'Canes wary of favourites tag
The Wellington side will face the Lions in the showpiece event at the Westpac Stadium – a venue where the Hurricanes lost last year's Final (14-21) to the Highlanders.
On that occasion the Hurricanes were favourites as well, but thing did not go according to the script for the home side.
Hurricanes flank Brad Shields believes last year's final was a perfect example of the favourites tag counts for nothing.
"We try not to look into it too much because it can trip you up," Shields told Radio New Zealand. "Look the Lions they're a tough team so we're not going to take anything away from them and we're preparing for a battle and that's what we're going to get.
"We're not going to look into that at all, I mean favourites, it doesn't affect us. We've just got to do what we've been doing all season and do what we've been doing well."
Shields also admitted that he and his teammates are not over that loss to the Highlanders in the 2015 Final.
"We are obviously still not over it but look we've got another opportunity, another chance to do our club proud and hopefully get that first win.
"So you know it's always sitting in the back of your mind and you can use that as motivation, but you can't get too tied up in it otherwise it might affect your performance. So first things first – we just want to go out there and perform really well and hopefully get that first win for the team."
Source: Radio New Zealand
