Happy days for Hurricanes
The Hurricanes are back whistling a happy tune.
It’s not long since the spectre of All Blacks camps prompted disharmony in the ranks. In fact, head coach Chris Boyd sang from way off the usual hymn sheet, when he suggested relations between his lot and the national team weren’t that amicable.
Well, the Hurricanes’ All Blacks are off to the first ‘‘foundation day’’ for North Island players, in Auckland on Tuesday, and Boyd could hardly be more complimentary about the situation. The team host the Highlanders next Saturday, and having a bit of national duty thrown in will be no bother at all.
‘‘Normally gym [work] would be on a Monday and rugby’s a Tuesday. We’ll switch that around,’’ said Boyd.
‘‘Because the guys are not playing [this] weekend we can get through a lot of work on Monday. So Monday will be a training day, Tuesday will be a gym day when he boys are away with the All Blacks, they’ll have Wednesday off and then it’ll be a normal Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
‘‘It really doesn’t interrupt us at all.’’
The Hurricanes were definitely ready for a spell following last Saturday’s 29-19 win over the Crusaders. There’s been a mixture of recovery work, gym sessions, golf and regular rugby training since, before the players were given a three-day weekend.
The Crusaders don’t lose to many teams, but have suffered defeats in eight of their last 11 clashes with the Hurricanes.
‘‘They might bring the best out of us, because they are the best. They’ve got the best record and they should be really proud of that,’’ Hurricanes assistant coach John Plumtree said.
Defence is Plumtree’s main portfolio, and he’ll have his hands full with the Highlanders. Between the speed of Aaron Smith’s ball from the scrumbase, Lima Sopoaga’s repertoire of short or deep kicks and the threat out wide of Ben Smith and Waisake Naholo, the Highlanders have a few ways to hurt you.
‘‘I’ll work hard next week to make sure we can shut them down. We’ve done that in the past and we’ve just got to make sure we make life difficult for their attack and I think they’ll know how we’ll do that,’’ said Plumtree.
‘‘But it’s a challenge. Not just their running game but their kicking game as well, which keeps you guessing. They’ve got a lot of threats there.
‘‘Yeah [they contest a lot of kicks] and they’ll turn us around, so we’ve got to make sure we take care of the backfield as well as what’s happening in front of us.’’
Not every Hurricane is getting
this weekend off. Some who are returning from injury, or have had limited game time, will turn out in a development XV game against the Blues.
That includes All Blacks
frontrowers Jeff To’omaga-allen and Asafo Aumua, as well locks Murray Douglas and Michael Fatialofa and the five-eighths pairing of Ihaia West and Jackson Garden-bachop.