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Wellington - The Hurricanes have included a host of new faces in their squad for their opening two matches of the 2018 Super Rugby season.
Hurricanes head coach Chris Boyd has named 27 players to travel to South Africa and Argentina to face the Bulls (Pretoria, February 24) and the Jaguares (Buenos Aires, March 3).
Included in the touring squad for the first time are props Toby Smith and Alex Fidow, scrumhalf Jamie Booth and flyhalves Ihaia West and Jackson Garden-Bachop.
All Black flyhalf Beauden Barrett will join the squad later in Pretoria after he was allowed to attend the weddings of a close friend and his brother Kane this weekend.
"He'll come to Australia on Sunday and on to Johannesburg on Monday. He'll be with us Monday night," Boyd told the Stuff.co.nz website.
The Hurricanes flew out of Auckland on Friday, with a Saturday departure from Sydney to South Africa.
Boyd hinted that Barrett may not start against the Bulls.
"When we discussed what that might look like for him, he hasn't played any pre-season minutes, so he'll come off the bench probably in Pretoria. We may yet choose to make that one of his All Black rest weeks, we'll wait and see how that pans out."
Meanwhile, wing Jonah Lowe has also been included following his excellent pre-season form.
Boyd said it had been a difficult selection process for the final make-up of the squad following their pre-season campaign that ended on Thursday with a 26-14 win over the Blues.
Brad Shields has been named captain in the absence of Dane Coles.
Hurricanes squad for South Africa and Argentina:
Forwards
Toby Smith, Chris Eves, Ben May, Fraser Armstrong, Alex Fidow, Ricky Riccitelli, James O'Rielly, Sam Lousi, Murray Douglas, Michael Fatialofa, Vaea Fifita, Brad Shields (captain), Ardie Savea, Gareth Evans, Blade Thomson
Backs
TJ Perenara, Jamie Booth, Beauden Barrett, Ihaia West, Ngani Laumape, Matt Proctor, Vince Aso, Wes Goosen, Julian Savea, Ben Lam, Jackson Garden-Bachop, Jonah Lowe
