Are the Hurricanes pushing the panic button with their early-season selections?
After kicking off their campaign with a 42-32 loss to the Crusaders in Dunedin, the Hurricanes will return to the scene of the crime when they clash with the Blues this weekend, hoping to right some of the wrongs from their opening round defeat.
Coach Jason Holland has named an unaltered tight five for Saturday’s encounter but there are ample changes throughout the rest of the squad and it’s hard to gauge whether the Hurricanes will be better for the ‘rotation’.
Injuries to Du’Plessis Kirifi and Billy Proctor have prompted some of the movements in the side, with former Blues flanker Blake Gibson taking over in the No 7 jersey and Bailyn Sullivan getting promoted to start at outside centre. A number of other players, however, appear to have faced the axe after not providing enough starch in the defeat to the Crusaders.
Devan Flanders, Ruben Love and Peter Umaga-Jensen – three players the Hurricanes could potentially build their future team around – have all been dropped from the starting lineup to the bench. In their places come Reed Prinsep, Jackson Garden-Bachop and Julian Savea (who has shifted into second five after starting last weekend’s match on the right wing) – three serviceable players who aren’t out of their depth at this level of the game, but likely wouldn’t make the starting line-up of any other New Zealand team. Those decisions, according to Holland, are almost exclusively tactical.
“I don’t have a mindset that we’ve rotated this week,” he said after naming his side for the weekend. “We’ve got a couple of things forced on us through injury at 7 and 13 but in saying that, we’ve got guys who have trained really well and there was nothing in the decisions around the Crusader week but they deserve their opportunity.
“[Some players] went OK [against the Crusaders] without going really well to say ‘You have to pick me’ in those spots other than 7 or 13. It’s a great competition to have in our squad and I’ve got every confidence in the boys that are putting on the 1 to 15 and the 16 to 23.”
The selections of Savea and Sullivan are particularly curious, given neither player has ever started a match in the midfield at Super Rugby level.
Savea made a name for himself in the outside backs, particularly on the left wing, but was shifted into the midfield after leaving New Zealand to join Toulon in France. Upon returning to NZ, he made it clear that he pictured his long-term future in that new position.
“I’m liking the midfield,” Savea said on James Marshall’s What a Lad podcast. “I would love to play in the midfield [for Mitre 10 Cup]. I’m getting a few pointers from one of the best 12s in the world.”
Just three times since Savea returned ahead of the 2020 provincial season, however, has the 31-year-old started matches in the midfield, with all three of the matches coming for Wellington in the NPC.
Sullivan, meanwhile, made his Super Rugby debut for the Chiefs in 2018 but has also only ever been deployed on the wing at this level of the game, and it was only really in Waikato’s successful campaign last year that he regularly had opportunities in the midfield at provincial level.
There shouldn’t be any questions over either player’s competencies on attack. Both players can be destructive runners who possess useful fends and they’ll likely pose some tough questions for their opposites on Saturday evening, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Rieko Ioane – two men who aren’t necessarily long-term proven performers in the midfield themselves. On defence, however, the fleet-footed Blues duo could prove very tough to keep under wraps.
Holland has suggested that his coaching crew have always one eye on Savea playing in the centres:
“I suppose when we go back to early January, that was always in our head, that we think he’s a pretty good 12 these days,” Holland said. “Got a great skillset, understands things really well both sides of the ball so it was always definitely an option and we think it’s probably a good time to do that now.”
Despite those comments, however, It’s worth noting that even during the pre-season, neither Savea nor Sullivan were handed starting opportunities in the midfield for the Hurricanes and rushing out the combo against the Blues does seem like somewhat of a kneejerk reaction to Peter Umaga-Jensen’s less than impressive performance against the Crusaders, coupled with the injury to Billy Proctor. Proctor has always been a favourite of Holland’s while Umaga-Jensen – who looks better suited to play No 13 than No 12 – has rarely been give consistent minutes for the Hurricanes, which was especially baffling last year after he had earned an All Blacks call-up during their Tri-Nations campaign in 2020.
Garden-Bachop’s promotion to first five, meanwhile, is probably just rewards after the 27-year-old helped sparked the Hurricanes’ attack to life in the final quarter against the Crusaders, with is penetrative running causing problems for the opposition defenders. While Garden-Bachop had a bit of a slow start to Super Rugby, he performed well for the Hurricanes in the first iteration of the Aotearoa competition in 2020 and was likely eyeing up a breakthrough campaign last year before injury struck him down early.
Make no mistake, Ruben Love could still be a long-term superstar in the capital – but he needs proven, experienced performers around him in order to reach his potential, and the Hurricanes don’t currently have access to players like that at either halfback or second five-eighth. TJ Perenara’s return later in the season once he overcomes his injury issues may help, as would Jordie Barrett shifting into the midfield from fullback, which is far from guaranteed (and at that stage, perhaps Love would be better served by spending some time at No 15).
Prinsep’s promotion over Flanders is also an odd call. While Prinsep has been a relative mainstay in the Hurricanes line-up since Holland took over, starting in 11 of the team’s 14 matches last season, Brayden Iose was in compelling form off the pine last weekend and has surely done enough by now to earn his first run-on appearance. Flanders also topped the tackle charts in Dunedin. Instead, however, Holland has gone for the ‘safe’ option.
Man for man, the Hurricanes come out on the wrong side of the ledger in their match-up with the Blues and some of the selection decisions this week have likely only increased the gap between the two sides. Having an extra game under their belt may help their case but it’s difficult to envisage anything but a win for the Blues in Dunedin on Saturday.
After this weekend, it’s likely to again be back to the drawing board for the Hurricanes, and there aren’t exactly any obvious solutions to their personnel issues that have plagued them in recent seasons. The Hurricanes aren’t too far off any of the other New Zealand sides, but given the resources at their disposal in the region, they should really be doing better than simply competing hard.
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to comments