Something funny is going on

How to relax and when to get serious. Cory Jane and Andre Taylor have got it down to an art form. Toby Robson reports.

of sugary treats but without much luck. ‘‘You know what he’s like though, he tries to sneak things in there all the time.’’

It’s the kind of light banter that seems to make the Hurricanes’ fullback and wing tick.

They’re not quite the modern day Bernie Fraser and Stu Wilson but there is no doubt the combination of Taylor and Jane is burgeoning.

And it’s in no small part due to their similarities, both as players and people.

‘‘We hang out off the field quite a bit. We are always roomies,’’ Taylor said. ‘‘We are sort of the same in the buildup to games. Cory likes to relax but there is a time when he switches into game mode and I’m the same. I like to relax till maybe an hour before the game when we head to the ground . . . that’s when we both switch on.’’

TAYLOR made the Hurricanes in 2010 but, at 24, he is starting to fully realise the potential of a player who represented Manawatu while still at Palmerston North Boys’ High School. This season, the pair seem to have had a third sense of where each other are, both on defence and attack, and Taylor’s try against the Force last week was a classic example after Jane had fielded a chip kick and popped his fullback into a gap.

‘‘We are always talking about how we can improve our counter-attack, improve our skills, things like that,’’