Publications
Partners
Canberra - All Blacks Beauden Barrett and Dane Coles will return for the Hurricanes in their Super Rugby quarter-final against the Brumbies on Friday.
Flyhalf Barrett's return after missing the last match of the regular season against the Crusaders with a sinus infection is the only change to the starting 15 announced Wednesday by coach Chris Boyd.
The Hurricanes beat the Crusaders 31-22 to hand the Christchurch side its first loss of the season in the last regular-season round.
Barrett's replacement against the Crusaders, Otere Black, moves to the reserves, but the rest of the Hurricanes backline remains unchanged.
Jordie Barrett will again start at center with Vince Aso ruled out for a second match due to a groin strain.
Boyd said his team won't pay a lot of attention to its 56-21 home victory over the Brumbies in the ninth round, and noted the Canberra-based team has a good record in playoff matches at home.
"The Brumbies are a quality side and we're not reading anything into their results this season," Boyd said. "They have a proven record in Super Rugby over a long period and will be hard to beat at home."
The Brumbies finished the regular season atop the underperforming Australian conference with a record of six wins and nine losses. Overall, the Hurricanes have played the Brumbies 23 times in Super Rugby, for 10 wins and 13 losses.
But the Brumbies have lost 10 games in a row to New Zealand teams.
On Tuesday, Christian Leali'ifano was selected on the reserves bench for the Brumbies less than a year after being diagnosed with leukemia.
The 19-test Wallaby was diagnosed last August with leukemia and had chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant late last year. He was told in February that he was in remission from the cancer.
Teams:
Brumbies
15 Tom Banks, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Tevita Kuridrani,12 Andrew Smith,11 James Dargaville, 10 Wharenui Hawera, 9 Joe Powell, 8 Jordan Smiler, 7 Chris Alcock, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Sam Carter (c), 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Josh Mann-Rea, 1 Scott Sio.
Subsitutes: 16 Robbie Abel, 17 Ben Alexander, 18 Leslie Leuluaialii-Makin, 19 Blake Enever, 20 Jarrad Butler, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Jordan Jackson-Hope, 23 Christian Leali'ifano
Hurricanes
15 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 14 Wes Goosen, 13 Jordie Barrett, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 TJ Perenara (captain), 8 Brad Shields, 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Vaea Fifita, 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Mark Abbott,3 Jeff To'omaga-Allen, 2 Ricky Riccitelli, 1 Ben May
Substitutes: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Chris Eves, 18 Loni Uhila, 19 Reed Prinsep, 20 Callum Gibbins, 21 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 22 Otere Black, 23 Cory Jane
