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Hurricanes lose two playmakers ahead of season opener against the Reds

Ruben Love. (Photo by John Cowpland/Photosport)
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The Hurricanes have been dealt an early season blow to their playmaking stocks after losing fullback Ruben Love and returning five-eighth Brett Cameron to injuries ahead of the Super Rugby Pacific season.

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Fullback Love, tipped by head coach Jason Holland recently to be one of many All Blacks bolters in 2023, will miss the start of the season with an ongoing groin issue picked up in the pre-season.

Former Crusader and one cap All Black Brett Cameron has been sidelined after a calf tear suffered against the Blues in a pre-season fixture. Both will miss the early season trip to Australia to face the Reds and Rebels.

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Young first five Aidan Morgan looks set to start at No 10 after 10 caps for the side in 2022 in his first season of Super Rugby while Josh Moorby and U20 graduate Harry Godfrey will be vying for the 15 jersey.

The other option for head coach Jason Holland is to rely on Jordie Barrett to fill in at the back if there are stronger options in the midfield, with Barrett bringing plenty of experience to the fullback role.

Holland back his younger options to fulfil their duties after helping the team recover from a 26-6 deficit against the Crusaders to storm home 31-26 in their final pre-season fixture.

“It’s obviously not ideal losing two 10s. Rubes hasn’t trained with us much, so that’s a blow but losing BC who has done a lot of our pre-season is also a blow around combinations and confidence in each other,” Holland told Stuff.co.nz.

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“Aids and Harry have been around the whole time and I think both of them are really starting to understand our game.”

The Hurricanes travel to Townsville to take on the Queensland Reds in the opening round of Super Rugby Pacific this weekend.

 

 

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NoLongerARuck 27 minutes ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

The Six Nations produced so many compelling games and so much of action packed moments that you can only conclude that its the best international comp out there at the moment except for a world cup. If Wales improve it will be even better especially given the strides Italy have made in recent times. The Rugby Championship is now taking a hiatus in a year it really should be building toward something better which is terrible considering the competition was so tight last year. The Nations Champs promises much but one gets the feeling that the 6 Nations teams will not be at their peak given its at the end of their long season. In terms of rugby quality and entertainment Id rather watch the 6 Nations over everything else other than a world cup right now. The North arguably offers more in terms of entertainment than the South at club level as well. The Prem, the Champs Cup, URC and Top 14 all feature plenty of scoring and different playing styles while Super Rugby seems to be the same thing game in game out. While the South tries to speed up the game artificially with new trials and law variations the North has shown you can do it with good refereeing which penalises cynical play harshly and encourages positive actions on the field. In terms of entertainment the North wins. In terms of winning? They are making strides but until they win another world cup or get a team to rank number 1 again for an extended time again they cant really say they are better than the South.

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