Star midfielders return, Ruben Love moved to 10 for Hurricanes

The Hurricanes have named perhaps their strongest matchday 23 yet this season for their round 10 clash with the Western Force in Perth.

The headline returns of both All Black Billy Proctor and Riley Higgins lead the bench unit, both having missed the entire season to date.

A major change in the starting backline sees Ruben Love move forward from fullback to first-five, allowing Callum Harkin to make his third start of the season at 15. The move sees Riley Hohepa drop out of the matchday 23 entirely.

There is just one change to the starting forward pack, with Brad Shields returning to the starting XV at blindside in place of Brayden Iose, who is pushed back to the bench.

“It’s a big 2 weeks in Australia for us. The Force have played some excellent rugby, so we’ll need to match that,” head Coach Clark Laidlaw said.

“We haven’t got all the results we wanted so far, but we know we can grow a lot from here on. It’s great to have a few players back and we need to put a strong performance out there on Saturday.”

Hurricanes team to play the Western Force

1. Xavier Numia
2. Asafo Aumua (Co Captain)
3. Tyrel Lomax
4. Caleb Delany
5. Isaia Walker-Leawere
6. Brad Shields (Co Captain)
7. Du’Plessis Kirifi (Co Captain)
8. Peter Lakai
9. Cam Roigard
10. Ruben Love
11. Fatafehi Fineanganofo
12. Peter Umaga-Jensen
13. Bailyn Sullivan
14. Ngatungane Punivai
15. Callum Harkin

IMPACT

16. Raymond Tuputupu
17. Tevita Mafileo
18. Pasilio Tosi
19. Zach Gallagher
20. Brayden Iose
21. Ereatara Enari
22. Riley Higgins
23. Billy Proctor