England international named in Highlanders midfield for Hurricanes clash
It may be a holiday weekend for most, but the Highlanders will have work on their mind this Easter Saturday when they play their last New Zealand derby match against the Hurricanes at Forsyth Barr Stadium (7.05pm kick off).
A solid win last week against a physical and courageous Moana Pasifika would have provided Highlander’s fans the promise of better things to come in the back half of the competition.
The prospect of win against a New Zealand club should provide plenty of interest for the faithful. This will be the last opportunity for fans to support the team for a while, as they depart for a three-week tour to Australia and Fiji and won’t return to Forsyth Barr Stadium until round 13 to host the Western Force for the first time since 2016.
Head Coach Tony Brown is looking forward to the encounter after getting a win last week.
“We certainly needed the win just to provide that bit of confidence we need to believe in our ability to capitalise the opportunities that we are creating in every game we play,” he said.
“The Hurricanes play an expansive style and under the roof we have had some great clashes, so Saturday night should be awesome. I know as a team we are excited about the opportunity.”
The balance of the side remains the same as Brown looks to cement combinations that can deliver the results crucial to the Highlanders working their way up the table.
It will be a happy Easter for the Evans family as brothers Bryn and Gareth are part of three changes to the forward pack, partly forced by injuries to Shannon Frizzell and Manaaki Selby-Rickit. Older brother Bryn will start at lock and the versatile Gareth comes on to the side of the scrum at blindside flanker.
Veteran hooker Liam Coltman returns to the front row after a break and the well performed Andrew Makalio will come off the bench.
In the backs a welcome return from injury for the hard charging Thomas Umaga-Jensen partnering with former English International Denny Solomona. An exciting combination that delivers both speed and power.
Scott Gregory moves out to the wing and Marty Banks will steer the ship from ten providing a well-earned respite for Mitch Hunt who has started every game so far this season.
Banks will bring up his 50th Super Rugby Cap this weekend. He joined the club in the championship year, 2015, and has been a fan favourite ever since and there will be a warm reception from our fans for him reaching this important milestone.
A feature of the bench will be the return from long term injury of Billy Harmon. Harmon was a standout performer for the Highlanders last season and his ability to force turnovers and his link play will be a welcome addition to the loose forward group. The young trio of Saula Mau, Max Hicks and Folau Fakatava should provide plenty of energy late in the game from the bench.
The Highlanders will be having their first full team community event on Friday 15th April (Good Friday) at the Dunedin Botanic Garden and invite families to come down and participate in an Easter Hunt. Starting at 10:30am from the main entrance opposite Gardens New World.
Highlanders team to play v Hurricanes:
- Ethan De Groot
- Liam Coltman
- Jermaine Ainsley
- Bryn Evans
- Josh Dickson
- Gareth Evans
- James Lentjes
- Marino Mikaele-Tu’u
- Aaron Smith (C)
- Marty Banks (50th Super Rugby Cap)
- Scott Gregory
- Thomas Umaga-Jensen
- Denny Solomona
- Sam Gilbert
- Connor Garden Bachop
Reserves
16. Andrew Makalio
17. Daniel Lienert-Brown
18. Saula Mau
19. Max Hicks
20. Billy Harmon
21. Folau Fakatava
22. Mitch Hunt
23. Fetuli Paea
-Press Release/Highlanders
Comments on RugbyPass
Je 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 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.
25 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 commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments