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Tyrel Lomax to don Hurricanes colours for the first time in pre-season clash with Crusaders

Tyrel Lomax. (Photo by Dianne Manson/Getty Images)

The Hurricanes coaching staff have named a 34-man squad to take on the Crusaders in Ashburton this Saturday.

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It’s the first of two pre-season matches the Hurricanes will play, before launching into their 2020 Super Rugby campaign on February 1.

Jason Holland is set for his first outing as head coach and says he’s looking forward to seeing how the players have progressed in the off-season.

“I’ve seen these guys giving it everything at training in preparation for this season. I know how much they want to make an impact this year.”

Hooker Ricky Riccitelli will captain the squad, which is littered with experience including flanker Vaea Fifita and outside centre Vince Aso.

Continue reading below…

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Several debutants have made the starting line-up, including former Highlanders star Tyrel Lomax and South African wing Kobus Van Wyk.

Lomax says he’s excited about pulling on the black and yellow jersey for the first time.

“It’ll be different, that’s for sure, but I’m proud to be part of the squad and looking forward to our first hit-out.”

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The match will feature rolling substitutions played over two 40-minute halves.

The reserves bench features a mix of Hurricanes squad members and younger players who have been training with the group.

Hurricanes All Black Ngani Laumape is also featured in the squad, but will start the game on the bench.

The game will kick-off at Ashburton Showgrounds from 4pm.

Hurricanes: Chase Tiatia, Kobus Van Wyk, Vince Aso, Peter Umaga- Jensen, Jonah Lowe, Jackson Garden Bachop, Jamie Booth, Brayden Lose, Du’Plessis Kirifi, Vaea Fifita, James Blackwell, Liam Mitchell, Tyrel Lomax, Ricky Riccitelli (c), Fraser Armstrong.

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Reserves: James O’Reilly, Kianu Kereru- Symes, Pouri Rakete-Stones, Xavier Numia, Joel Hintz, Scott Scrafton, Taine Plumtree, Hamilton Burr, Josh Southall, Devan Flanders, Caleb Delany, Jonathan Taumateine, Logan Crowley, Fletcher Smith, Ben Lam, Ngani Laumape, Billy Proctor, Wes Goosen, Trent Renata.

– Hurricanes Rugby

Blues forward Akira Ioane has spoken of the challenges he faced during 2019:

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f
fl 1 hour ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

I ultimately don’t care who the best club team in the world is, so yeah, lets agree to disagree on that.


I would appreciate clarity on a couple of things though:

Where did I contradict myself?

Saying “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” is entirely compatible with ranking a team as the best - over an extended period - when they have won more games and made more finals than other comparable teams. It would be contradictory for me to say “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” and then completely ignore Leinster record of winning games and making finals.


“You can get frustrated and say I am not reading what you write, but when you quote me, then your first line is to say thats true (what I wrote), but by the end of the paragraph have stated something different, thats where you contradict yourself.”

What you said (that I think trophies matter) is true, in that I said “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.”. Do you understand that Leinster won more games and made more finals than any other (URC-based) team did under the period under consideration?


“Pointless comparison on Blackburn and Tottenham to this discussion as no-one includes them on a list of the best club. I would say that Blackburns title season was better than anything Tottenham have done in the Premier League. My reference to the league was that the team who finished second over two seasons are not better than the two other teams who did win the league each time. One of the best - of course, but not the best, which is relevant to my point here about Leinster, not comparing teams who won 30 years ago against a team that never won.”

I really don’t understand why you would think that this is irrelevant. You seem to be saying that winning trophies is the only thing that matters when assessing who is the best, but doesn’t matter at all when assessing who is 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.


“What I referred to in my Leinster wouldn’t say the were the best is your post earlier where you said Leinster were the best overall. You said that in two separate posts. Seasons dont work like that, they are individual. Unless the same team keeps winning then you can say they were the best over a period of time and group them, but thats not the case here.”

Well then we’ve just been talking at cross purposes. In that my position (that Leinster were the best team overall in 2022-2024) was pretty clear, and you just decided to respond to a different point (whether Leinster were the best team individually in particular years) essentially making the entire discussion completely pointless. I guess if you think that trophies are the only thing that matters then it makes sense to see the season as an individual event that culminates in a trophy (or not), whereas because I believe that trophies matter a lot, but that so does winning matches and making finals, it makes it easier for me to consider quality over an extended period.

24 Go to comments
M
MT 2 hours ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

As I said in one of my first replies to you - we can agree to disagree. If you want to leave it no problem. I completely disagree with your ranking of Leinster as the best team in the world. Now you have said you will change it if Bordeaux win the Top 14. Well as Leinster themselves prioritise the CC over the URC and Bordeaux won the CC, how are they not ranked higher by you? Are Leinster one of the best teams, yeah - never said they weren’t. But not the very best team, as the very best team have trophies to show for their seasons. They matter when you discuss the very best.


You can get frustrated and say I am not reading what you write, but when you quote me, then your first line is to say thats true (what I wrote), but by the end of the paragraph have stated something different, thats where you contradict yourself. Just so we are clear, you said you would too on my statement that I would rather be a fan of a team that won a trophy over the three seasons, but end the paragraph saying you would rather be a fan of the team that won the most matches but didn’t win a trophy. Both cant be true. Thats one example of where you contradict yourself.


Pointless comparison on Blackburn and Tottenham to this discussion as no-one includes them on a list of the best club. I would say that Blackburns title season was better than anything Tottenham have done in the Premier League. My reference to the league was that the team who finished second over two seasons are not better than the two other teams who did win the league each time. One of the best - of course, but not the best, which is relevant to my point here about Leinster, not comparing teams who won 30 years ago against a team that never won.


What I referred to in my Leinster wouldn’t say the were the best is your post earlier where you said Leinster were the best overall. You said that in two separate posts. Seasons dont work like that, they are individual. Unless the same team keeps winning then you can say they were the best over a period of time and group them, but thats not the case here.

24 Go to comments
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