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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
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We can all see this problem, eh? Love the clips showing how smart opposition coaches exploit it though. Thanks, Nick.
Borthwick has obviously earned the right to expect people to look elsewhere when the sort of personal problems likely at the heart of Jones' departure occur but it's hard to believe he's, if not entirely to blame, at least most of the problem.
England seem between choices in every aspect of their play to me right now
Go to commentsBM My rugby fanaticism journey began as a youngster waking up in the early hours of the morning with a cup of coffee to watch the Boks play the ABs on that 1981 rebel tour, where we lost the last game in the dying seconds to a penalty, and ended up losing the series 2-1. Danie Gerber, Naas Botha, Ray Mordt, and DuPlessis, to name a few; what a team! I believe we could've won another World Cup with those boys playing in their prime.
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