There is high controversy in the Hurricanes camp with five players stood down for a ‘curfew breach’. Julian and Ardie Savea, Cory Jane and Victor Vito, along with reserve prop Chris Eves are said to have missed the teams self imposed bed time by 18 minutes. The punishment seems to far out weigh the crime but the Reds will take any chance they can get.
While the loss of these quality players will hurt the Hurricanes is it enough of a disruption to give the Reds a hope of winning? Can a backline already weakened by the loss of Samu Kerevi deal with this weeks injury of Karmichael Hunt. The Reds backs failed to make much impact last week against the Crusaders but Hunt was one of the few to make any headway and his replacement Ayumu Goromaru is more of a steadying influence then a hard running line bender.
But it’s in the forwards where things get really interesting. The Hurricanes and the Reds have the best scrums and nearly the best lineouts in Super Rugby. The loss of Savea, Vito and Eves may just tip the scales ever so slightly in the Reds favour but the battle of the set piece will still be delicious.
Key Matchups
Beauden Barrett v Jake McIntyre
This is a clear mismatch. Barrett scores most of his teams tries and kicks most of their points. His kicking percentage is about the same as McIntyres but he has a lot more shots at goal. The Hurricanes ten orchestrates much of the teams play and is clinical in his exploitation of turnover ball. In fact the Hurricanes score more tries off first phase ball than anyone else in the comp. If the Reds are to be any hope of winning this game McIntyre will have to play out of his skin.
TJ Perenara v Nick Frisby
Frisby has been one of the shining lights for the reds this year. But Perenara, while not the most fashionable Kiwi halfback, is no mug. In fact he’s dead cheeky. These guys both love a scoot around the edge of the ruck and back up beautifully on the break. Frisby may have the slightly better pass but Perenara has a few years experience and knows a few tricks frisby hasn’t seen yet.
Fearless Prediction
If I was truly fearless I’d sing about how the Reds would turn their season around and this was the week it was all going to fall into place. And in years gone by I would have done that in a second. But that was then and I’m much more mature now.
So… Reds by 7 (seriously the Hurricanes should win this)
[one_half last=”no”] Hurricanes
1. Reg Goodes.
2. Dane Coles (c)
3. Jeffery Toomaga-Allen
4. Vaea Fifita
5. Michael Fatialofa
6. Brad Shields
7. Callum Gibbins
8. Blade Thomson
9. TJ Perenara (vc)
10. Beauden Barrett
11. Wes Goosen
12. Vince Aso
13. Matt Proctor
14. Jason Woodward
15. James Marshall
16. Motu Matu’u
17. Loni Uhila
18. Ben May
19. Mark Abbott
20. Tony Lamborn
21. Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi
22. Ngani Laumape
23. Willis Halaholo
[/one_half]
[one_half last=”yes”] Reds
1. James Slipper (C)
2. Andrew Ready
3. Greg Holmes
4. Ben Matwijow
5. Rob Simmons
6. Hendrik Tui
7. Liam Gill
8. Curtis Browning
9. Nick Frisby
10. Jake McIntyre
11. Eto Nabuli
12. Anthony Fainga’a
13. Campbell Magnay
14. Chris Feauai-Sautia
15. Ayumu Goromaru
16. Matt Mafi
17. Sef Fa’agase
18. Sam Talakai
19. Cadeyrn Neville
20. Michael Gunn
21. James Tuttle
22. Duncan Paia’aua
23. Junior Laloifi
[/one_half]
