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All Blacks great reacts to Hurricanes’ ‘luxury’ of 14 starting changes
Super Rugby Pacific front-runners the Hurricanes have made a staggering 14 changes to their starting side to play the Melbourne Rebels, with All Blacks prop Tyrel Lomax the only member of last week’s First XV to retain their spot.
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Rugby World Cup winner Mils Muliaina has described the headline-grabbing series of selections as “a luxury” for the Canes following their unbeaten start to the new campaign.
The Hurricanes shot out of the blocks with a 30-point demolition of the Western Force and a golden point win over the Queensland Reds in Melbourne. But their next two matches proved the Canes as worthy contenders after overcoming Kiwi rivals.
Head-to-Head
Last 5 Meetings
Wins
5
Draws
0
Wins
0
Average Points scored
40
23
First try wins
60%
Home team wins
80%
After hard-fought wins over the Blues and Crusaders, coach Clark Laidlaw will test his team’s depth in round five while welcoming back club captain Brad Shields and Jordie Barrett.
“A couple of changes? More like a clean sweep for the Hurricanes,” Muliaina said on Stan Sports’ The Call Up. “What a luxury and so they should.
“Now is the time for Clarke to have a look at his squad, rest a few players.
“Awesome, fantastic to see Jordie Barrett back so he’ll bring plenty of experience and I’m sure he’s pretty hungry after being out for a few weeks.
“A debut for (Ngane) Punivai in the centres. But also… TJ Perenara, who was influential when he came off the bench (against the Crusaders). Nice to see him get a start, especially after the long injury spell that he’s had.
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“This is just a Hurricanes side that’s full of confidence. They’ve got great depth and as you say, this is going to be a hard task for the Rebels to come.”
Halfback TJ Perenara had gone more than 450 days without playing a game of rugby while recovering from a devastating Achilles rupture that he suffered while on All Blacks duty.
But Perenara’s return to Hurricanes colours during pre-season was a popular moment amongst fans in New Zealand, with the veteran halfback going on to play two matches so far in the regular season off the pine.
With in-form Cam Roigard moving out of the matchday 23 altogether, Perenara will run out in the No. 9 jersey for the first time this season – another testament to his determination and resilience.
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Meanwhile, the Melbourne Rebels have made five changes to their starting side ahead of the trip to Palmerston North, including a key change at tighthead with Taniela Tupou dropping back to the bench.
“I don’t want to talk about the Hurricanes because you can’t make 14 changes and your team looks this good. It’s ridiculous,” former Wallaby Morgan Turinui added with a smile.
“You get to bring of course Barrett in, you get Perenara in to start, you get (Brad) Shields there as a skipper who was trying to tell me at the start of the season, at the season launch in Auckland, ‘Oh we’re under the radar, we’re a young side.’ They’ve been excellent.
“The Rebels, they’ve got some changes of course themselves, most notably in the front row Taniela Tupou played 30-odd minutes starting last week, he drops back to the bench. I thought Sam Talakai was good once he came on.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
43 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
2 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
43 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
43 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
2 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
6 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
6 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to comments