Fatialofa to the fore for Hurricanes side

Forget Aaron Cruden and Beauden Barrett, the same with Sam Cane and Ardie Savea.

Today’s clash between the Chiefs and Hurricanes at Westpac Stadium boasts any number of high-profile players or intriguing individual battles. But without wanting to entirely dismiss those, there are other participants worthy of people’s attention.

Men such as Chiefs props Atu Moli and Mitchell Graham or Hurricanes lock Michael Fatialofa are among those who come to mind. In fact look through the two team sheets and about a dozen players emerge for whom this will be the biggest game of their burgeoning careers.

If those guys can’t stand up to the scrutiny, it won’t matter how well some of the superstars play.

From the Hurricanes’ perspective, Fatialofa began exceeding expectations the moment he arrived.

The 23-year-old lock was preparing to play for Auckland in last year’s provincial premiership final when the Hurricanes called. He’d figured a chance in Super Rugby had passed him by again, until that offer of a wider training group berth in Wellington came through.

It was in February’s pre-season match against the Blues in Eketahuna that Fatialofa first began to indicate he would be more than just a body to hold hit shields at practice.

‘‘That was actually a funny story, old Eketahuna, because I wasn’t meant to play that game,’’ Fatialofa said.

‘‘Then I found out on the morning of the game that I was in the 23 and then much closer to kickoff I found out I was starting. Two other locks were meant to play but James Blackwell went down and Blade [Thomson] went down and I ended up playing 80 [minutes].

‘‘But that was probably the chance I needed to show what I’m about.’’

This time last year the 2010 New Zealand secondary schools’ representative was working as a teacher aide in west Auckland. He was grateful for it, too, given how hard it can to find gainful employment when you your provincial side requires you fulltime for four or five months of the year.

‘‘It was a pretty cool school, a charter school,’’ Fatialofa said.

‘‘The kids there were on their second or third-chance school but I enjoyed them. They were mostly Pacific Island and Maori.

‘‘It was testing times for the first couple of weeks, while they were sussing me out. But I ended up really enjoying that job and was pretty gutted when I had to leave when the ITM Cup started.

‘‘I think some of the kids still watch me, so that’s pretty cool.’’

Fatialofa’s done his own watching, with team-mates such as Cory Jane and Victor Vito standing out. It’s become clear that longevity in rugby isn’t merely about talent, but how the gun players ‘‘take care of their bodies and do all those little things really consistently.’’

There isn’t a do-as-I-say culture at the Hurricanes, but new boys can learn a lot by looking at what the older hands do.

Sitting back and watching won’t cut it against the Chiefs, though. Fatialofa and company need to attack, with and without the ball.

The Hurricanes’ defence was a real feature of last week’s 38-13 win over the Rebels in Melbourne, resembling a weapon all of its own.

Vito said the Hurricanes had always been known for their exploits on attack, but that’s not where important games were won and he credited assistant coach John Plumtree with instilling an ‘‘excitement off the ball’’ within the team.