who will not feature for the Hurricanes this weekend when they take on the ladder-leading Chiefs in Hamilton.
As confirmed by the Hurricanes on Thursday, 11 players are either unavailable for selection or on All Blacks rest ahead of the blockbuster round 13 clash.
As well as Savea, Lomax and Barrett, All Blacks Dane Coles and Asafo Aumua are also unavailable. Six other players has also been ruled out due to New Zealand Under-20s commitments.
In the absence of Ardie Savea, brother Julian will take up the captaincy this week. Julian, who missed last weekend’s match against Moana Pasifikia, will start on the right wing.
Prop Xavier Numia returns from a rest, and will pack down in the front row alongside former All Black Owen Franks and exciting prospect Jacob Devery.
James Blackwell and Isaia Walker-Leawere will combine in the second row again this week, while Devan Flanders and Du’Plessis Kirifi have retained their spots on the flanks.
Brayden Iose comes into the starting side this week at No. 8, having replaced captain Ardie Savea at the back of the scrum.
Rising star Cam Roigard is back in the No. 9 shirt this week, and will link up with flyhalf Aidan Morgan in the halves.
Peter Umaga-Jensen and Billy Proctor will start in the midfield, while Kini Naholo and Josh Moorby join captain Savea in the outside backs.
“It’s great to have Jules captain this week on his 151st outside with the Hurricanes,” coach Jason Holland said in a statement.
“He’s been leading really well, as part of our leadership group, and he has some good people to help him out there with the likes of (James Blackwell), (Billy) Proctor and (Jamie) Booth.
“We’re confident there is a good mix of experience in this group.”
The match will kick off at 7.05pm NZST at Hamilton’s FMG Stadium on Saturday.
Hurricanes team to take on Chiefs
- Xavier Numia
- Jacob Devery
- Owen Franks
- James Blackwell
- Isaia Walker-Leawere
- Devan Flanders
- Du’Plessis Kirifi
- Brayden Iose
- Cam Roigard
- Aidan Morgan
- Kini Naholo
- Peter Umaga-Jensen
- Billy Proctor
- Julian Savea (c)
- Josh Moorby
Replacements:
- Hame Faiva
- Tevita Mafileo
- Pasilio Tosi
- Justin Sangster
- Caleb Delany
- Jamie Booth
- Riley Hohepa
- Salesi Rayasi
Unavailable for selection and All Blacks rest: Ruben Love, Tyler Laubscher, Reed Prinsep, TJ Perenara, Brett Cameron, Bailyn Sullivan, Dane Coles, Asafo Aumua, Ardie Savea, Tyrel Lomax, Jordie Barrett, Siale Lauaki, Peter Lakai, Cooper Flanders, Jordi Viljoen, Hunter Morrison, Harry Godfrey
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Well lets hope so. England have developed a very strong kicking game and I'm all for them going to it on a regular basis to get into the right areas of the field but they need to find the right balance. They've been far too predictable and far too low risk. Tindall recently summed up my thoughts on this... “rugby is a pressure game, it's about building phases”. Against Scotland they almost never went over 2 phases, it was super weird. None of the top 4 sides are playing in this manner, I don't see where the precedent is for this staccato style of play. We've got an exceptional group of loose forwards developing, let's make use of that quick ball! Hopefully the Welsh game is a turning point and the coaches will trust the players to take a few more risks. It's not that I have anything against kicking in test matches, it's absolutely essential that we kick well but we do that already, it's the rest of the attack which has been missing. This relentless kicking isn't the way the best sides win test matches these days. Kick well, kick lots but we need to be setup to take advantage of quick ball and defensive misalignments around the halfway line and we need to build pressure by going multiphase in the 22 instead of grubber kicking it or crossfielding with such high regularity.
Go to commentsAgreed, seen far too many false dawns as an England fan and here are still far too many question marks over Borthwick and his coaching team. The Scotland and Ireland performances were still poor, even if we managed to stay on the right side of the scoreboard on one of them. France game we were fortunate but we at least played well
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