Hurricanes resist mass change

The Hurricanes have made just one change to their starting line-up for their second match of the Super Rugby competition against the Reds in Brisbane on Friday.

Head coach Mark Hammett has resisted the temptation to wield the axe following last week’s 34-20 home defeat to the Blues.  

Only three changes have been made to the matchday side that will face the Reds in the first away fixture of the campaign, Jeffery Toomaga-Allen’s return to the side to start at tighthead prop being the only change to the starting XV.

On the bench, Motu Matu’u will make his first appearance for the Canes in 2013 after suffering a pectoral injury during pre-season training, while James Broadhurst will pull on the No.18 jersey as he comes in to replace the injured Mark Reddish.  

Players not considered for selection this week due to injury include Reddish (hamstring), Jack Lam (knee), Eric Sione (shoulder) and Blade Thomson (ankle).

Hurricanes: 15 Andre Taylor, 14 Alapati Leiua, 13 Conrad Smith (captain), 12 Tim Bateman, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Brad Shields, 7 Karl Lowe, 6 Victor Vito, 5 Jason Eaton, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Ben Franks.
Replacements: 16 Motu Matu’u, 17 Reggie Goodes, 18 James Broadhurst, 19 Faifili Levave, 20 Chris Smylie, 21 James Marshall, 22 Reynold Lee-Lo.

Date: Friday, March 1
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Kick-off: 20.20 (10.20 GMT)
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Andrew Lees (Australia), Damien Mitchelmore (Australia)
TMO: Steve Leszczynski (Australia)