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Hurricanes rest and rotate for Force clash
Published: 12:19PM Wednesday April 17, 2013 Source: ONE Sport
Jack Lam will make his first start at openside flanker, following an ACL reconstruction last year, after the Canes were thumped 28-6 by the Blues on Saturday night.
- Hurricanes coach Mark Hammett has made five changes to his starting his line-up for the Super Rugby clash against the Western Force in Wellington on Friday night.
The other three changes to the pack include Dane Coles, who will return to the starting hooker position this week, Jeremy Thrush, who is back in the pack after recovering from his lower ankle sprain, and Jeffery Toomaga-Allen comes into the tighthead jersey.
The return of Thrush to the Hurricanes line-up has allowed Hammett to rest Jason Eaton after starting all seven matches this season.
TJ Perenara also gets a bit of a break with Chris Smylie given the nod to start at halfback.
"We saw last year we can't rely on each of our players to be available for every match, so we always wanted to be able to give Chris a few more minutes in the starting position at some point," said Hammett.
With Lam's selection, young gun Ardie Savea also gets a week off, with Karl Lowe on the bench.
"When we selected Ardie for his first game we wanted to give him a couple of weeks of game time and then a rest," Hammett said.
"He is still only 19 and we want to make sure he enjoys a full season of Super Rugby rather than wearing him down early in the year. We are lucky we have a lot of experience in our loose forwards to be able to support his development as a Super Rugby player."
On the bench, Reggie Goodes steps in as the back prop. Victor Vito (calf) and Ben May (elbow) were unavailable for selection this week due to injury.
This game will be the visitors first on New Zealand soil this season, a week following their two point win over the Crusaders at NIB Stadium.
Hurricanes: Beauden Barrett, Alapati Leiua, Conrad Smith (c), Tim Bateman, Julian Savea, Tusi Pisi, Chris Smylie, Faifili Levave, Brad Shields, Jack Lam, Mark Reddish, Jeremy Thrush, Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, Dane Coles, Ben Franks.
Reserves: Motu Matu'u, Reggie Goodes, James Broadhurst, Karl Lowe, TJ Perenara, Reynold Lee-Lo, Andre Taylor
http://tvnz.co.nz/rugby-news/hurrica...-clash-5409153