Hurricanes lose two playmakers ahead of season opener against the Reds

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.

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.

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.

“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.