Cautious Coles back for Canes

James Broadhurst is the first person to come to mind when the Hurricanes think head knocks.

The one-test All Blacks lock hasn’t played a game since suffering concussion symptoms playing for Taranaki last August. There’s no return to action in sight for the 28-year-old, which was one reason Dane Coles took no shortcuts over the last two of weeks.

The Hurricanes captain took a knock during the team’s Super Rugby win over the Reds on May 14 and finally passed his concussion protocols yesterday. Once upon a time players might’ve a bit dishonest about their symptoms, but not anymore.

‘‘You’ve got Broady for example and he still hasn’t come right, so it’s a bit scary these times. But it’s just a matter of not rushing things and taking the protocols and I’m sure if you do that you’ll be fine,’’ Coles said after being named to play in tomorrow night’s big clash with the Highlanders.

Coles admitted to feeling a ‘‘a bit funny’’ a day or two after the Reds match, but there are no illeffects now.

‘‘The first couple of days you just do basically nothing and then there’s a 20-minute bike and the next day is training and the next day is weights, just stuff like that. Then the final test is contact . . . every day just gets better and better and you do a bit more,’’ he said.

Coles’ recovery was good news all round. He’s a superb player, whose mere presence will give the Hurricanes a great chance of beating the Highlanders in a game they really can’t afford to lose.

Coles’ return to full fitness has been matched by the end of Ardie and Julian Savea, Cory Jane, Victor Vito and Chris Eves’ unscheduled stint on the sidelines. They were left out of the squad to play the Reds after breaking a curfew in Durban the previous week.

‘‘Obviously they’ll be very disappointed with what happened, but it was good the way we responded with the win against the Reds,’’ Coles said.

The men that replaced them did fine jobs, but Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd had no hesitation in reinstating Julian Savea and Jane back to the wings, Vito and Ardie Savea the loose forwards and Eves to the bench.