Wounded Reds lie in wait for Hurricanes
The Hurricanes will start their trans-Tasman part of the Super Rugby Pacific season against a side missing two star players.
The Queensland Reds will be without first-five James O’Connor and fullback Jordan Petaia for tonight’s game in Melbourne.
O’Connor is out for at least a month with a knee injury, meaning youngster Lawson Creighton will make his starting debut, while Petaia is out with a hamstring injury.
That’s not good news for the Reds as the Australian teams attempt to improve on last season’s drubbings at the hands of New Zealand sides, with just two wins in 25 matches.
‘‘Trans-Tasman was a tough ride last year against the New Zealanders,’’ Reds coach Brad Thorn acknowledged.
Unsurprisingly, Hurricanes coach Jason Holland was looking forward to his charges heading across the Tasman.
‘‘It’s been quite exciting, having a look at some footage of the Aussie teams,’’ said Holland, whose side has a 4-4 record against New Zealand teams so far this campaign.
‘‘We’re under no illusions of how tough it’s going to be. We’ve battered each other here for eight weeks, now we’ll go and do the same with the Aussie teams.’’
The Hurricanes will meet the Brumbies in the following round, ensuring they tackle the two inform Australian sides first-up away from home, with both teams sporting a 7-1 record in the Australian games.
‘‘The Reds and the Brumbies have been playing some pretty awesome footy – it presents a pretty good challenge and a different challenge from what we’re used to.’’
The Hurricanes escaped with a dramatic 22-21 win over the Highlanders in Dunedin last Saturday, but flanker Blake Gibson said the tourists will need to be better at Melbourne’s AAMI Park, host of the five transTasman clashes in this round.
‘‘We know we can be a lot better than what we did play last week,’’ Gibson said.
‘‘We probably kept them in the game for too long, and it came down to the wire at the end. We know we’ve got to be a lot better than that, and look after the ball – when we look after the ball, we can score lots of tries.
‘‘The Reds are big, physical players – they’ll look to dominate us up front and at set-piece, but they also have some players that can really break the game open.’’
Kianu Kereru-Symes will start at hooker for the Hurricanes with Asafo Aumua starting a three-week suspension, while Aidan Morgan will start at first-five, with Jackson Garden-Bachop on the bench.
Peter Umaga-Jensen comes in at second-five, with Jordie Barrett moving back to fullback.