1
Beauden Barrett to captain Hurricanes in face off against Australian conference leaders
By Online Editors
Beauden Barrett will captain the Hurricanes for a second time this season against the Rebels at Westpac Stadium on Saturday.
With Dane Coles unavailable and TJ Perenara on the second of his All Black rest weeks, Barrett will lead the side in the round 12 Investec Super Rugby match.
Hurricanes head coach John Plumtree has made three changes from the starting XV from last week's impressive 47-19 win over the Chiefs.
With Perenara out, Richard Judd makes his second start of the season while Jeff To'omaga-Allen comes in at tighthead prop after Ben May has been ruled out with a minor injury.
There is a first start for lock Isaia Walker-Leawere in what will be his 10th appearance for the Hurricanes since he made his debut against the Brumbies last season.
Plumtree has also made several changes to the bench after opting to go with a six-two forward-backs split.
The experienced Toby Smith returns after several weeks out with a high ankle sprain while Alex Fidow comes into the matchday squad, while young flanker Du'Plessis Kirifi also returns along with halfback Finlay Christie.
"We have really targeted the five matches between our two byes which we believe will be vital to where we finish the regular season on the table," he said.
"We obviously started the block of games well against the Chiefs and we really want to carry on with the momentum we got from that against a Rebels side we expect to really challenge us."
The Hurricanes squad to face the Rebels is:
15 Jordie Barrett
14 Wes Goosen
13 Matt Proctor
12 Ngani Laumape
11 Chase Tiatia
10 Beauden Barrett (c)
9 Richard Judd
8 Reed Prinsep
7 Ardie Savea
6 Vaea Fifita
5 Isaia Walker-Leawere
4 James Blackwell
3 Jeff To'omaga-Allen
2 Asafo Aumua
1 Fraser Armstrong
Reserves
16 Ricky Riccitelli
17 Toby Smith
18 Alex Fidow
19 Kane Le'aupepe
20 Liam Mitchell
21 Du'Plessis Kirifi
22 Finlay Christie
23 James Marshall
Trending on RugbyPass
2
All Blacks XV player ratings vs Munster
3
Suaalii strikes awe as Wallabies lose midfielder
4
Scott Robertson responds about handling errors
5
Latest Comments
The New Zealand performance in the return fixture in 2016 was filthy. A lot of Irish supporters were pretty shocked by it, viewed it as de facto cheating just to avoid another defeat.
Also shocked by the abuse to Ireland, captain, vice-captain and spectators after the full time whistle in Paris defeat, last match.
Sledging is sledging, but that happens during the game and targetting spectators should be completely out of bounds.
The Irish public used to enjoy these matches, even in defeat. Now they are necessary but unpleasant, because NZ apparently cannot accept or respect successful challengers.
Go to commentsThanks for the analysis Nick, thought provoking as usual. Couple of queries though, in the pic where you've circled Williams bind , I'm pretty sure it shows Stuart's knee on the ground, surely that's a NZ penalty? Also having had the chance to watch it again the All Black scrum seeems to improve after halftime, but before either England or the All Blacks replace their props. Not sure if that was the result of Tuipolutu coming on or some halftime tips. Either way this is only Williams second international season, so he'll be better for the experience.
Go to comments